It's Time to Change Thomas's Nickname

It’s time to change Thomas’s nickname. Encountering Jesus turned Thomas the practical-skeptic into Thomas the missionary-evangelist.

Magazines lined the trays of whiteboards, greeting the first day of my lower-division college English class, English 1C or “Critical Thinking.” Nearly every magazine was an issue of Skeptic, a publication dedicated to science and objective proof. I knew the magazine’s reputation and the reputation of the founder, Michael Shermer. Shermer became a Christian as a senior in high school in the early 1970s, before he studied theology and did various kinds of ministry. But something changed for Shermer. His studies in experimental psychology began to create a dissonance in his beliefs. The final straw, though, was not one that broke a camel’s back, but a tragic car accident that broke the back of the girl he loved. He wept and prayed by her hospital bed, begging God to heal her. Still, she remained paralyzed from the waist down. Shermer concluded that God could not be real. He abandoned his former commitment to Christian faith, dedicating his life to making people skeptical of what he calls “pseudo-science, superstition” and other “weird” beliefs. My professor in my Critical Thinking class wanted to pass this skeptical perspective onto us. He wanted us to question and reject beliefs that we couldn’t test, touch, and verify.

This is a common mindset in our culture. We value tangible, visible, verifiable proof, and results. We want our purchases to accomplish their promises or to receive our money back before 30 days have elapsed. We have an entire industry of publishing, MasterClasses, podcasts, online courses, and social media channels focused on helping us help ourselves to become more productive, to be our best self, to live our best life. We watch YouTube videos on how to replace the air regulator in our Chevy Impala, and we Google 7 steps for repairing a popped tire on our kid’s bicycle. We value skepticism, and we value practicality. In other words, we are a lot like Jesus’s disciple, Thomas.

Thomas the Brave

Thomas is only mentioned one time each in the synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, where he is listed with the other disciples (Mt 10:3; Mk 3:18; Lk 6:18). John, though, like he tends to do, gives us another view. John sketches a picture of Thomas’s story. Thomas first shows up in John 11, after Lazarus the friend of Jesus has died. The disciples know the danger that lurks for Jesus if he goes to the funeral for his friend. But Thomas plays the man, it seems: “Then Thomas (called ‘Twin’) said to his fellow disciples, ‘Let’s go too so that we may die with him’” (John 11:16). Thomas, like Peter, talks a big game. He’s full of committed bravado. He’s willing, like Peter, to die. But Peter had to be humbled. Thomas did too.

Thomas the Pragmatist

In his final evening with his friends and followers, Jesus demonstrates a preview of his humble love for them by doing the unthinkably degrading service of washing their feet. No other record in the ancient world testifies to a superior, a teacher or leader, washing the feet of a student or an inferior on the social scale. Jesus shows his disciples the heartbeat of his life and mission with this act of serving, previewing his death for his people on the cross. Then he tells them the heartbeat of his life and mission, the glory of God (John 13:31-32) and Christian love (John 13:34-35). In between, he explains that this final evening is the culmination of his training and preparing them: “Little children, I am with you a little while longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so now I tell you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’” (John 13:33).

The disciples respond to this word with a series of questions. Peter asks, Where and Why: Where are you going? Why can’t I follow you? (John 13:36-37). Peter thinks it’s a moral courage problem. That if he just has enough strength and commitment, he can make it. Thomas, on the other hand, thinks it’s more of a practical problem. Peter asks Where and Why, but Thomas asks How: “‘Lord,’ Thomas said, ‘we don’t know where you’re going. How can we know the way?’” (John 14:5). Thomas would have made a good American. He’s practical. He wants to know what will work. He wants concrete, clear answers and to know the ways and means that he can see and touch. He wants practical steps and verifiable proof. He’s skeptical about anything that won’t obviously work.

Maybe Jesus’s answer frustrated him. To us it’s a famous verse, but to Thomas it was probably confusing: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him” (John 14:6-7). Jesus doesn’t give Thomas a plan or a process. He offers himself. He offers his person. Thomas wants practical, turn-by-turn instruction. Jesus offers him personal intimacy and friendship.

Thomas the Skeptic

The last scene with Thomas on stage in John’s gospel is his most famous one. He got his nickname here: doubting Thomas. After the resurrection, Jesus shows up to his disciples, but Thomas misses it (John 20:24). When Thomas does show up, Jesus has gone again, and his friends are mind-blown: “We’ve seen the Lord!” Thomas, the practical skeptic refuses to believe without proof. “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’” (20:25).

A week later, Jesus shows up again, and he meets Thomas at his point of doubt, fear, and skepticism. “Put your finger here and look at my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Don’t be faithless, but believe” (20:27). Jesus can handle any question or doubt Thomas—or you—can throw at him. He can handle any doubt Thomas or you might have about him. He invites Thomas to see and touch the proof. Thomas the practical skeptic, though, sees Jesus, and that is enough for him. He finally understands who Jesus is: “My Lord and my God!” (20:28). Thomas understands finally that the solution isn’t a plan or a process, but the person of Jesus. He is Lord and God, he is Way, Truth, and Life.

Jesus met Thomas in his doubt and skepticism and invited him toward relationship. He invites us, too. He invites us to hear and believe: “Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe” (20:29).

Thomas the Missionary

These encounters with the God-man, Jesus Christ, changed Thomas the practical skeptic into Thomas the missionary-evangelist. Records from church history trace a travelogue for Thomas. He left the eastern Mediterranean in Israel, rooting himself on the western coast of India. There he served for two decades as a missionary and evangelist, before being executed for leading the emperor’s wife to Christ. To this day, there are six million people in India, Dubai, and around the world who claim the name of Christ and call themselves “St. Thomas Christians.”

So maybe it’s time to change Thomas’s nickname. Thomas the Missionary. Thomas the Evangelist. Thomas the Martyr. Thomas the Man Who Encountered Jesus. Whereas Michael Shermer was an evangelist turned practical-skeptic, Jesus turned Thomas the practical-skeptic into Thomas the missionary evangelist.

Imagine what Jesus can do for you.