"Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe," Thomas sternly retorts to the other disciples when they harass him with the message they had seen the risen Lord.
“But, he was right here. He came right through the locked door and gave us his peace.”
“I told you, I will not believe,” Thomas is emphatic.
I know that your English Bible says that Thomas doubted and that years and years of biblical interpretation has labeled him as “doubting Thomas.” But, this is not doubt that he is expressing. Thomas is not wavering in his faith and trust. No, Thomas is certain. The appropriate name for Thomas would be Thomas the unbeliever; Thomas the realist.
Thomas is under no delusions. He knows that the one who he trusted and loved is gone. He is dead and gone and Thomas has gotten on with his life. He is not locking himself away in the other disciple's little room of fear. He is out in the world getting on with things. He is rebuilding his life. He is not trapped in a tomb of fear.
And now these cowards who have locked themselves away in fear and self-pity are trying to drag him back into their delusions. They are trying to drag him back into the locked room. Well, he is not going to fall for it. He is not going to let it happen again. He will not be hurt again by losing someone he loves and trusts. He will not dare to make himself have hope again. He will not open himself to such pain again. He will not believe. He will not believe. "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe."
Why can’t the dead just stay dead? When they don’t, it throws everything out of whack. You cannot rebuild a life when the dead refuse to stay dead.
I once heard the story of a girl whose life was continually thrown into turmoil every birthday until she was 30 years old, because on her birthday, her dad would give her a video-taped message from her mother who died way too soon. It seemed like a good idea at the time; tape some messages so that her daughter could have the wisdom of her mother years after the cancer had taken her life. Well, it was not a good idea. Each year the daughter would watch the new tape and every year the daughter would feel the pain of her mother's death again. Even worse, when her mother would tell her to marry a certain type of guy, go to a specific school for college, or choose a specific career, the daughter could not fight back with her mother and change her mother’s mind. She felt guilty for every decision that she made in defiance of her mother. Why can’t the dead just stay dead? It throws everything into chaos if they do not. They should just die and stay in their tombs.
Only when the dead stay in their tombs can people like we and Thomas build our tombs and stay there.
A life devoid of hope is indeed a tomb. It cannot allow God to do the unexpected. It cannot allow grace to change the order of the world. It cannot allow our Savior to come back from the dead. As horrible as missing out on those things may seem, the tomb of realism is a mighty fine tomb because it is predictable. The stone walls are the same tomorrow as they are today. You can count on a tomb. It will not cause you to love and trust someone only to lose them.
But, do not let yourselves be mistaken. It is a tomb. Tombs by definition do not hold life. Life cannot grow and flourish in a tomb. We are not made to live in tombs.
And, that is the problem; if we have closed ourselves away in a tomb, where there is no life, how can we possibly get ourselves out? You do not escape tombs. You cannot just decide one day that you are going to leave your tomb to go get a soda from the Dandy. Whether it be a tomb of pain and loss or a tomb of unbelief or a tomb for the dead, a tomb is a tomb. Only the dead lie in tombs, and the dead cannot escape.
It is a good thing that locked doors of fear are not an issue for the risen Jesus, who just slips right through and offers his peace and his breath of forgiving life. It is a good thing that sealed tombs in no way hinder our risen Lord.
Jesus bursts right into Thomas’ tomb of unbelief and shows him the scars in his hands and side, just as Thomas needed. It is a good thing that even a tomb cannot hold Jesus down because it means that there is no place in the universe and no place in anyone’s life where new life cannot flourish. “My Lord, my God” Thomas answers him with new hope filling his life.
Today, that new hope, the new life that cannot be locked away by a tomb, reaches to us across the centuries and Jesus speaks directly to us. “[Thomas] Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe." Jesus' blessing cracks the edges of our own tombs open. It is not much, but it lets enough light in for hope to grow in even those of us who have not seen the Lord with our own eyes. It may just be a crack of light in our tomb of unbelief, but a crack is all Jesus needs to set us free. Blessed are you who have not seen and yet have come to believe.
I guess that tombs do not last forever after-all.
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