Thomas’ Foundations
‘Thomas’ Foundations’
Sunday 12th April 2026
Revd Ross Meikle
The wise builder built their house upon the rock. The rains came down, the streams rose and tht winds blew and beat against that house yet it did not fall because it had its foundation on the rock.
My dad, not that many years after his baptism and confirmation as an adult, received a call from God. One of those rare calls where he heard the voice of God speak to him on his drive home from work. He had dismissed a job with Mission Aviation Fellowship as an avionics engineer because they have light aircraft, and Dad only had experience working on larger aircraft.
So one day, God said to him: “John, it’s not the size of the aircraft that matters, but what the aircraft are doing.”
Unusually swiftly, we were living in Nairobi Kenya within the year.
Comparing my dad’s experience with our Gospel reading today, there are parallels between my dad and the ten disciples in the Upper Room, who have a very real and authentic encounter with the Risen Jesus, which changes everything about their world and their perception of life itself.
But Thomas isn’t there…
Thomas is like my mum.
My mum was baptised as a child, confirmed as a teenager, and – to my knowledge – has never had as clear a call from God as my dad did. She did not get a direct line from God telling her to move to Kenya or to support my dad.
But, she believed my Dad, she trusted in him, in their faith in one another and in God, and together they went forth. And in the process, she sacrificed a lot more than he did.
Thomas is like my mum. He has to make do with the witness of those around him and trust in them.
But Thomas is unable do what my mum could.
It must be especially difficult for Thomas, to be the only one of the remaining Eleven apostles, plus the women who discovered the empty tomb, plus those who were on the road to Emmaus. It seems everyone is having an encounter with the Risen Lord but him! It’s natural that he should want one for himself – after all, he was there from the beginning too, right, chosen as an apostle. We can hardly blame him.
Now he is often nicknamed Doubting Thomas. But I fear that our English language means that we misunderstand the true depth of this story, and in the process, misidentify Thomas’ misguidedness.
In our translation of the Gospel, the Greek word pisteuo becomes our English word ‘believe’ is chosen. It’s a word that creates a sense of binary. You either believe or you don’t. Indeed, the creeds can be tricky for some people because the word ‘believe’ becomes like a subscription, and if you don’t believe them all, then are you really ‘in the club’? I don’t think that is the true purpose of the Creeds, but those churches that create their own Statements of Faith – they are absolutely creating an environment where you have to believe and subscribe to certain ideas in order to belong.
And so to believe or to doubt becomes a moral judgment.
However, another translation I found that led me down the rabbit warren for this sermon, switched out ‘believe’ to ‘be faithful’. I reached out to the translator, an American Lutheran biblical scholar called Richard Swanson. He gave three reasons for this choice:
- Modern American notions of “believing” are foreign to biblical notions, in a way that often forbids questioning.
- In ancient Jewish texts, this Greek verb pisteuo is used to render the pattern of life passed down from Rabbi to student, and is recognizable as marking the student’s participation in a particular school of training.
- Thirdly, Swanson’s translational principles always favour provoking thought rather than settling people down.
His commentaries aren’t called Provoking the Gospel for nothing!
Further reading around this Greek verb reveals that it is not about subscribing to a creed or trusting or accepting with ease what someone tells you. There is an association with examining, understanding, learning and teaching.
Faith is something that is perhaps owned individually but held, shared, lived out in community. There is space for inquiry and questioning, listening and learning.
The verb comes from a noun, pistis, which is the foundation of all a person’s wilful activities – the solid ground upon which all who you are and all that you do is built upon. And from the solid ground, the Holy Spirit, breath, wind… it will move you but never knock you down.
It’s all rather like the parable of the wise and foolish builders – the parable that ends the Sermon on the Mount. Ending it, because it summarises everything that Jesus has to say about the spiritual life.
Thomas, a student of the Rabbi Jesus, says that he will become unfaithful. It sounds like he wants to separate himself from the rest of the learning community under Jesus. That he will voluntarily fail the course and abandon the community.
He was absent when Jesus was there – perhaps his grief is already taking him away from the community and into isolation. Grief is like a storm battering against our life. It has the power to completely disrupt our spiritual lives with anger and despair. I wonder if that’s what we are seeing in Thomas.
But then, he does have his encounter. He comes to know the New Life of Christ. And the words of Jesus from Swanson’s translation: “Do not become unfaithful but faithful.”
These words are softer and kinder to my ears. They are a Teacher encouraging their student to carry on with their studies, to not abandon the solid ground they’ve built for their life. To stand firm.
As for us, the Gospel of John writes of these signs written in order that you – we – should be faithful because Jesus is the Messiah, the son of God.’
For us, to be faithful, is not merely to stand up and say historic Creeds. It is to recognise that we have built our lives upon a foundation of the teachings of Jesus the Christ. He is our Teacher – the ancient Jewish rabbi who draws in us Gentiles that we too may know the grace of God and the forgiveness of sins.
Because we are the ones who do not see and yet are faithful. Therefore, as Swanson translates, we are Godlike in happiness!
It is from that foundation of teaching and learning and questioning and curiosity that should inform our faith all the days of our life… that God’s Spirit may move us:
- To inspire Thomas to bring the Good News to India
- To prompt Peter to preach at Pentecost
- To call my father to mission in Kenya
- And to sustain my mother in supporting him.
God’s world is so vast. And life within it isn’t always easy. There is so much that we do not and cannot know. There is so much for us to learn from one another as we build, adorn and decorate our houses on the rock of Christ.
And in the uncertain days, weeks, months and years ahead of us as the global order and power shifts and changes and it seems there is very little that we can do… it is the wisdom of Jesus, our rabbi, is to build our faith upon the rock so that we can stand firm through every storm.
Amen.