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Thomas the Apostle (December 21st) Yes, this is "Doubting Thomas." Based on the references to him in scripture, we can see much of his personality, perhaps more than any other disciple except Peter. Thomas was a thinking and literal-minded man, inclined to skepticism and even a particular fatalism.
He seems to have been the only one of the disciples who had any
foreboding of Jesus' fate of death. He was not afraid to ask pointed questions, and he could take the lead or stand alone. Thomas' inability to believe in the Resurrection until he could test it for himself prompted Jesus to warn that faith cannot be based on proof. The fact that Jesus allowed Thomas to "test" shows what Jesus saw in Thomas all along. The sign did not create Thomas' faith—it merely released the faith that was in him already. His response to that encounter with the risen Jesus was the first-ever explicit statement of Jesus' divinity: "My Lord and my God."
Ancient tradition records that Thomas took the Christian faith to India where a large population has held the faith from the earliest centuries, calling themselves "St. Thomas Christians." Thomas' example encourages modern Christians to persist, even when doubting or questioning. |
