[See John 20. 19 – 31] Thomas is a parade example of how to move from doubt to faith. His doubt is honest. He wasn’t willing to pretend he got it. He wasn’t able to believe in the resurrection, but he wasn’t willing to believe in something less than the resurrection. He could have made life easier for himself by nodding when the others told him that they saw Jesus. Yes, yes, he could have said, I get what you’re saying; a spiritual resurrection, Jesus still living in my heart, in the influence that he continues to have in my life. But Thomas doesn’t settle for that.
He is in that upper room behind locked doors at great personal risk to his life. He doesn’t run away. He doesn’t blow off his friends and figure well, that’s fine for you but it’s not for me. He realizes that if it’s true that Jesus actually rose from the dead there’s nothing more important. May our own doubts drive us to Thomas’ kind of honesty. And may we continue always to be the kind of community where the Thomas in each of us can be in the room. Where Everyone’s welcome. Nobody’s perfect. Anything’s possible. Welcome to St Stephen’s.