Dave Brisbin 2.14.21
Poor Thomas… As one of the twelve Apostles, the inner circle of Jesus’ first followers, he follows Jesus for years, exhibits his bravery and boldness in following where others feared to go, and according to tradition, carries the gospel as far as India before he was martyred there in 72 CE. Pretty good resume. And yet because of one mistake—saying he wouldn’t believe the report of a risen Jesus until he’d put his hands in the wounds—he’s gotten this bad rap and a demeaning nickname for two thousand years and counting. Extremely unfair, especially when you consider that every one of Jesus’ first followers also doubted his resurrection until they’d had a personal experience with him. Thomas was the only one honest enough, bold enough, to admit he needed a personal experience to bring it home. But further, did Thomas really make a mistake at all?
Jesus teaches in such a way to first break down the assumptions and belief system of the questioner, because without first instilling the “great doubt” in a questioner’s mind, no further enlightenment can take place. Yet we in the West have been taught that doubt is bad, a sin, the opposite of faith. Nothing could be further from the truth. Faith is not thought; faith is action. And the opposite of faith is not doubt, but certainty, the mental illusion that stops any further action of faith. The doubt and uncertainty that are an essential part of human life are the motivators that make our faith possible. Faith only exists in the presence of doubt, is the ability to act in the presence of doubt. Doubt is part of the divine dissatisfaction that propels us not to certainty, but to the personal experience that convinces us of the truth that makes us free. This is the Way of Jesus, the Way he teaches us to experience truth, and the only Way to the Father… Thank you, Thomas.
