The humility of Thomas

John 20.26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” 28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

When I read this story the thing I often wonder is this: How would I feel if I were Thomas? I think I would probably feel embarrassed. I mean, Thomas has been caught out in his skepticism here hasn’t he? He is so adamant that he will not believe unless certain conditions are met—he wants to see the nail marks, he wants to see the hole in Jesus’ side—and Jesus comes along and says “Ok, you asked for it. Here it is.” Have you ever been caught out like that? When you’ve been so sure of yourself only to be shown to be totally wrong? He could have felt quite foolish. Or he could have become quite indignant. “Oh come on Jesus, you appeared to the others, how come you didn’t appear to me? You’ve set me up Jesus. You gave me the harder task of believing without seeing” But look at how he responds, “My Lord and my God!” No protest, no dummy spit. Thomas simply responds in complete humility…“My Lord and my God”.

Sometimes the reason we don’t believe is not so much about evidence but about how we will look if we start believing. Some might think “I’ve been a skeptic for so long, I’m not about to change now. In fact, it’s a little hypocritical to start believing when I’ve lived my whole life in disbelief.” There is no shame in humbly accepting the testimony that Jesus has been raised from the dead. Thomas could have maintained his stubborn disbelief, but in humility he accepted the facts as they were presented to him. No matter how stubborn we have been in the past, no matter how entrapped we feel by our own history of skepticism, it’s never too late to look to the resurrected Jesus and to say with Thomas, “My Lord and my God!”