Was Thomas a Doubter? The Pharisees' Tradition and the Resurrection.
Thomas's refusal to believe in the resurrection without seeing Jesus's wounds is typically read as a failure of faith. But against the backdrop of rabbinic tradition, the Gospel of John affirms details of the Pharisaic tradition of the Resurrection of the Dead.
In the Gospel accounts, Jesus was crucified and later resurrected, appearing to some of his students. His disciple Thomas was not there at that moment, and when the others told him what they had seen, he refused to believe it. But there is more to his refusal.
From this episode, Thomas would become known, for centuries, by the nickname of "Doubting Thomas."
But in Thomas's words, there is an unusual condition of belief that warrants further exploration.
"Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So, the other disciples told him, We have seen the Master. But he said to them, "Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe."" - John 20:24-25
Why would anyone expect to see wounds on a resurrected person?
Interestingly, his words reflect a deeply Jewish belief about the resurrection. In addition, this passage might set the stage for a somewhat Midrashic overlay to this entire encounter, a common technique in the Gospel of John.
The Rabbis and The Resurrection of the Dead
"Tekiyat HaMetim," is the Hebrew term translated as the Resurrection of the Dead. While many may associate this idea with Christianity, it is actually something brought to us from the Rabbinic tradition.
And while this idea is widely believed to be part of the final transition into the World to Come¹, the specifics are not found in the Hebrew Bible.
Through the methodology of Pardes², the Rabbis mined, at best, hints of how things may play out in the lead-up to the World to Come. The Resurrection of the dead came up quite a bit.
One question that occupied Rabbinic discussion was what a resurrected body might look like. It is a logical question. Do bodies emerge decayed, or completely ethereal? Cleopatra once asked Rabbi Meir if the resurrected would be naked or clothed³. Again, logical.
Prophetic Contradictions?
In one discussion, Reish Lakish raised a contradiction between two prophetic texts. Isaiah 35:6 promises that "the lame shall leap like a deer and the tongue of the mute shall sing," hinting that the resurrection will be free of disability and suffering.
However, Jeremiah 31:8 speaks of the ingathering of the "blind and the lame," suggesting that the resurrected may still have their previous physical conditions.
Who is right?