Thomas, one of Jesus disciples, is a guy who gets a bad reputation. This stems from his interactions around Jesus where he asks for proof around things that were hard for him to believe. The most notable of these was when Jesus rose from the dead. Because of this he is referred to as “the doubter.”

Sometimes I can write someone like Thomas off for having no or little faith but when I was reading in the book of John today I noticed something about Thomas I had never seen before. It comes after Jesus has been informed about Lazarus death. After Jesus has explained this to the disciples we read this.

Then Thomas (also known as Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” John 11:16

Was he talking about dying with Lazarus? I don’t think so. Because going to Lazarus meant returning to Judea Jesus was putting himself at great risk as they had tried to stone Him there previously. I think Thomas is indicating that he is prepared to die with Jesus by going with Him to Judea.

These don’t sound like the words of a cowardly doubter with no faith.

Most scholars believe that Thomas was martyred for his faith in the end. He is credited with taking the gospel to India and there he lost hislife for Jesus. Again that doesn’t sound like someone of no faith!!

I’m going to start thinking differently about Thomas!