Two Sides to the Story

So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not here, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”
Then Thomas (called Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “let us also go, that we may die with him.” John 11:14-16


I love to read the Bible. Wait a minute… before you give me a pat on the back or judge me for being pretentious, wait for the whys. Of course there is the faith aspect. The Bible is my rock, but that isn’t exactly what I’m talking about here. I love the Bible because of the characters, who aren’t in fact “characters” at all but real people with real lives. Unlike other historical figures, we don’t know a lot about some of the most important people in the Bible. Many of them we see in snapshots.

Yesterday our pastor, Sam, spoke about Thomas. Sam is very well educated, especially in terms of spiritual matters. This is the second time in recent weeks that he has referred to Thomas as sort of an Eeyore. The first time was in reference to the passage above and yesterday he added the section of the Scripture that makes Thomas famous, his doubt. He wants to see the wounds of Jesus before he believes.(John:24-31) Those incidents combined with Tom’s comments at the Last Supper make Sam see him as a naysayer, a ho-hum we’re all gonna’ die anyway, kind of guy. The first time he said it I was shocked. Never, in all of the times I have read those passages have I seen Thomas that way. To me it isn’t a pattern but two sides of the same coin. Some of the reason may be that Sam and I are very different people. We differ in that, Sam is a glass half-empty type and I’m a glass half-full. Where we agree is that it doesn’t matter what is in the glass, or how much is in the glass, what matters is what God plans to do with it.

While Sam sees Thomas as resigned to die in the passage from John 11, I see him as committed to Jesus. In my mind it’s more of a, “Come on guys. He’s going, with or without us and we know we’re better off with him, so let’s go” scene. Jesus is going to Lazarus’s home and the way I see it, Thomas has his back. Later, after the crucifixion, Thomas, who put that kind of faith and loyalty into his relationship with Jesus, feels let down. To me, that doubt reads as one of those crisis of faith moments. Not knowing the whole story, Thomas, believes that he was wrong. He didn’t know Jesus as well as he thought he did. Things didn’t go the way he was so sure they would. So now he should believe that it’s all good again? Yeah, okay, but first, how about a little proof? That’s how I read Thomas, very different from Sam’s version. I am so grateful to Sam for giving me a different perspective. I still like mine better but I certainly found his interesting.

So who’s right? Who knows? Maybe Sam. Maybe me. Maybe neither of us. That is why I love the Bible. There are such great, truly human beings in it. Think about it, there are so many amazing people in those stories. The next time someone tells you they don’t read the Bible because it’s boring, ask them if they know about David or Saul. Tell them about Thomas, Mary, Martha, Esther, Peter, Nicodemus and anyone else who intrigues you. Also if someone tells you that the Bible is fiction, point out how little we are told about the “characters.” Good fictional characters come with a lot more detail. Before Thomas uttered one word in any chapter, we’d know what he was wearing, where he’d been and who he’d spoken to last, if the Bible were fiction, which of course, it is not.

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