Sunday, July 07, 2019

Peter and Thomas

"Doubting" Thomas seems pretty bold to me. When Jesus said he needed to go into danger, Thomas offered to go and die with him. After seeing the resurrected Jesus for himself, Thomas made the boldest declaration of Jesus' nature of any of them. And later, he took the boldest missionary journey, away from the relative security of the Roman Empire and into lands he'd only heard of.(*)

Peter seems more impetuous. "Tell me to walk on the water." Oops. "I'll never deny you!" Oops. Jump in the water to swim to shore for Jesus. Check. Chopping off an adversary's ear isn't exactly impetuosity--from his POV he was one of the two swordsmen responsible for defense of the group, though he didn't wait for orders--Jesus said there were angels available if He wanted them. After Pentecost he's described as bold, though Paul complained about Peter's courage in Galatians.


(*) Thomas probably knew there were Jews in India, though.

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