Editor's note

Thomas appears three times in John's Gospel, and each time the evangelist gives him a sentence that has been remembered ever since. The first comes when word reaches the Lord that Lazarus has died, and he turns to go back into Judaea, where the authorities have lately tried to stone him. The disciples shrink from the road. Thomas does not argue and does not boast; he proposes only that if the Master is going to his death, they had better not be left behind.

Editor's note

In the upper room, when the Lord begins the farewell discourse and tells his disciples that he is going to prepare a place for them and that they know the way, it is Thomas who speaks up for the puzzled silence of the others. His question is the question of every disciple who has been told something deeper than he can yet hold. And it draws from the Lord one of the great I Am sayings of the Fourth Gospel.

Editor's note

The third and most famous scene comes a week after the Resurrection. On the first Sunday Thomas had not been with the disciples when the Lord came in through the closed doors; on hearing the report he refused belief and named the test he would require. Eight days later the Lord came again, and offered him exactly what he had asked. The Fathers note that the apostle does not in fact stretch out his hand. He sees, and he confesses; and the confession is the highest the New Testament records from any human mouth.