In the CofI we celebrate the feast day of St Thomas the Apostle on the 3rd July.
But the Orthodox churches remember him
today, the first Sunday after Easter. They call it St Thomas Sunday, because
the traditional gospel reading, which we share with them, tells the familiar
story of how Thomas came to be called “Doubting Thomas”.
Now, Thomas is one of my heroes, one
of my favourite saints. I admire what I see of his character from the Gospels.
And I enjoy the romance of his legendary missionary journey to India. I feel
it’s unfair to call him by the nick-name “Doubting Thomas” - I much prefer the
way Orthodox Christians call him “Believing Thomas”. So I want to take this
opportunity to celebrate him a bit.
What do we know about Thomas from the Gospels?
It’s only in John’s Gospel that we
learn anything at all about him. Elsewhere in the NT he is only a name on lists
of Apostles, Thomas the Twin. Eastern Church tradition calls him Judas Thomas,
so perhaps he was nicknamed The Twin to distinguish him from another Judas. We’re
not told anything about his background, and we know nothing about his twin.
The first time we hear Thomas speak is
when Lazarus has just died. Jesus decides to go to Lazarus’s funeral - but it’s
in Judea, where the people had earlier tried to stone him. The disciples resist
his decision, but Jesus is determined. John gives Thomas the last word: ‘Let us also go,
that we may die with him.’ Thomas may have been pessimistic, but he
was also brave, and loyal.
Next, at the Last Supper, Jesus tells
the Twelve that he is going away to prepare a place for them, but that he will
return to bring them with him. Jesus says: ‘You know the
way to the place where I am going’. Practical, logical Thomas struggles
to understand what his teacher is really saying. Why does Jesus always insist
on speaking in riddles? He says ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we
know the way?’ We can just hear the exasperation in his voice, can’t
we! But Thomas does clarify matters, for himself, but no doubt also for the
others, who were perhaps too proud to admit that they too did not understand. Jesus
replies with words which echo down the ages to us: ‘I am
the way, and the truth, and the life.’
But it’s in today’s 2nd reading
(John 29:19-31) that we really see how Thomas’s mind works:
·
He isn’t there
when Jesus first appears to the other disciples. They tell him a ridiculous
story. Jesus, the man they saw crucified, dead, and buried, has come to them
through locked doors, they have talked with him, and he has shown them his
wounds. Thomas declares: ‘Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put
my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not
believe.’
·
A week later,
Jesus appears again, and this time Thomas is there. Jesus asks Thomas to touch
his wounds, saying: ‘Do not doubt but believe’.
John doesn’t tell us whether Thomas really does touch the wounds, but he does
report Thomas confessing a new found faith: ‘My Lord and my God!’
·
And Jesus uses
the incident to speak, through those who hear the exchange, to you and to me,
and to generations unborn: ‘Have you
believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet
have come to believe.’
Clearly Thomas is one of those independent people who like
to make up their own mind.
He doesn’t take anything on trust,
particularly if it doesn’t square with his own experience. But when he has
satisfied himself that something is true, his faith is great. He is sure to act
on it.
Thomas must surely have been one of those
Apostles arrested by the Temple police with Peter in today’s 1st
reading from Acts 5:27-32. They boldly testify to their faith in Jesus before
the High Priest and the Council. Let’s hear their words again:
‘We must obey God rather
than any human authority. The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus, whom you
had killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as
Leader and Saviour, so that he might give repentance to Israel and forgiveness
of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom
God has given to those who obey him.’
That’s all we know of Thomas from the NT, but we have
other sources of information about him, which confirm that Thomas acted on his
faith - if we can believe them.
There is an ancient tradition, which
is supported by early documentary evidence, that Thomas went to India to preach
the Gospel, and died there.
And there is a living Christian tradition
in India that claims Thomas founded their churches. Even today, on the Malabar Coast
in Kerala, South India, there are millions of people who call themselves St
Thomas Christians, who trace their faith back to the Apostle Thomas. They very
firmly hold the tradition that Thomas preached the Gospel, baptised, and
founded churches there for 20 years, until he was martyred in AD72. They point
to a small hill called St Thomas’s Mount, near Madras, as the site of his
martyrdom.
Many scholars doubt this, suggesting
the St Thomas churches were founded several hundred years later, perhaps by a
later Thomas. But the St Thomas Christians maintained links with the Eastern
churches throughout the Middle Ages. When the Portuguese navigator Vasco da
Gama reached the Malabar Coast in 1498, he found an estimated 2 million
Christians using the Eastern Syrian rite, with 1500 churches under their own Metropolitan
bishop.
Today the St Thomas Christians are split,
divided over several denominations, but they are still there, 6 million strong
and 20% of the population of Kerala. Some are in communion with Rome, and some
with various Eastern-rite churches. One group, the Mar Thoma Syrian Church, is
in communion with the two Anglican churches in India, and with us.
So did St Thomas really go to India?
As I read the evidence, there’s nothing to prove that he couldn’t have, and
quite a lot to suggest that he might have, but not enough to prove that he did!
I don’t see any strong reason to disbelieve the ancient traditions of the
Eastern churches. And I don’t see why we should offend our fellow Christians in
India by refusing to acknowledge the testimony of their living tradition.
I admire Thomas, because in the picture John paints of
him I see a loyal friend, a strong character, practical, clear thinking, and
independent minded.
Some of us are blessed with a simple
faith, believing what we are told, and acting on it. Others – like Thomas – do
not come to faith so easily. I identify with him, because I don’t either. We
feel a need to assess the evidence for ourselves, to use our God-given powers
of reason to tease out a thing before we believe it. It’s the mindset of modern
science - but Thomas’s story shows there have always been people like that. And
a faith formed by questioning, as Thomas’s was, can be just as strong as a
simple faith.
And I want to believe that Thomas took
Jesus’s Great Commission to heart and travelled to India to preach the Gospel.
It seems to be in keeping with his character. Once he had made up his mind, it
is just what I would expect of him. So whatever doubts scholars might
introduce, I shall continue to think of him as Thomas the Apostle to India.
I shall finish in prayer with a Collect of the Word
Living
God,
For
whom no door is locked:
Draw
us beyond our doubts,
Till
we see your Christ
And
touch his wounds where they bleed in others.
This
we ask through Christ our Saviour,
who
lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one
God, for ever and ever. Amen
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