Now we come to the disciple, Thomas, whose claim to fame is his doubt that his fellow disciples had actually seen the resurrected Jesus (John 20:24-29). Thomas said that only his touching Christ’s wounds would convince him the Jesus had returned from death. When later Jesus appeared before him and offered Thomas to touch the stigmata, Thomas immediately became convinced that this in truth was the Risen Lord: “My Lord and my God.” Interestingly, this story appears only in the Gospel of John, not in the Synoptics, and even John does not say that Thomas actually touched the stigmata. The teaching point of the story is Jesus’ response: “Because you have seen me, you believe. Blessed are those who have not seen, yet have believed.”                                                        

The name Thomas derives from a Hebrew word meaning “twin.” The Greek translation is Didymus, so Thomas is often referred to by that name as well. Didymus may have just been a nickname, but if in fact a twin, whose twin was he? No clear answer, but candidates include even Jesus himself. More interestingly, Bissell (p. 224) notes that in many languages, the words “twin” and “doubt” have similar stems: Latin: duo and dubitare, German: zweifeln and zwei, and English: “doubt” and “double.”                                                         

Thomas’s apostle career took him to India in about 50 CE. He preached in the southwest of the peninsula and founded the sect known as Thomas Christians, which are active to this day. Thomas Christians speak Tamil, not Hindi. They do not accept the Chalcedon theology (Christ is one person with two natures) but instead the Nestorian view (Christ is two persons with two natures).                                                

In 72 CE, Thomas was martyred in the city of Chennai (formerly Madras) on the India’s southwest coast. Presumably, he was speared to death, hence the emblem on our reredos. Like other martyrs, his relics have been scattered, some in India, Syria, and Italy. Thomas is the patron saint of India and Indonesia.

Dickerman Hollister, Jr. MD