Sermon - Midweek Lent 4 - Thomas and Matthew

We continue our series on the 12 Apostles this Lent, having examined Peter and Andrew, James and John, Phillip and Nathanael.  We’ve seen them at their best, and their worst, and identified with their faults and failings, and aspired to their faith.  The same Jesus who called them and died and rose for them, does the same for us – calling us to faith, and to follow him, carrying our own crosses.  So now we come to the next couple of apostles: Thomas and Matthew. 

Thomas is, of course, famous for his doubting.  He would not believe the other Apostles’ account that Christ appeared in the locked room while he was absent that first Easter Sunday evening.  His disbelief even earned him the moniker, “Doubting Thomas”, a sort of mild insult applied to skeptics even today. 

He is less famous for his bold confession the week following, when he did see and touch and believe in Jesus:  “My Lord and my God!”  And isn’t it something that the risen Jesus knew exactly what Thomas needed to hear, and see, and touch, in order to believe.  And it’s also quite something that Jesus says even more blessed are we who have not seen and yet have believed. 

Since we hear about Thomas every year on the second Sunday of Easter, we won’t dwell too much on that account, but take a look at some of his other appearances in the Gospels. 

When news of Lazarus being sick reached Jesus and his disciples, the disciples were not too keen on Jesus going to the area of Jerusalem.  They knew that opposition to Jesus had been rising, and there was a real possibility that Jesus’ enemies would arrest him, imprison him, and likely put him to death.  They feared for their safety and his.   Yet among them, Thomas is seen as one of the more courageous of the disciples, John 11:14-16 “So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” 

Then Thomas (also known as Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”   

Though courageous here, it may be pointed out that he still fled with all the other apostles from Jesus’ arrest in Gethsemane. 

Some have pointed out the meaning of “Didymus” (the twin) as perhaps noteworthy.   Some have suggested Thomas and Matthew were twins since their names appear together in lists of the apostles.  The gnostic gospels suggest Thomas “looked like” Jesus.  Obviously, that’s shaky ground.  The Syrian church believed he actually WAS a twin of Jesus.  We can reject that quite easily.  But it’s interesting. 

But it might be said that Thomas is a “twin” to Christ by his willingness to die with Christ.  In truth, all believers are a twin to Christ in this way.  Jesus comes to die, then we also must be prepared to die.  In our baptism, we are buried with him, and also raised with him.  And his resurrection guarantees our resurrection.  One day we shall be like him, Paul tells us, for we will see him as he is.  And we, too, like Jesus, will live in glorified bodies forever. 

Thomas is also the one to question Jesus in John 14, “We don’t know where you are going so how can we know the way?” to which Jesus responds, “I am the way and the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but by me.”  Thanks be to God for this timely question, which prompted Jesus to give a blessed answer that both comforts and teaches us so much – he alone is the way to the Father.  He alone is the truth that never fails.  He alone is the life, the one that gives us life everlasting. 

Matthew, also known or identified with Levi, the Son of Alphaeus.  In the parallel passages from Mark 2 and Luke 5 he is called Levi, not Matthew.  But these passages are otherwise very similar to Matthew 9, thus we assume Matthew and Levi are the same. 

He was a tax collector when Jesus called him (Matthew 9:9-13).  Jesus received criticism from the Pharisees for eating with “sinners and tax collectors” when he was present at Matthew’s house.  “On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” 

Here we can identify with the former tax collector, the notorious fraudster and cheat that he must have been.  A pariah to his own people, the very dictionary definition of a bad person in the mind of many.  The worst of the worst, greedy, untrustworthy, disloyal, a sleezeball and a scoundrel.  Paul calls himself the chief of sinners, but if you asked an ancient Israelite who the chief of sinners is, they’d probably tell you it was a tax collector. 

Do we see ourselves in such a light?  Do we confess ourselves as chief of sinners?  Do we admit that our sins offend both God and fellow man?  That we’re not worthy to have Jesus in our midst, that he would visit us, let alone regard us?  And yet he does, to the astonishment of all.  In fact, he comes not to call the righteous but sinners. 

So be a sinner.  Let your sins be strong, that your Christ may be stronger.  I’m not saying go out and sin, but rather embrace the confession of your sinfulness.  Don’t excuse those sins away, but own them, and the full measure of their guilt.  Admit and lay bare your sins before Christ, who comes to call sinners to faith, to life, and to righteousness.  Just look what he did with Matthew. 

Of course, Matthew also wrote the first Gospel – with particular emphasis on Jesus as the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy.  Eusebius and Origen claim it was originally written in Hebrew.   

And who could choose a favorite from many of Matthew’s beloved passages that ever point us to Christ. You have the Sermon on the Mount. Or Matthew 18, the great forgiveness chapter. Or from Matthew 28, what is called the “Great Commission” (Go ye therefore...) 

Matthew and Thomas, along with the other apostles would be among the first to carry out this Great Commission, but not the last.  Matthew and Thomas are among the many sinners that Jesus came to call to righteousness.  Among the great company of those who die with Christ and rise with Christ.   

They are the doubters turned believers and confessors.  They are the scoundrels turned evangelists.  They are the sinners who have been called, and have answered by faith.  And that, of course, my dear Christians, includes you.