MEET JESUS' CREW : THOMAS WAS A CYNIC

A chronic one...

I believe that Thomas had issues believing because he was unimaginative... Creativity was certainly a minus for him... an overbearing realist that had a knack for digging up the worst in every situation... doubt was a lifestyle; even after viewing all of Jesus’ miracles; even after witnessing Lazarus return to life, Tommy could not just bring himself to believe that Jesus had risen from the dead!

What does it take to believe that a man who had raised one from the dead could also rise from the dead? Imagination... you see! I told you Thomas’ imagination was earth low from the skies... A perfect analogy would be “pinky” – that’s if you watch cartoons...

Tommy could have grown up around “Practical” adults, who would calculate all the days of their life and live no room for providence or divine intervention... The kind that shut you up if you dare to dream about inventing stuff... They would rather you plied the conventional career routes... you know the long list! It wouldn’t be out of place to say that Thomas could hardly believe in himself!

If you cannot believe in yourself, how can you believe in another! You see Tommy’s predicament? I wonder what other influences in the city of Capernaum had eroded his imagination and clogged his mind with practicality, cynicism, realism, & mistrust. Childhood must have been boring even with his twin brother around.


Tommy was not a likely candidate for teaching people about faith...
System error! Please reboot!

How was he supposed to explain healing to his followers & tell them it was possible to defy gravity on water, when he himself could hardly grasps the reality in that? I am of the opinion that he was the first to proclaim doubt when Jesus walked on water towards them & must have been too cynical to believe that he asked Peter to request Jesus’ permission to come forth!

Given that Jesus’ neck and his disciples’ butt were wanted in Lazarus’ hometown, Tommy only saw the impending doom that would embrace them should they go down there to raise “a sleeping man that was dead”... His conclusion was, “That’s all folks, time to die... let’s also go there and embrace our spaceships to heaven”... He wasn’t trying to be sarcastic or peevish, he was just expressing himself as a realist! We are wanted in this town & if we go there, we all die! Finito!

Lack of imagination to reason that, Jesus’ time had not come YET... at least the good master was kind enough to intel them on future occurrences! This same lack of imagination had Tommy asking “Lord we know not where you are headed, please where is that?” even after Jesus’ said “I go to the father, to prepare a place for you”... Really dumb question right?

Dude just was not cut out for this faith stuff...hmmm.... that’s why He had gone wandering on the street, looking for some logical books on science to read when Jesus appeared to the other ten in the upper room after resurrection... have you ever asked yourself why he wasn’t there?

Now amidst his doubts and cynicism, Jesus called him on board & never ever asked him to leave his crew because he expressed doubts... Jesus knew Tommy was not trying to prove anything... Jesus saw a man that had spent a greater part of His life living in doubt, being fed doubt, studying doubt & sleeping doubt. Jesus knew if this doubt was appropriately harnessed he could learn a lot – doubt incites curiosity & curiosity begets knowledge, right?

So Jesus saw a cynic who needed a gentle prod to become a stallion of faith and he never gave up on him... If you were a boss like Jay & Tommy expressed doubts about your ability to rise from the dead even after witnessing the resurrection of Lazarus, what would you do? But Jay did not deride him, he only urged him to cease depending on his sensory perceptions to walk with him... & that was the last you heard about Tommy...

Tell you what, India received the good news of salvation because Tommy packed up his bags, emigrated out of “Doubt Island” and went hard with faith.... After seeing the risen saviour, anything was possible! Ask residents of St. Thomas in India & they would tell you Tommy was martyred with a Spear but that he resurrected... look up your Illumina Gold!

If you have heard the Gospel and doubts about the veracity of Jesus Christ still linger; MAYBE you feel you have failed Christ because you have doubted his word; Quit with the derision, Thomas walked with Christ for three years, yet he harboured doubts... Have you preached the Gospel to others & like atheists, they have mocked your good-news? Stay, & show them the last words of Christ to Tommy... “blessed are they that have not seen but believe”
Blessed!

Tell them they do not need ocular prove to believe Jesus is the saviour just as they don’t need ocular prove to know that their daddy is the daddy. How many of them have gone for DNA test to actually prove that? Tell them Christianity is a walk of Faith & not works geared by sensory perception!

Do not quit at doubt... let this doubt lead you to curiosity & your curiosity will land you in faith! Keep going hard for Christ & if you haven’t started, it’s quite easy... Click ‘I Confess’ above...forget you doubts & practical nature ... time will erase them...

Remember... Jesus never asked for golden, silver or diamond vessels... He only needed yielded vessels... yielded vessels usually bear ills but always turn out to be the best vessels for transmission...