I’d like to lay it all out here. Here it is in a nutshell, post Easter. I’ve always been bugged by the whole scene in the Bible with Tomas the apostle, the poster-child of doubt and lack of faith. I’ve always thought he got a bum rap. My version would go like this:
"Dude, dude, we so totally saw Jesus today."
"What have you all been smoking. And for Christ’s sake, take a bath, y’all smell."
"No, no, totally, Tom, we saw him, didn’t we Peter?"
"Yeah. And the girls saw him too."
"Hmm, okay. Look, if it makes you feel better after having watched him be crucified and then locking yourselves in that room you call "the pad" for the last few weeks, that’s cool. I’m glad you think you saw him or something."
"Aw, man, Tomas, thinks we’re lyin’. He doesn’t BELIEVE. He doesn’t believe. He doesn’t believe."
"Now you’ve got too far, my brothers. Look, whether he’s actually walking around or not is totally and in all ways irrelevant. You all saw what he did. You KNOW what he stood for. He was the best. We lived and studied and hung with him through thick and thin. I KNOW who he is. He’s right here. I don’t need to see any bloody nail marks or spear wounds.
I looked deep in my heart and I realized that I know him. I know who he is. I don’t need any more from him. What more could I ask.
You mistake my skepticism for lack of faith, but it’s not that. It’s that I don’t really NEED anything more from him. He already gave us everything. He gave us purpose. He showed us the way. He died for us. I know that man believed what he said – what he told us. I know it. I know him. So don’t you assholes with your, ‘Oh, look Tomas doesn’t believe what his eyes don’t see,’ selves give me crap and ask for the Messiah to go around on your little puppet stings dancing through magic fairy dust for you to feel good about yourselves. It is you who doubt. It is you who look for magic signs and voices from the heavens and burning bushes.
Now, if I know Jesus, I know he just might oblige your puny minds with a heavy sigh. ‘Oh, okay one more time for Peter’ and he’d wave his hand or something, but after, he probably ask you why you couldn’t be more like Tomas. ‘Tomas didn’t make me do any miracles. Tomas didn’t ask me to rise from the dead. Y’all did, ’cause you needed it.’