Courage in the Shadow of Stones
The winter air was sharp in Jerusalem.
It was the Feast of Hanukkah, and Jesus was walking beneath the covered colonnade of Solomon’s Portico. Pillars rose on either side of Him, ancient and unmoving, while shadows stretched long across the temple floor that echoed with footsteps and conflicted voices. The tension hung heavier than the cold.
The Jews surrounded Him, closing in, demanding that He speak plainly about who He was. And Jesus answered them simply, unmistakably:
“I and the Father are one.”
The words struck like a spark to dry tinder.
Hands dropped to the ground. Stones were lifted.
“You are only a man,” they shouted, “and yet You make Yourself God.”
Death stood within arm’s reach.
But Jesus slipped from their grasp. He passed through the crowd and crossed the Jordan, retreating to the place where John had once baptized. The city faded behind Him. For a moment—only a moment—it seemed the danger had passed. The stones lay on the other side of the river.
Then the message came.
“Lord—the one You love is sick.”
Lazarus.
Friend. Brother. Beloved.
And still—Jesus waited.
Two days passed. By the time He spoke again, Lazarus was no longer sick. He was dead.
“Let us go back to Judea,” Jesus said.
The disciples felt the weight of those words settle in their chests.
“Rabbi,” they said, “a short time ago they tried to stone You there—and You are going back?”
They could still see the stones in their hands. Feel the narrowness of the escape. Judea was no longer a place—it was a grave waiting to be filled. Going back would be a sentence of death.
But Jesus was resolute. Lazarus had fallen asleep, He said—and He was going to awaken him.
And then Thomas spoke.
Not in confusion. Not in doubt. But with eyes wide open to the cost. He understood exactly what the road back to Judea might hold—and he chose it anyway.
“Let us also go,” Thomas said quietly, “that we may die with Him.”
This is the first time Scripture lets us hear Thomas’s voice—not as the disciple who doubted, but as the disciple who stood in the shadow of death… and followed Christ straight into it.
Who was Thomas?
Have you ever heard of the apostle Thomas before?
You might have. Most people know him by a nickname: Doubting Thomas. The disciple who had a hard time believing that Jesus had really risen from the dead unless he saw him with his own eyes.
But that’s not the whole story. A little about Thomas: sometimes the Bible calls him Thomas, Thomas the Twin, or Didymus. Thomas is Aramaic — the language Jewish people spoke in Jesus’ time — and it means “twin.” Didymus is the Greek word for “twin.” So both names mean the same thing, just in two different languages. We don’t know whose twin he was, but it was a name people used for him. Think of it like a nickname that stuck, so everyone knew who he was!
We also know from the story we heard earlier that Thomas had courage. He was willing to follow Jesus back into danger, even when it looked like it could cost him his life.
But that didn’t mean Thomas always understood what Jesus was doing.
How can we know the way?
On the last night Jesus spent with His disciples before going to the cross, they were all together in a quiet room. The mood had shifted. Jesus began to speak about leaving—about going somewhere they could not yet follow.
“Do not let your hearts be troubled,” Jesus said. “Trust in God. Trust also in Me. In My Father’s house are many rooms. If it weren’t true, I would have told you. I’m going there to prepare a place for you.”
The disciples listened, trying to take it in.
“And if I go and prepare a place for you,” Jesus continued, “I will come back and take you to be with Me, so that you may be where I am. And you know the way to the place where I am going.”
Silence might have followed as the disciples were still trying to understand what Jesus was saying.
Then Thomas spoke.
“Lord,” he said, “we don’t know where You are going. How can we know the way?”
Jesus answered him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. If you know Me, you will know My Father also. From now on, you do know Him—and you have seen Him.”
I Am the Way
There is a really big truth tucked into this moment.
First of all we need to remember that we know what’s happening because we’ve read the Bible before. We know that Jesus was going to die on the cross because only a perfect person like Jesus can save sinners like us. But the disciples at that time didn’t know that. So it was normal for them not to understand. Thomas wanted to know where Jesus is going—and how to get there. He was asking for clear directions.
And because Thomas asks that honest question, Jesus says some of the most important words He ever spoke:
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
When Jesus says this, He isn’t handing the disciples a map or giving step-by-step directions like a GPS. He’s not saying, “Turn left here, then make a right there.” Like Thomas, we often want Jesus to give us a roadmap. We like checklists and good habits we can measure, so we know if we’re getting closer to our destination.
Sometimes we think following Jesus looks like this:
Read my Bible—check.
Obey my parents—check.
Go to church—check.
And those are good things. Those are things we often do when we follow Jesus. But that’s not what following Jesus means.
When Jesus says He is the way, the truth, and the life, He’s talking about a relationship. He’s explaining that walking with Him and trusting Him is the way.
That means we live our everyday with Jesus. When we’re happy, we praise Him. When we’re sad, we tell Him. When we do something wrong, we confess to Him. When we’re confused, we ask Him. And when we’re scared, we stay close to Him.
Following Jesus isn’t about being perfect or never messing up. It’s about trusting that Jesus loves you and that He always does what’s best for you.
Sometimes when we mess up, we start to think God doesn’t love us anymore—or that we’re not good enough because we keep failing. But we forget something important: God already knows everything about us. He even knows how many hairs are on our heads. He knows what we’re thinking before we even say it.
And He still loves us.
There is nothing we can do that surprises God. Nothing that makes Him turn away. We can rest, knowing that Jesus walks with us, loves us, and will never lets us go.
Also another really important thing to understand is that when Jesus says He is the way, He doesn’t mean that getting to God is like a long trip you have to work really hard to finish.
It’s not like climbing a mountain step by step, hoping you’ll make it to the top someday.
Jesus is saying something much better than that. He’s saying that when you believe in Him, you belong to Him and that means you are already with God. You don’t have to do anything to get there or earn your way there. You don’t have to level up or prove yourself.
It’s like being adopted into a family. Once you’re part of the family, you’re already home. You don’t become more of a child by behaving better—you’re already loved and already belong. Being connected to Jesus means you’re already connected to God.
Have you ever thought that because you’re a good kid, you could go to heaven?
Maybe you’ve thought, I don’t get in trouble much.
Or, I try to be kind.
Or, I listen to my parents most of the time.
Those are good things. They really are. And God cares about how we treat others.
But being a Christian isn’t about being a “good enough” kid.
If getting close to God was about being good, then we’d always be wondering, Am I good enough yet?
What about the days we mess up?
What about the times we lose our temper, tell a lie, or think something unkind?
The truth is, no one is good all the time—not kids, not teens, not adults.
That’s why following Jesus isn’t about earning heaven. It’s about trusting Him.
He doesn’t say, “Be perfect and then come to Me.”
He says, “Come to Me.”
And the Bible says Jesus came to save sinners. That means He came for people who know they’ve messed up, not for people who think they’ve got it all together.
Sometimes when we think we’re good enough, we don’t feel like we need Jesus. But the Bible shows us that it was often the people who knew they weren’t good—like sinners, tax collectors, and people who felt far from God—who came to Jesus.
So here’s the wonderful truth: whenever we realize we’re not perfect, whenever we know we’ve done something wrong, that’s actually the best time to come to Jesus. He loves us, He forgives us, and He wants to walk with us, no matter what.
Doubting Thomas
Now we get to the part that Thomas is most famous for. After Jesus rose from the dead, He appeared to the disciples, but for some reason that day Thomas was not there and didn’t see the resurrected Christ. Talk about the fear of missing out!
I know if I were Thomas, I’d be pretty upset I missed out on something so wonderful. So when the other disciples reported to him about it, he replied: “Unless I see the nail marks in His hands, and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe it.”
Maybe he said this because he was upset, He didn’t get to see the Lord he loved, or maybe He just couldn’t believe it. But either way, Thomas was honest about what he was feeling.
And guess what? Jesus heard him and answered him. A week later, Jesus appeared to the disciples again—and this time, Thomas was there. Jesus didn’t scold him or get upset. He came right to Thomas and showed him His hands and His side.
“Put your finger here; see my hands.” Jesus said, “Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
Thomas didn’t hide. He reached out. He looked at Jesus. And in that moment, Thomas understood—everything he had doubted, everything he had missed, it was all true.
And Thomas said the words that we still remember today:
“My Lord and my God!”
When Thomas said, “My Lord and my God!” he wasn’t just saying, Wow, Jesus is alive!
He was saying the most important thing anyone can say about Jesus: that Jesus is Lord, that He is God, and that we can trust Him completely. In fact, this one of the clearest, simplest statements in the Bible that tells us who Jesus really is.
We might think, “Wow, Thomas and the other disciples were so lucky—they actually saw Jesus alive!” But Jesus says something amazing after Thomas saw Him: Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen me but still have believed.” And guess what? That means you and me! Those who believe Him without seeing Him are even more blessed!
Thomas Christians
And what happened after that is really interesting! Church tradition—what Christians have remembered and passed down over the years—tells us that Thomas didn’t just stay in one place after seeing Jesus. He went out to tell people about Him, even in faraway lands. Some stories say he traveled all the way to India to share the good news about Jesus and even died for his faith there. Because of these traditions, Thomas is one of the apostles about whom church history preserves more detail beyond what we read in the New Testament.
Did you know there are Christians in India today called Thomas Christians? According to their stories, Thomas helped start the very first Christian churches there as early as AD 52. These communities have remembered him for hundreds and hundreds of years, and they still celebrate that Thomas brought them the good news about Jesus. People there also call themselves Nasranis, which means “Christians of the Nazarene,” because they follow Jesus.
Even a famous explorer named Marco Polo, who traveled across Asia in the 1200s, wrote about seeing Christians in India who traced their faith back to Thomas. He even mentioned the tomb where Thomas was believed to be buried, and people still visited it as a holy site.
So Thomas isn’t just “doubting Thomas.” He’s also courageous Thomas, a disciple who learned that even doubts can lead to the clearest understanding of Jesus—and a life that points others to Him.
Why Thomas’ Story Still Matters Today
Courage Matters
Thomas wasn’t afraid to follow Jesus, even when it looked dangerous. His story reminds us that following Jesus takes bravery – bust trusting Him is always worth it.
It’s Okay to Have Doubts
Thomas doubted at first, and that’s okay! Jesus met him where he was and helped him believe. His story shows that questions and doubts don’t mean you’re a bad follower – they an lead to a stronger faith.
Key Scripture
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” — John 14:6
When Jesus says this, He isn’t handing us a map with turn-by-turn directions. He’s telling us something even bigger: He Himself is the way to God. Following Jesus isn’t just about doing good things or checking off a list — it’s about walking with Him, trusting Him, and knowing Him every day.
Jesus is saying: when you know Him, you already know the way to God. You don’t have to figure everything out on your own. You just take His hand and follow Him, and He will lead you.
And Jesus also says, “No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Today, many people believe there are lots of ways to get to God or go to heaven. That’s because they think reaching God depends on being good, following rules, or doing enough good things. But Jesus is teaching something bigger: getting to God isn’t about being perfect or checking off a list—it’s about knowing Him and trusting Him.
When we know Jesus and walk with Him every day—talking to Him, trusting Him, and following Him—we are already connected to God. There aren’t any shortcuts or other ways that work, because Jesus is the only way.
Takeaway
If Thomas’s story encouraged you, share this episode with a friend so they can be inspired by his courage, questions, and faith.
Also, if you want to dive deeper, you can download a free episode companion guide that includes a mini devotional, fun activities, and other topics related to Thomas. You’ll find the link below in the show notes.
And remember… following Jesus isn’t about having all the answers or being perfect. It’s about walking with Him every day, trusting Him, and letting Him guide your steps. Just like Thomas, you can be brave, ask questions, and grow in faith!
Links to podcast:
