Thomas, twins, and rabbit holes.
Signpost for Sunday 7 April 2024 (Low Sunday): Acts 4:32-35; Ps 133; 1 John 1:1-2:2; John 20:19-31.
This week it’s the well-known doubting Thomas story. Only the author(s) of John’s gospel tell this story but it has still become one of the most famous stories in the whole New Testament. What do you think when you read or hear it? Do you think, as I do, that, like Thomas, you would not have believed that someone who you knew was dead was somehow still alive? Do you think that the point of the story is that we should believe even though we have not experienced the risen Christ for ourselves (John 20:39)?
After writing quite a few Signposts about Thomas and reading what other Signposters think, these are the main things that strike me about the Doubting Thomas story:
- Thomas is no different from any of the other disciples; they had all been shown Jesus’s nailed hands and his wounded side to convince them that resurrected Jesus was indeed the same person who was crucified. (John 20:19-20)
- Jesus doesn’t want to leave anyone out, that’s why he came back to show Thomas his wounds and allow him to not only see them but also touch them (yeeew, as my daughters might say)
- Thomas encourages us to examine what each of us really believes, and that there’s nothing wrong with doubting things we are told by others, including whatever church we may or may not belong to. One of my favourite quotes about this comes from Francis Bacon, the 16thcentury philosopher, statesman and devout Anglican, who wrote in his essay, The Advancement of Learning: If you begin in certainty, you will end in doubt. If you begin in doubt, you will end in certainty.
Last year I mentioned that Thomas was also known as Didymus (John 20:24). ‘Didymus’ is the Greek word for twin. Interestingly, ‘Thomas’ is the Hebrew word for twin. I had never before asked myself who was his twin? Was he an identical twin? Did he have a twin brother or a twin sister?
Wikipedia says his “actual name was Judah (Jude) and he was mentioned along with the other brothers of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark 6:1. It is believed he was dubbed the “twin” due to his resemblance to his brother Jesus.” (Wikipedia gets the Gospel reference wrong. I think it should be Mark 6:3.)
If that surprises you how about this from Dr. Bart Erhman, the James A. Gray Distinguished Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who writes: “there were some early Christians who thought that one of Jesus’ brothers, Jude (or Judas: both are translations of the same Greek word), was actually a twin. Not just of anyone, but of Jesus himself.”
If that’s true, those early Christians can’t have thought there ever was a virgin birth or that Yeshua was God’s only son.
And what about the tradition that suggests Thomas travelled to India spreading the word?
Well, there is a church of St Thomas in India today. Saint Thomas Christians there wholeheartedly believe: ‘The true teachings of Jesus have survived only in India. Thomas Christians trace their origins to the arrival of St. Thomas at Malankara, on a lagoon near present-day Kodungallur (Cranganore; near ancient Muziris) in 52 CE and to congregations he established in seven villages.’
Oh look, we’ve just gone down a rabbit hole. Let’s climb out quickly, but let’s not be afraid to carry on doubting until we find our lord and our god for ourselves.
Paul
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