[understanding thomas...]

i've been thinking about thomas recently. what do we really know about him? we know he was called by Jesus to be more than a follower. we know that he was hurting when his rabbi was crucified. we know that he refused to believe the testimony of his fellow disciples when they claimed that Jesus had risen from the dead. and we know that he went to india and was killed there.

really, that's all the records we have of the life of thomas aside from the gospel of thomas, which many scholars doubt was actually written by the apostle. regardless, we, christians have, for centuries, clamored up the back of thomas and beat him with every generation for being a doubter. we teach our kids not to be a "doubting thomas." yet, with every generation, we doubt God just as much as we believe satan. really. if we started believing God at same level with which we believed the lies of satan, our lives would be much different.

back to thomas...

is it unfathomable that thomas was hurt that his rabbi and his friend with whom he shared three years of his life had been crucified at the hands of his own people and made a mockery of by the roman occupants? wouldn't you be hurt? and if your friends who, historically, have fought among themselves, all come to you and tell you that your friend is alive, how would you react? thought so...

so, what makes our doubting generation better than thomas? the only thing i can come up with is that we have the benefit of hindsight. but that does little to prove that we are better, on the contrary, it only goes to show that the only thing we learn from history is that we don't learn from history...

it is similarily astounding that we miss the fact that thomas still gathered with the other disciples despite his "monsterously" overwhelming doubt. not only this, but when Jesus did appear to thomas and the others, he didn't need to do what he said would prove to himself that Jesus was alive. he exclaimed, "my Lord and my God!"

the very next historical record we have of thomas is in india. he left jerusalem during the great persecution in the first century. Jesus spent three and a half years with thomas as his rabbi and friend. thomas turned around and spent the rest of his martyred life for his rabbi and his friend. thomas, was commissioned by an indian king to build a palace. while he was working and being a living testimony, he was killed by a dart or a spear.

what makes us better than thomas? it can only be that we have lived longer after our revelation of who Jesus is; and that is nothing that elevates one person over another.