Story of Thomas

This is the second of two week 3 discussion questions from my Spring 2022 course Understanding the Bible as a Progressive Christian through Pathways Theological Education. (The first wasn't really meaningful as is outside of the constraints of the course.)

Summarize what you learned about the story of Thomas as though you are presenting it to a Bible study group before a discussion.

Note: I wrote this as if it were for my church and I'll probably use it for our Bible study, as such I specifically reference the CEB, which we privilege because it is better for our non-native English speaking members and our Bible study materials (Sharing God's Story @ Home, the Narrative Lectionary programs inserts from Spirit and Truth Publishing). My final line is not taken directly from those materials, but is influenced by some of the questions they suggest people think about at home and not necessarily how I would introduce the discussion were we using other materials or none at all. (But I am not unhappy with that direction.) Were I presenting this orally, I would probably not read the direct quotes from D. Mark Davis that are inline below, but keep them handy for discussion if needed.

Today we are going to focus on the story of Thomas from chapter 20 in the Gospel of John 

In the Narrative Lectionary, which our church uses, each year focuses on a single gospel, and this year's focus is on John. This is our last reading of the year from John, for the rest of the lectionary year we are mostly going to be studying Acts. Hopefully, at this point, we at least have an understanding of the background of the Gospel of John and if you don't yet have your own sense of how it differs from the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke), I highly recommend that you read them if you haven't (or if reading on your own isn't your thing, we'll be covering Matthew next year and you'll be able to see the contrast.) I did want to share a quote about John in general that I think is particularly meaningful to this story. In her introduction to John in The Women's Bible Commentary, Gail R. O'Day says "in John, Salvation is found in and through the flesh, not apart from the flesh." I think it's worth reflecting on how this applies to this story in particular.

This week's reading is John 20:19-31 and while today, we are going to treat verses 19-23 as background information and focus on the story of Thomas in verses 24-31, that's not the only way to look at these verses. In verses 22-23, Jesus gives the apostles the gift of the Holy Spirit and says some important things about the forgiveness of sins. Not to mention that verse 21, where Jesus says "As the Father sent me, so I am sending you", is arguably John's version of Matthew 28:16-20, which you may have heard referred to as The Great Commission (and is the reading for this week next year.) Either of those topics are worthy of study in great depth, not being brushed aside as "just background", so please remember these verses going forward.

In this story, we have the disciples, minus Thomas, in a locked room, afraid and Jesus comes to them. Our CEB points out that they are afraid of "the Jewish Authorities", other translations say just "the Jews" or "the Judeans." Although it's not central to the story of Thomas, I think it's really important to comment on this because this verse and verses like it are often used as excuses for anti-semitism, unsubstantiated claims of Christian persecution, and otherwise separating people into us and them. The apostles are afraid of a specific group of locals in power, who specifically worked to turn Jesus over to the still more powerful  Romans. The apostles themselves are also Jews and have many Jewish supporters (but mainly in other areas of the country), but in every group of oppressed peoples, there are some who are willing to grovel to those in power for illusionary safety or power over others in their group. My Jewish Annotated New Testament points out that this fear is also based on Jesus's comments in John 16:2-3 that there will come a time when they will be persecuted. It's worth pointing out that the apostles don't need to be afraid in this context, the authorities do not bother them at this time, the only person who attempts to get into the room is Jesus himself. And thus, Jesus greeting them with "Peace be with you" is potentially multilayered, ranging from a standard Jewish greeting (Shalom) to his telling them that they do have peace in the moment, that is that this is not the time of oppression to come. Brian Stoffregen even points out that it can be an allusion to a future peaceful messianic age, although he doesn't think that is the primary intention here. Later, the other disciples tell Thomas what happened, he expresses doubts and states what he would need to have happen in order for him to believe - see Jesus and touch his wounds from the crucifiction himself. Then the next week, when Thomas is present, Jesus appears again, reassures the apostles again, and gives Thomas the opportunity to feel the wounds like he said he needs to. This story is often referred to as the story of doubting Thomas, but that's not necessarily a good summary. Thomas isn't the only one with doubts here, by the way. If you notice, despite Jesus reassuring them on the first visit, the disciples continue to meet in a locked room. When Thomas is reassured, he exclaims, "My Lord and my God!", which is more than recognition that it is in fact Jesus. Stoffregen refers to it as a confession and points out that he's using a formula for referring to Emperor Domitian, likely the emperor at the time the Gospel of John was written. Thus this confession has revolutionary implications, the immortal Jesus is the supreme power, not the mortal authorities. Finally,  The Jewish Study Bible points out that it could be an allusion to Psalm 35, which talks about people claiming to have seen things they did not and asking "My God and My Lord" to establish justice.

A last thing I want to touch on before we start discussing this story ourselves is some of the subtler meaning of the Greek that gets lost in translation. On the surface, just as Jesus tried to give the fearful apostles the sense of safety they need the first time he visits the locked room, Jesus gives Thomas what he says he needs, a chance to touch Jesus' wounds. However, when Thomas says he would need to actually feel the wounds to believe, D. Mark Davis tells us the word he uses for putting his hand into the wounds implies that his hand basically would fall into the wounds of their own accord while he's going about his business. ["βάλω: AASubj 1s, βάλλω, 1) to throw or let go of a thing without caring where it falls  1a) to scatter, to throw, cast into  1b) to give over to one's care uncertain about the result  1c) of fluids  1c1) to pour, pour into of rivers  1c2) to pour out  2) to put into, insert"] When Jesus appears before Thomas he tells him to feel with a word Davis says implies the movement requires some actual work. ["φέρε: PAImp 2s, φέρω, 1) to carry   1a) to carry some burden   1a1) to bear with one's self   1b) to move by bearing; move or, to be conveyed or borne, with the suggestion of force or speed"] In the Greek, Jesus is telling Thomas that what he wants is there, but he has to do more than the bare minimum, he has to put in some effort. I've seen discussion before over whether or not when Jesus goes on to say "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe" in verse 29 (this by the way is our study materials' suggested memory verse for this week), he is chiding Thomas for not believing without seeing, but perhaps the chide is for not even planning to make an effort to end his doubts. By the way, if you check the service challenge in our study materials for this week, it supports this view, suggesting that we take some sort of action like baking cookies or sending a note, to support our friends and family who may have doubts. Back to the idea of the possibility that Jesus is chiding anyone for not believing, remember it is the other apostles who still feel a need to be in a locked room despite Jesus' reassurance of peace.

So, let's talk about this passage and doubt and trust and how you go from doubt to trust.