The Thomas Commission

Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. ²⁵ The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.”
So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”
And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” ²⁷ Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”
And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”
Jesus said to him, “Thomas,because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
– John 20: 24-29

The account of Thomas stating that he must see Jesus’ nail marks prior to believing is commonly referred as doubting Thomas being rebuked, or taught a lesson, by Jesus. Whilst there might be some truth to that, I generally disagree with the label “doubting Thomas”, and the view that Jesus’ words are a rebuke. Here are three reasons why – which hopefully serve as spiritual lessons for us all as well.

1. Thomas is a thinker – or a skeptic, so to speak. God speaks to every person according to how He has fashioned them. Take Peter for example, first to walk on water, first to proclaim loyalty to Jesus, first to accuse so and so of this and that, first to cut off an ear, first to run into the empty tomb. Take John for example, rarely speaking, constantly reflecting… Take Thomas, then – His loyalty is undeniable, he willingly went with Jesus to raise Lazarus, knowing people would stone him. In his intellect he knew he would die, and was willing to die with him. Most of Thomas words recorded in the gospels were accounts of him coming to logical conclusions or asking common sense questions.

2. Jesus meets people where they are – Thomas, being a thinker and skeptic, didn’t matter to Jesus. He reached out to Thomas anyway. Just like how Jesus reached out to Paul in a way that only Paul would respond. Just like how God approaches Abraham and Moses differently – one with patience and gentle encouragement, and another with details and a whip. Just because Thomas “doubted” does not mean he is a lesser being. Instead, as Christians today, we should learn how to meet people where they are, and share God’s love in a way that different individuals would respond to Him. Judging Thomas is the beginning, I would say, of judging people.

3. Jesus’ “rebuke” is more a commission than a rebuke. This requires a little insight into what Thomas did after the events in the gospel. He took the gospel further than any apostle ever did – reaching deep into Asia (outside the Roman empire). Tradition has it that he traveled all the way to India, and martyred in what is modern day Chennai. He left a great history behind him after his passing – and is perhaps one of the key figures of early Asian Christianity. Hey, guess what? Thomas might have needed to “see to believe”, as Jesus said to him. But every person that Thomas shared with subsequently, had no such privilege – but Thomas, because he has seen, could lead others who have not seen, to believe.

Read this again in a different light… “Thomas,because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

I imagine Jesus meant: So, go, and tell others of what you have seen, and help them believe.

Before we ever call Thomas “doubting Thomas” again, let’s consider the fruit of his life first. And to ask ourselves if we doubt Jesus more than Thomas did.

 

3. Shut up

“Then Saul’s uncle said to him and his servant, “Where did you go?”
So he said, “To look for the donkeys. When we saw that they were nowhere to be found, we went to Samuel.”
 And Saul’s uncle said, “Tell me, please, what Samuel said to you.”
So Saul said to his uncle, “He told us plainly that the donkeys had been found.” But about the matter of the kingdom*, he did not tell him what Samuel had said.”
1 Samuel 10: 14 – 16

* refers to the prior account of Samuel prophesying to Saul that he will become king.

Then Samuel explained to the people the behavior of royalty, and wrote it in a book and laid it up before the LORD. And Samuel sent all the people away, every man to his house. And Saul also went home to Gibeah; and valiant men went with him*, whose hearts God had touched. But some rebels said, “How can this man save us?” So they despised him, and brought him no presents. But he held his peace.
1 Samuel 10: 25 – 27

* After Samuel’s proclamation that Saul would become king.

I think it is unfortunate that Saul has been typecast as the bad king of Israel. I don’t disagree that he went awry as his reign over Israel went on. But here’s the question – for something to go awry, surely it must have been good, or at least decent, prior to the fall.
In Saul’s case it certainly is the case. I’m not going to talk about his good looks, height, and all that. Today while I was reading 1 Samuel again I realize Saul had some qualities that we should strive to have (followed by qualities that we should strive to shave).

In the above two short excerpts which demonstrate three key character strengths of Saul (for full context read 1 Samuel 9 – 12).

1. He could shut up – When Samuel told Saul all that God wanted to do in His life, Saul went along his way and did his thing. And when he was asked, he mentioned the bare minimum, nicely excluding the matters of the kingdom. Cowardice? I don’t think so. A similiar story revolving around Joseph the book of Genesis comes to mind. God speaks to Joseph in a dream that he would become leader of nations and all his brothers would bow down to him… Joseph couldn’t shut up about it – and pretty much suffered for it. Saul, in that sense, was put in the same position, and kept it to himself until the time was right.

2. He could shut up – Yes. Same lesson twice. After Samuel told everyone that Saul would be king, there were those who mocked him. They despised him, wondering how this mild mannered farm boy could deliver Israel (while at the same time chanting “Long live the king” – makes me wonder. If they really hated Saul, they should’ve told God ‘Ok, we don’t want a king now. But I suppose they weren’t very bright.) Anyway, what did Saul do? He held his peace. Why? Chicken? Maybe. Wise? Probably.

3. Saul only spoke up after the Spirit had come upon him. If you read further down the text, when Israel was threatened by the Amorites, Saul finally spoke up in his kingly mantle. And he could do it only because God spoke through him. What happened? Saul delivered Israel, and gave all glory back to God. And that’s the story for the today – knowing when God wants you to speak. Quite often, it’s not all the time.

Of course, we could slip in a fourth lesson. Shortly after Saul began his reign, he gave up this character trait of shutting up and letting God speak to running his mouth at every circumstance. Look what happened? Samuel critisizes Saul, and instead of shutting up and repenting, he went away to do something else. Lost it. Totally lost it.

Lesson learnt. Learn to shut up. Too many people are jumping on the “speak-out-whenever-your-mouth-itches” bandwagon. Not enough are figuring out when not to.

Pray that: God gives us discernment to know when to speak, when not to, when to act, and when not to. And pray that God gives us the strength to not succumb to every impulsive desire to say something about everything.

 

 

2. Did so.

And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a Man stood opposite him with His sword drawn in His hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, “Are You for us or for our adversaries?”

So He said, “No, but as Commander of the army of the LORD I have now come.”
And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and said to Him, “What does my Lord say to His servant?”

Then the Commander of the LORD’s army said to Joshua, “Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy.” And Joshua did so.

Joshua 5: 13 – 15

I was very amazed when I re-read this very familiar passage. This was a literal account of someone being “in the presence of God”, so to speak. It’s a term we use frequently, being in “God’s presence”. But what do we do in God’s presence? Well, here are the three thoughts for today:

1. Joshua worshipped. Joshua didn’t know it was the Commander of the Lord’s army until a little later, but upon realizing it his first reaction was to abandon his own question of “Are you for us or for our adversaries?” and simply fell on his face and worshipped. He understood reverence.

2. Joshua asked what God wanted him to do. After worship, Joshua did not revert to his earlier question, which mattered a great deal to him. After all, war looms, and he needed God on his side. But no, in the presence of a Holy God, he first worshipped, then asked God What does my LORD say to His servant?

3. Joshua obeyed. God’s request was simple – to take of his sandals, because Joshua was in a holy place now. It was an affirmative invitation to Joshua to continue to dwell in God’s presence, and what did Joshua do? He did so.

At the end of it, Joshua didn’t make a request to God to take Jericho, or to do this, or that. I’m sure all that came later, and there’s certainly much scriptural evidence that we should come to God with our needs. But here we see an excellent attitude and approach to entering God’s presence – Worship and obedience.

The rest can wait. Really. Joshua did take most of the land after that, for the record. And I believe it began with just worship and obedience.

It’s certainly very scary, but it’s an attitude that we should aspire to have.

God bless.

1. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so

“Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever.
Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,
Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy,
and gathered out of the lands,
From the east and from the west,
From the north and from the south.”
Psalm 107: 1 – 3

I’ve been going through a self-imposed reading exercise with the Bible everyday for the past 2 years. I confess I’m not particularly consistent when it comes to spending time daily studying the Word or coming to God in prayer. And it has been a while since I last went through the entire Bible. So I set myself a goal of reading one or two chapters every day, even if it just takes 2 minutes of my time.

Not so holy, I know, but it’s progress.

I say it is progress because firstly I’ve covered a third of the Bible already (which could be better, admittedly), and secondly, I spend more time trying to understand what I read these days. In other words, the habit is growing on me.

I came across the above verse – “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so” recently. I have read that verse many times in the past. And some have sang songs with that line. But it really sank in my heart when I read it again. I asked myself this question – “say what, exactly?”

Well, the answer to that question is in the verse itself. Giving thanks to God for His goodness, His mercy, and His redemptive work in my life. Indeed, we were once all lost, but now we are found.

So really, this blog is something new I set up to further chart my progress. I want to learn to contribute. I’m going to try to say a thing or two about my reading every day, and hope it blesses someone else who reads it too. This blog is called lutroō, which is the Biblical Greek for the word “ransom/redeemed”. That kinda sums up my thoughts today.

It’s not meant to be complicated, or academically intellectual. It’s only a daily devotional of sorts. Feel free to discuss your thoughts if you want 🙂

God bless
lutroō