Restored and Refocused Faith 

John 20:27 

New International Version

Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

For Encouragement

Thomas, once a passionate follower of Jesus, felt betrayed and heartbroken after witnessing Jesus’ humiliating death on the cross (Jn. 20:24-29). Years of hope and belief in Jesus as the Messiah crumbled, challenging Thomas’ faith and making Israel’s deliverance seem lost. Jesus’ death made him a skeptic, and he refused to trust anything without tangible proof. Had he devoted himself to a cursed impostor (Gal. 3:13)? Determined not to be wounded again, Thomas resolved that only concrete evidence could restore his trust.

He may have stepped out to think about his future: “What next”? We don’t know if that was why he missed Jesus’ first appearance to the ten disciples in the upper room. What we know is that when the other disciples later told Thomas, he firmly pushed back:

“Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it” (Jn. 20:25).

Thomas’ response has earned him the most prominent doubter’s badge since then. However, he was a man of deep faith and strong conviction. He carefully considered everything before giving his heart to it.

Consider his courage and devotion when the other disciples feared returning to Judea with Jesus when Lazarus was sick. Thomas boldly urged them to follow Jesus, even if it meant dying with him (11:16). What greater love could there be?

Once again, Thomas’s hunger for understanding and clarity prompted Jesus to make one of his most profound declarations about himself.

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (14:6).

Thomas was not gullible. He inquired and probed every issue before signing on or rejecting it. Many may see his determination not to believe until he found the evidence he sought as a weakness and a lack of faith. However, seen as a purely personal strategy, it comes across as a protective shell against heartbreak, born of his faithfulness to every course he signed on.

So, before you dismiss Thomas as a doubter and a faithless disciple, consider his other virtues. You may gain a new understanding of his stance on the Lord’s resurrection. Knowing his heart, Jesus graciously gave Thomas the opportunity and evidence he sought (Jn. 20:24-28).  Thomas’s response to the risen Christ became a powerful declaration of Jesus’s divinity.

“My Lord and my God” (20:28).

Jesus is God! His resurrection confirms this truth, and Thomas finally gets it.

God’s truth revives the weary and restores those who have lost their way. It breaks the chains of doubt, setting hearts free to flourish in new life with Jesus. How wondrously free Thomas became when Jesus met him in his need (8:32, 36). Something truly remarkable happens when faith finds its footing in Jesus.

So live by faith, not by sight (2 Cor. 5:6). As Jesus said, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (Jn. 20:29).

Let Us Pray Together

Father, thank you that, knowing our weaknesses, you graciously carry us along the path of faith, so that we do not fail. You gently restore us and refocus our faith for a stronger walk with Jesus. For these and much more, we say, thank you. Amen.

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