I’d prefer to see Thomas go down in history as ‘Thomas – The Believer’, rather than ‘Thomas – The Doubter’, as he is too often called. Did Bible historians call Moses ‘Moses the Murderer’? Or was David remembered as ‘David the Murderer and Adulterer’? No!! Historians did not hide their short-comings, but rather focused on and ultimately praised their growth achievements.
Thomas abandoned his doubt of the living Christ – fairly fast – and rose into acknowledgement of Jesus’ divine Source, with his inspired declaration of “My Lord and my God.” Albeit, that happened once he took note of the physical evidence. So what! He l-e-p-t spiritually upward!
The words ‘Thomas or Didymus’ mean ‘twin’. It seems to me that Thomas left his duplicity…. twin-ness… and gained a sense of Oneness. He left a dual thought of matter combined with Spirit… for a breath-taking declaration of Spirit. I would like to be Thomas’ twin… if I mirrored such a spiritual leap.
So why should we not instead acknowledge his vision, and say to Thomas, “You are not faithless. You are indeed a believer!”
Thomas had been one of the chosen few to have a front row disciple-seat to learn from Jesus. He would have been one of those disciples who Jesus had sent out to heal. A spiritual achiever. And ultimately he had the wonderful vision of Jesus’ identity… “My Lord and my God.”
This story reminds and teaches me that we cannot hold onto limited views of Jesus or Mary Baker Eddy. And let’s hold all that was/is good in Thomas – in high esteem. Thomas – The Believer.