Encounter Christianity: In Questions about Jesus lesson plan 11

Lesson eleven - Doubting Thomas (pages 22-23)

Aims for the book

To introduce pupils to key events from the life of Jesus and the way in which these raise questions about the person of Jesus.
To enable pupils to understand the importance of these events at the time of Jesus.
To enable pupils to reflect on the relevance of these events for Christians today.
To encourage pupils to raise questions about these events in the light of their own experience.

Learning objectives

Pupils will;

recognise that there are some things that we cannot prove;
consider the power of important events in our lives.

Text from the book

How do we know what is real or true?

Christians read in the Bible that after his crucifixion, Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to some of his disciples. One of them, Thomas, had not been there to see Jesus. He refused to believe Jesus was alive again, unless he could touch Jesus’ wounds for himself. The next time Jesus appeared, Thomas was there. When he saw Jesus, he found he did not need to touch him. He really believed Jesus had risen from the dead.

Background

Thomas was called Didymus – the twin. He may have been a real twin but he may also represent the ambiguity of human nature. Seeing is believing and touching is confirmation! Thomas was the person who would not believe until he received a personal experience of the risen Christ; he didn’t accept the words of others. He has passed into the English language as ‘Doubting Thomas’. Yet when he saw for himself, he didn’t need to touch and his doubts flew away.

Ways of using the picture

Discuss with pupils how and why we believe something.
What helps us decide whether we can believe someone or not? Is it because we know and trust them? Did Thomas trust the disciples?
We do believe some things that we cannot prove ourselves – what sorts of things do we believe?
Discuss the mood and atmosphere in Michael Smither’s painting.

Bible reference

John 20.24-29

Key words

Doubting
Questioning
Concrete proof
Trust
Belief
Sureness
Truth
Evidence
Resurrection

Activity

Discuss 'What is Truth?' How do we know, and how can we test, what we believe to be true? Using science as an example, talk about testing a theory or hypothesis. Can we test religious beliefs in the same way?

'Seeing is believing' -

'The camera never lies'-

Can we say these things nowadays?

How about the world of virtual reality?

Look at 'magic eye' pictures, optical illusions and discuss the way we view things. Can we always believe our eyes? What can we believe? When we use our senses? Sight? Touch?

Play a feely-bag game and try to identify something just by touch, without seeing it, and read the story of The Blind Men and the Elephant. Do we always rely on our senses to make sense of the world? Is that a safe way of knowing what is real? Where does belief and trust come in?

Thomas wanted to see and touch Jesus for himself, but in the event, he knew the truth when he saw it.

Play some 'trust' games in pairs or small groups:

Blindfold a partner and lead them round the playground or school field.

Close your eyes and fall backwards, trusting your partner to catch you.

Can we always trust our friends? How well do we have to know them before we trust them fully? Do we always know when someone is telling the truth? Can we always believe what people say to us? Can we believe those in our family? Our teacher? Our friends? How important is truth in our lives?

Belief is the way you interpret the evidence.

Present the pupils with a set of facts and a set of beliefs,

e.g. 'The walls are blue.'

'All people should be treated as equals.'

Ask them to discuss which are the more important - facts or beliefs?

Learning outcomes

Pupils will;

consider influences in their lives which might change their beliefs;
recognise the value of truth.

Extension work

Show the two-minute extract from the film Contact with Jodie Foster where she is asked, 'Did you love your father? Prove it!' How could you prove you care for someone? How would they know that you love them?

How could you describe God - the unseen? How could we 'see' God?

Web site links

http://www.vision3d.com/
The activity for this double page mentions the use of optical illusions. This is one of the best web sites for this type of resource and also includes magic eye images, reversible figures and much more.

http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/detail/Detail_caravaggio.html
Perhaps the most famous image relating to the story of Doubting Thomas, by the artist Caravaggio.

Verocchio's sculpture of the same scene can be viewed at http://www.kfki.hu/~arthp/html/v/verocchi/sculptur/christho.html .

http://www.serve.com/shea/germusa/stthomas.htm
Find out more about the feast day for St Thomas. The web page includes the fact that, in some places, Thomasfaulpelz or Domesel (lazybone or donkey of St. Thomas day) were names given to the last person to get out of bed and for the last student to appear in class on that particular morning.

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