New Testament certainly abounds in many a personality besides Jesus Christ. Mary plays an unique role as the mother of Jesus, and as a future mother of the Church, but for most part she is silent.
St. Joseph fades away soon after the infancy of Jesus. Among the apostles who were directly called by Jesus during the early part of his ministry around the Sea of Galilee, the most prominent role is given to Peter. Simple by nature and enthusiastic by temperament Peter did interact with Jesus many a time. He was in fact appointed to lead the Church after Jesus (Mt 16:13-20; Jn 21:15-19). While
Peter’s human weakness is highlighted by his sad denial of Jesus, he becomes a man of courage and spearheads the Church after the resurrection of Jesus. In fact his role in the conversion of Cornelius sets the pattern for the mission of the Church among the gentiles (Acts 10-11).
Paul of Tarsus whose call to be an Apostle of Jesus has been of an exceptional character (Acts 9:1-19), was indeed “one who was untimely born” as expressed in his own words (1 Cor 15:9).
Although he had no role to play during the lifetime of Jesus, yet as far as Christianity is concerned he may be considered as the second founder after Jesus Christ. His missionary journeys taken up with great zeal for Jesus Christ, and his epistles conveying the most important doctrines of Christianity should be cherished in all ages.
James and John referred to as Boanerges or ‘sons of thunder’ have also made a remarkable inner company with Jesus along with Peter. This trio were privileged to witness 2Jesus’ transfiguration (Mk 9:2-8), the resuscitation of Jairus’ daughter (Mk 5:37), and also the agony of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane (Mk 14:32-42),
John’s influence in the early Church as well as in the long Christian tradition has been very great thanks to the Fourth Gospel which he had authored giving a classical Hellenistic slant to the Christian doctrines.
Of the other apostles directly called by Jesus on the shores of Galilee, most of them play only a marginal role in the first three Gospels, apart from the infamous Judas who betrayed Jesus. We do not find any special place given to them in the history of the first century Church as presented by the Acts of the Apostles. A certain James mentioned as the “brother of the Lord” (Mt 13:55; Mk 6:3; Gal 1:19) seems to have been quite prominent in the Jerusalem Christian community. He had a pivotal role to play in the First Council of Jerusalem, which decided that gentiles who embraced the Christian faith need not be burdened with certain unnecessary Jewish obligations. There were others like Barnabas, Timothy, Titus, Luke and Mark who were the devoted disciples of Paul or Peter and some of them have also been credited with having written some parts of the New Testament literature. What about Thomas? How does he figure in the New Testament?
ii. St. Thomas in the New Testament
The first three Gospels, namely Mark, Matthew and Luke have no other information about Thomas except to place him in the list of the twelve apostles called by Jesus during the early part of his ministry in Galilee (Mk 3:17; Mt 10:3; Lk 6:15). Another book of the New Testament, namely the Acts of the Apostles also mentions Thomas in the list of the twelve apostles as awaiting the coming of the Holy Spirit after the Ascension of Jesus to heaven. (Acts 1:13). Thomas normally occupies a middle order in the list presented by the first three Gospels as well as the Acts of the Apostles. But it is only the fourth Gospel, namely that of John, which presents some short but very important texts as to the role of Thomas in the life and ministry of Jesus. It is only with these texts that we may be able to reconstruct the characteristic traits of Thomas, and even venture to get some idea as to his life.
It is the fourth evangelist John who gives a more generous treatment to the Apostle Thomas, mentioning him no less than four times in his Gospel, and linking him with some important events in the life of Jesus.
The Gospel of John was written towards the end of the first century. While the Synoptic Gospels present Jesus as a teacher and wonder-worker within a historic framework, John takes a totally different approach to the Jesus event. John presents his Gospel as an unique expression of faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God who had pre-existed from all eternity. Jesus came to this world that we may have life in his name (20:31). With this purpose John presents Jesus as the bread of life (6:35), the light of the world (8:12), the good shepherd (10:11), the resurrection and the life (11:25), the way, the truth and the life (14:6), etc. In fact John very skillfully attaches these attributes to Jesus with a divine self-assertion, “I am” reminding us of God Yahweh of the Old Testament who revealed
himself to Moses with the name “I am who am” (Ex 3:14). Hence John ventures to establish the divine-human character of Jesus with such assertions by Jesus as, “I am the light of the world”, “I am the bread of life”, etc. And this is simply John’s way of asserting Jesus’ equality to God. And it would be quite natural that whatever character he presents in his Gospel, the fourth evangelist would do so only to enhance his basic theological ideas. And we should treat the accounts concerning Thomas in the Gospel of John from this perspective. What then are the four important narrations mentioned about Thomas in the Gospel of John? And how are they going to help us to reconstruct the character of Thomas? And how are these accounts going to present some lessons to us in our own context?
Before we discuss such important issues let us have a look at the written accounts of John’s Gospel on our apostle Thomas.
a. Jn 11: 7-16 “Let us go and die with him” (vs 16)
The occasion was when Jesus desired to travel to Judea in order to go to Bethany on the outskirts of Jerusalem. Jesus had just heard that his friend Lazarus was sick, and then subsequently dead. The disciples were most reluctant about this journey since just a few days earlier Jesus was about to be stoned by the Jews of Jerusalem for asserting his total identity with the Father: “The Father and I are one” (Jn 10:30). But Jesus went on insisting with his unwilling disciples that he should take up this difficult journey. And it was then that Thomas took a stand totally different from the others and clinched the issue with this firm statement: “Let us also go, that we may die with him” (11:16).
What emerges, as the character trait of Thomas in the above incident is the boundless courage of the Apostle. He had no fear from the Jews of Jerusalem mostly influenced by the fundamentalist Pharisees and the self-centred priestly class. The bold expression of Thomas could also have a specific background of its own. There was the Zealot factor in many Jewish young men of the time of Jesus. It was a movement committed to a bold and even a violent stand as to the liberation of the Jewish land from the occupation of the Romans. Many of the disciples of Jesus had been part of such a movement, and their sympathies were still there in spite of Jesus’ proclamation of love and forgiveness in his Kingdom mission. And coming to Thomas, his bold readiness even to die with Jesus, as he asserted, could also be traced back to his own former leanings towards the zealot cause which wanted its followers to be ready for any sacrifice in order to liberate their land.
b. Jn 14: 1-6 “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way? (vs 5)
It was the time of the last supper of Jesus. The happy occasion began to take a solemn mood and subsequently a cloud of sadness surrounded the disciples. Jesus had just washed the feet of his disciples giving them a great example of service. He reminded them that they too should follow his example since, “servants are not greater than their master”. But the solemnity of this occasion suddenly gave way to sadness when Jesus predicted his betrayal by one of them (13:21): While the identity of the betrayer was still unknown to them Jesus continues to speak of his death when “God will also glorify him” (13:32). Then he drops another bombshell telling Peter, “before the **** crows, you will have denied me three times” (13:38). And this must have been too much for the disciples to absorb.
As these predictions began to haunt the disciples Jesus tries to cheer them up by speaking of the “Father’s house”, with its “many dwellings” and how he would “go to prepare a place” for them (14:2-3). And when Jesus takes for granted that the disciples did surely know the way to the place he was going, it was Thomas who breaks the gloomy silence hitherto maintained by the disciples. In a tone of deep anxiety at the way matters seem to be evolving, a composed Thomas comes out with a very simple question to Jesus:
“Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” (14:5). This simple and candid declaration should have really moved Jesus and he tries to assuage the apprehension of his outspoken disciple with these words for everlasting memory:
“I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me. If you know me, you know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him” (14: 6-7)
The evangelist John is portraying to us an excellent quality of the Apostle in this passage, namely his calm simplicity. Though perturbed by the new directions that Jesus was trying to project to them, hitherto not heard from him, he is apparently the spokesperson of the other disciples in seeking a clarification. And the candid question of Thomas is the cause of a great revelation from Jesus who declared, “I am the way, the truth and the life”.
And it is needless to say that the answer of Jesus could have given an immediate confidence to the disciples; but down the centuries this revelation of Jesus has been the source of comfort and consolation to millions of believers.
c. Jn 20: 24-28 “My Lord and My God” (vs 28)
This is the most striking resurrection apparition scene narrated by the evangelist John. Jesus had appeared to the disciples when Thomas had been absent. And when told of the apparition he stubbornly refuses to believe it because he could never think that the severely slashed and pierced body of Jesus could be restored.
But Jesus appears again to the disciples and confronts Thomas directly with his risen body and challenges his faith about him. It is then that Thomas comes out with his total surrender to Jesus with a faith expression that has stimulated and encouraged millions of people down the ages, “My Lord and My God” (20:28)
This event involving a doubting Thomas needs a further discussion. It was not Thomas alone who had doubted about Jesus’ resurrection. There have also been other disciples who were not able to accept such a feat on the part of Jesus. The Gospel of Matthew clearly states that even as the risen Jesus was commissioning the disciples to proclaim the Gospel, “some of them doubted him” (Mt 28:17); Mark mentions that the testimony of Mary Magdalene that she saw Jesus and that he was alive did not receive a healthy response; it is said that “they did not believe it” (Mk 16:11, 13). Jesus is presented by Mark as upbraiding the disciples for their lack of faith and stubbornness” (Mk 16:14). The disciples of Emmaus departed from Jerusalem in total disappointment about Jesus and with a lack of faith in his resurrection of which the women who visited his tomb were so assertive. Here too Jesus expresses his sense of dissatisfaction for the lack of belief on the part of the disciples (Lk 24: 25).
In the Gospel of John, Thomas is presented with his stubborn doubt about Jesus’ resurrection (Jn 20:25). We should not see here just a single individual who has problem with the resurrection of Jesus. The evangelist seems to be taking the theme of Jesus’ resurrection to a much broader level. Thomas seems to be symbolizing the prevailing disbelief among many of the early disciples of Jesus Christ. Most scholars are of the opinion that John had recorded quite a number of resurrection apparitions in his Gospel only to convince those who were still skeptical about the truth of Jesus’ resurrection.
But Thomas is also presented as a man surrendering himself to Jesus with his deep faith, though a delayed one. He is made to encounter with all the physical dimensions of the risen Jesus and he accepts him with a total submission with an admission of defeat.
His confession, “My Lord and My God” manifests his faith. But we are carefully reminded through Thomas that Jesus’ resurrection pertains to the superior realm of faith. And it need not rest on the conditions of physical proofs. In fact Jesus has a word of praise for all those who express their belief in his resurrection without demanding any external substantiation. We should also note that Thomas’ confession of faith in Jesus is the only most explicit statement of faith in the Gospel of John on the divinity of Jesus.
Thus Thomas a symbol of total lack of faith becomes a symbol of absolute surrender in faith. He becomes a great Christian model for generations.
d. Jn 21:2 Thomas by the Sea of Tiberias
This is the final apparition of the risen Jesus and it takes place in the northern part of the region of Galilee, around the sea of Galilee.
The readers should understand that the sea of Galilee was only a big lake. The Greek word thalassa could mean either the boundless ocean or a restricted lake. Our interest in this apparition is only to note the prominent position Thomas seems to have enjoyed in Tiberias in the post-resurrection Church. In the list of Apostles given here he is placed immediately after Simon Peter, unlike the middle order which he held in the earlier lists. He has preceded even the sons of Zebedee who were normally placed after Peter.
The relevant text here reads as follows: “Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee and two others of his disciples” (Jn21:2)
This last reference to Thomas in the Gospel of John raises a further question here. What was the place of Thomas in the early Church?
The evangelist John has given such a place of prominence to Thomas that we are inclined to believe that he played some important role in the Johannine School of the first century which is supposed to have produced the Gospel of John. It is none other than Thomas who makes a confession of deep faith in Jesus even if it were to have preceded a complete mistrust of the same Jesus?
Hence his place next to Peter himself. And this issue of prominence given to Thomas in the early Church is all the more confirmed by the place of importance he has in the apocryphal literature of the first three centuries which we shall treat in a later section.
