We notice, as we continue reading, that Thomas wasn’t with the other eleven (cp. Mark 16:14; Luke 24:9, 23), when Jesus appeared to his disciples on the day of his resurrection (John 20:24). In other words, Judas had not yet hung himself (cp. Matthew 27:5), and he was with the other ten Apostles on the first day of the week, when Jesus appeared to them. We don’t know for certain why Thomas wasn’t there with the eleven, but we can surmise. John’s Gospel record is the only narrative that mentions Thomas other than numbering him as one of the Twelve (cp. Matthew 10:3; Mark 3:18; Luke 6:15). Just before Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, John tells us that, Jesus was warned not to enter Judea, because the Jewish authorities sought his life (John 11:7-8), but Thomas, called Didymus, said: “Let us go, that we may die with him!” (John 11:16). He is mentioned once more after finishing their last meal with Jesus, and Thomas said: “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. How can we know the way?” (John 14:5).
If we are to draw any conclusions from so little a record of him, we might conclude that Thomas was quite boisterous about his faith. He may have been a big man, confident in his strength and wanting to prove himself a ready leader before the other men (John 11:16). He didn’t want to appear weak, but it seems evident that he wasn’t an intelligent man. He seems to have struggled understanding what Jesus said (John 14:4). So, what we may have here in John 20:24 is a proud man, who is large in stature. One might think of him as a kind of Saul (1Samuel 9:2). Someone who didn’t want to appear weak (cp. 1Samuel 18:7-8). So, when he witnessed Jesus’ crucifixion, he may have thought he was played the fool, so he avoided the company of his brethren, seeking solitude that he might consider all that occurred, and where that put him (John 20:24).
So, after Jesus appeared to the other eleven, they may have approached Thomas or Thomas may have encountered them among the other pilgrims during the celebration of the Passover. The others told him that Jesus had appeared to them. But, Thomas was not about to be played the fool a second time. He had settled into a persona of unbelief. He had trusted Jesus, when he was alive, but now he is dead, and the Messiah wasn’t supposed to die (John 12:34), so that settles the matter. Don’t bother me with your delusional and misplaced faith, because, unless “**I** shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe” (John 20:25).
Thus, we are confronted with two pictures of unbelief, Judas and Thomas. Which one will survive the test of time? We know from Matthew and Acts that Judas failed miserably. He hung himself, because he couldn’t get past the wrong, he had committed, vis-à-vis his betrayal of the Messiah, whom he believed could never die. He thought he could force Jesus into action, but found out that the Messiah must die, but the part Judas played in these things couldn’t be overcome. However, there is hope in Thomas. Known as Didymus, perhaps indicating a kind of ‘twin’ nature, wherein there swings the pendulum from love to hate, from courage to fear, from having great hope to being completely despondent etc. Yet, beneath all these contradictory moods lay a simple man, one wholly desirous to believe, but also one equally fearful of being a fool to believe. Thus, there is more hope in a man who is in unbelief, because he doesn’t want to be a fool, than there is in a man in unbelief, who, because he believes he knows more than he does, he plays the fool by acting on his false assumptions.
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