The Legacy of Thomas

John 20:24-29 relates the story of “doubting” Thomas:

  But one of the Twelve, Thomas (called “Twin”), was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples kept telling him, “We have seen the Lord!”

   But he said to them, “If I don’t see the mark of the nails in His hands, put my finger into the mark of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will never believe!”

  After eight days His disciples were indoors again, and Thomas was with them. Even though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them. He said, “Peace to you!”

  Then He said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and observe My hands. Reach out your hand and put it into My side. Stop your unbelief, but believe.”

  Thomas responded to Him, “My Lord and my God!”

  Jesus said, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Note that at the beginning of the passage, the other eleven disciples repeatedly urged Thomas to believe them, but like a good scientist, he refused to believe something so outlandish without direct observation of the critical details.

And so Jesus, in an act of extraordinary grace, obliged him. The Resurrected God Almighty condescended to reveal Himself personally to one of his twelve closest disciples when he couldn’t believe his compatriots.

Why did Jesus do it? 

What Do You Need?

As the facilitator of our campus faculty ministry, I continually struggle to see what we can do to minister to our believing colleagues, much less reach out to the others. We have about 100 on our email list, but on a good day have 5 come to our weekly lunchtime gatherings. This tells me that 95 or so of them do not find the gathering vital enough to open their schedule over lunch (we brown bag it) or have class over that time.

That begs the question, what perceived needs are we not meeting? For some, church is the avenue for their ministry, and that is fine. I humbly challenge these brothers and sisters that where we spend the majority of our time is a green field in which God has planted us to do His work. When we gather even just as believing faculty, we encourage each other in so many ways—navigating the often hostile culture, integrating our faith with our teaching, research, and service, challenging our assumptions about our faith, praying together, putting our heads together to address contemporary issues in both the academy and culture at large, and just knowing there are others who share our faith.

Can Christian faculty stand together on campus to graciously offer alternative viewpoints to some of the dominant assumptions of campus culture? Not tearing down or attacking other worldviews as much as offering reasoned explanations, suggesting new perspectives, and providing students and colleagues alike with a sanctuary from the pressures of the world.

In short, we have unique opportunities to be salt and light.

God’s Spirit provides synergy when we work together.

What do you say?

SDG