“Doubting”
April 12, 2026
Rev. Rebecca Migliore
Thomas gets a bad rap! Why does he get singled out with that nickname, “doubting”? Let’s recap what has happened right before our reading. (Remember we are back in the world of the gospel of John—sorry for the whiplash). In the gospel of John, Easter morning has dawned with Mary Magdelene going to the tomb, only to find it empty. She runs to get Peter and the disciple who Jesus loved and they inspect this empty tomb, and then the men return home.
Mary sticks around and is confronted by two angels who ask her why she is weeping. Then she turns away only to find herself face to face with one she supposes is the gardener, but is really Jesus. After recognizing him when he spoke her name, and being told not to touch or hold onto him, she is sent back to the other disciples to tell them that Jesus is ascending to God (and, of course, she blurts out that she ‘has seen the Lord.”)
Mary, Peter and the other disciple have all seen the empty tomb, but we are only told that the other disciple “believed” (meaning he accepted that this was the resurrection Jesus had foretold). Peter is still trying to figure it out. And Mary is trying to find out where Jesus’ body is. Maybe we can’t underline the idea of doubt for Peter and Mary, but it certainly isn’t instantaneous belief!
Now we come to our reading for today. The disciples have heard Mary, Peter, and the other disciple tell about the empty tomb. The disciples have heard Mary say she has seen the Lord. But what are they doing? They have locked the doors to the place where they were staying, “for fear of the Judeans.” Was that all they were afraid of? Were any of them doubting Mary’s word? We only hear that the other disciple believed. One can imagine that they were not sure what to think.
That they might be having all kinds of theological arguments about what Jesus had said would happen. Do you remember that early in his ministry Jesus said that temple that was destroyed would in three days be raised? Is this what he meant? What was resurrection anyway?
And while they were gathered (although Thomas was not with them), Jesus stood among them. That must have been frightening. To have Jesus, who they knew had been dead and buried, standing in their midst. How had he got in? The doors were locked! Was this really Jesus? And Jesus says, “Peace be with you.” (I can only imagine that this was a familiar greeting among the disciples—a way of identifying himself, as he did by uttering Mary’s name.) And to underline who he is, he shows them his hand and his side—the physical marks that they knew Jesus had. In other words, he is trying to allay any doubts that anyone might have had. He appears to them all, he uses the familiar Jewish greeting, and he shows them his wounds. All ways of helping them towards belief that this really was Jesus, Jesus alive again, Jesus the resurrected one!
I thought it was an interesting idea (which Rev. Matthew Bolton from SALT suggested) that this whole showing his hands and side wasn’t trying to be gory, but that it might give us a window into the conversations that were happening at the time. This resurrection thing—how was Jesus going to appear? Was he going to be the Christus Victor, the conquering hero, the warrior for God who would bring back the heights of Israel’s kingdom? Or was he going to be that suffering servant talked about in the prophet Isaiah? The one wounded for our transgressions? John seems to land heavily on the suffering servant, as Jesus, post resurrection, still has the wounds from his crucifixion. Wounds that he freely shows. Here is the gentle, sacrificial lamb of God from the Passover, harkening back to John the Witness’s name for Jesus.
But I digress. My whole point is that there are few, if any, of the disciples who don’t have any doubts. Otherwise, Jesus wouldn’t have needed to give so much confirmation of who he was.
There was enough doubt for everyone. But Thomas gets saddled with being the poster child for it. The ultimate FOMO (fear of missing out) experience. He doesn’t come to one dinner, one meeting, and resurrected Jesus shows up! And they all have seen not only Jesus but his hands and side. AND he breathed on them and gave them the Holy Spirit. Of course he says, “unless I see it too, unless I get more than you did and put my hands into those wounds, I will not believe.”
Thomas doesn’t deserve to be thought of as only a doubter. Earlier in the gospel, Jesus decides to return to raise Lazarus, despite the fact that they had just left the place because of being in danger of being stoned, and the other disciples are not fond of the idea. It is Thomas who speaks up and says, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
And, then there is the other famous Thomas story, during the Last Supper. Jesus has a long oration where he is trying to talk about the time after his death, and says, “…If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going.” It is Thomas, thinking Thomas, questioning Thomas, wanting to understand Thomas, who pipes up and asks what I’m sure they were all thinking—“But we don’t know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
We shouldn’t see Thomas as someone who doesn’t get it, who is the proverbial last man to get to the home base. Thomas is right there with the others, being faithful enough to risk life and limb for Jesus, sometimes even willing to ask the dumb question, just so he could truly get what Jesus was saying. I wonder if we have called him “doubting Thomas” because we are afraid that we are too much like him—wanting ultimate proof of a mystery.
And when Jesus offers Thomas proof, even proof beyond what the others had (to place his fingers, his hand on Jesus’ body) we are told that Thomas exclaims “My Lord and My God!” Did the others confess that? If so, we are not told so.
It is Thomas who shows his belief out loud. And every time I read Jesus’ words, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe” –I have this deep awareness that Jesus is speaking directly to us.
Because all of the disciples (except Paul) got to have that first hand experience—they ALL got to see. And only one believed before he saw Jesus. So who are these blessed ones who believe without seeing, but all of us who come after the fact. All of us who might have wanted to have the experience Thomas asks for. Because resurrection is an unfathomable thing.
The world mocks any of us who might believe such a thing. Here is a G rated Easter joke: St. Peter is quizzing people at the pearly gates. He is asking “What is Easter?” The first man answers, “I know, it’s that holiday in November when we gather with family, have all our favorite foods, and have to say a prayer before anyone eats.” St. Peter shakes his head. He moves on to the next person and asks “What is Easter?” The woman answers, “I know this one! It’s that holiday in December when we put up decorations, exchange gifts, and celebrate the birth of Jesus!” St. Peter sighs, and turns to the next one in line. “What is Easter?” “I do know what Easter is. Easter is the Christian holiday that coincides with the Jewish celebration of Passover. Jesus was crucified on a cross and then buried in a nearby cave which was sealed off by a large boulder.” St. Peter was smiling broadly with delight. “Go on, go on” he encourages. “Every year the boulder is moved aside so that Jesus can come out…and if he sees his shadow there will be six more weeks of winter.”
What happened on Easter is mind-blowing. And if any of us thinks we have a total handle on it, I believe we are not being honest. Graham Greene, a writer who called himself in later years a “Catholic agnostic” famously said, “Doubt is the heart of the matter. Abolish all doubt, and what’s left is not faith, but absolute, heartless conviction.
You’re certain that you possess the Truth—inevitably offered with an implied uppercase T—and this certainty quickly devolves into dogmatism and righteousness, by which I mean a demonstrative, overweening pride in being so very right, in short, the arrogance of fundamentalism.”
We talk about Thomas, doubting Thomas, as if he did something wrong. But doubt is part of faith, doubt might lead us to a deeper faith, doubt urges us on to ask questions, to keep finding answers (as best we can understand it). Thomas shouldn’t just be the patron saint for all those who might need a minute to think something out, or a little bit more information, or the time to live with mystery. He should be for us all. And when I looked it up, Thomas is known as the patron saint of: architects, builders, construction workers, and surveyors as well as doubters and last but not least, theologians (that is all of us who talk about God.)
So in this time after Easter, we can give ourselves the space to journey with the first disciples, as they grapple with what has happened in their world and in their lives. We can be free to ask questions about things that don’t necessarily have answers. We can prod our assumptions and not be afraid that we are doing something wrong. In other words, we can allow ourselves the possibility that “doubting” might describe us too. Let us just remember that Jesus has already given extra blessings to those who have to work it all out “without seeing” (that means most of us). And here’s a “thank you” to Thomas for showing us that doubt and faith are part of being human.
May it be so, Alleluia, Amen.