On St. Thomas's Confession
“Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.’ Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ ”
On this Feast of St. Thomas, I remembered an incident that happened a few years ago.
I was waiting in the DMV and was wearing a clerical collar. A lady kept giving me the evil eye. After a few minutes, she came up to me and asked if I read the Bible. I said that I did. She wanted to tell me her favorite verse. Her manner of speaking showed her to be a Jehovah’s Witness. She handed me a piece of paper with a biblical reference scrawled on it. After this, she left. I looked up the verse, and it was something to do with the antichrist from one of St. John’s epistles.
It came to mind that I should have told her that my favorite verse was from St. John’s Gospel: 20:28. For Jehovah’s Witnesses do not believe that Jesus is God. They have their own (mis)translation of the Bible called the New World Translation (NWT). I have a copy. In nearly every verse that could be used as a prooftext for the divinity of Jesus, they monkey with it in a contrived and forced way so as to deny our Lord’s divinity.
But the curious thing is that the NWT of John 20:26-28 reads:
“Well, eight days later his disciples were again indoors, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and he stood in their midst and said: ‘May YOU have peace.’
Next he said to Thomas: ‘Put your finger here, and see my hands, and take your hand and stick it into my side, and stop being unbelieving but become believing.’
In answer Thomas said to him: ‘My Lord and my God!’”
One cannot argue that the text is John uttering OMG! as a general interjection addressed to no-one in particular, or to God the Father. For even the NWT admits that Thomas is answering Jesus. He is speaking to Jesus and addressing Him as his “Lord” and his “God.” And, of course, Jesus does not scold him nor tell him not to worship Him or confess Him as God - as we see in St. John’s Revelation (19:10, 22:9).
So wherever this lady is, I hope that the Word of God has convicted her that Jesus is our Lord and our God, and that her doubt has been overcome by faith. I pray that she celebrates the Feast of St. Thomas today, and confesses his confession - which is the Holy Christian Church’s confession - and that she has a Merry Christmas, now and even unto eternity.