MORAL STORIES

THE DARING DISCIPLE

St. Thomas, the Apostle of India, is often misunderstood as a doubting disciple. This false notion is based on the incident after the resurrection of Jesus. He insisted that he must meet Jesus in person not due to disbelief but by his intense desire to meet his master and because he believed that it was his right to meet Jesus who appeared to his fellow disciples when he was absent. Further analysis shows that St. Thomas was the bravest of the disciples as the earlier appearance of Jesus to His disciples occurred when they were shut inside a locked room, fearing the enemies of Jesus {John 20:19}. Only St. Thomas had the courage to be outside the room {John 20:24}. He demonstrated his courage even earlier, when he told his fellow disciples, "Let us all go with the Teacher so that we may die with Him"{John 11: 16}. It was when Jesus started His journey to Bethany to raise Lazarus from the dead, at a time when the Jews were planning to kill Jesus.

During His appearance in presence of St. Thomas, Jesus touched his heart before St. Thomas touched His wounds. Thus his doubts gave way to surrender. With firm faith, he exclaimed, "My Lord and My God!" {John 20: 28}. This sincere statement about the Divinity of Jesus has been enlightening Christians of all ages. Christians of India were fortunate to receive the Good News directly from this Apostle, when many of the present developed countries were still in the dark. Let us follow his example and be ready to die for Jesus and His teachings.

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By Dr. Babu Philip, Professor, Cochin University of Science & Technology, Fine Arts Avenue, Kochi-682016, Kerala, India.

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