Honest Thomas

As I've been reflecting on last Sunday's Gospel reading, I can't help but ask myself if the apostle Thomas has been unfairly portrayed for the last, oh, two thousand years. As a child, I got to know him as doubting Thomas. I don't know how many times I was told "Don't be a doubting Thomas." My confirmation name is Thomas, after St. Thomas Aquinas. I can remember people asking me, "You're confirmation saint isn't doubting Thomas, is it?" Yes, I think Thomas has gotten a bad wrap. As Peter Kreeft would say, let's look at the data.

We have four gospel accounts of Jesus' resurrection. In the Gospel of Matthew, when the women saw the empty tomb, they were told by an angel to go tell the disciples of Jesus' resurrection. On their way, they met Jesus, and were told the same thing by him. Matthew doesn't give us any information about the disciple's initial reaction to the story of the women (Matthew 28:1-10). However Mark explains that when Mary Magdalene initially told the disciples she had seen Christ, they did not believe her (Mark 16:11). Two other disciples saw and testified to Jesus' resurrection, and still they did not believe (Mark 16:13). Luke concurs, explaining that the women came with a story of resurrection, but Peter had to go to the tomb to see for himself (Luke 24:11-12). Although John doesn't tell us explicitly the disciples didn't believe Mary Magdalene, he recounts in vivid detail how he and Peter ran to the tomb and only believed when they saw it empty (John 20:9).

So the apostles can't make much of a case here. At best, Matthew doesn't mention whether or not they believed the initial eye-witness accounts. The other three gospel writers make it clear that the disciples in fact doubted the testimonies of multiple people who claimed to have seen the Risen Lord. Yet, how often do we refer to them as doubting Peter or doubting John?

This certainly doesn't get Thomas off the hook, as he clearly doubted. But at least he was honest about it. When we have fears, difficulties, even doubts about the Lord, let's not hide them, but acknowledge them, and pray that God will give us the eyes of faith, so we can say, with Thomas, "My Lord and my God!"