THE  STORY  OF  THOMAS

Thomas was one of the twelve apostles who accompanied Jesus in his ministry while walking around Galilee and Judea. In this story we join the party as they walk south in their final visit to Jerusalem. Three times Jesus had told them that he would die, saying that he must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.

 

Mark Ch 8 v.31

དེ་ནས་ཁོང་གིས་ཉེ་གནས་ཚོར་མིའི་རིགས་ཀྱི་བུ་ནི་ངེས་པར་དུ་སྡུག་བསྔལ་མང་པོ་མྱོང་ཞིང༌། ཡ་ཧུ་དཱ་པའི་མི་རིགས་ཀྱི་རྒན་པོ་དང་བླ་ཆེན་རྣམས། ཆོས་ཁྲིམས་ལ་མཁས་པའི་མིས་ཁོ་རང་དོར་ནས་གསོད་པར་འགྱུར་ལ། ཡང་ཉིན་གསུམ་གྱི་རྗེས་འཆི་བ་ནས་སླར་གསོན་པར་ལང་ངོ་ཞེས་གསུངས།

And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.

 

They didn’t understand. They believed he was Messiah; surely he would become Israel’s victorious and undying King, not be rejected by the Jewish sangha and then be killed. They walked on, then up the long rough uphill road to Jerusalem. Great crowds followed, and others came out from the city to greet him. A donkey was brought and he rode it just as the prophet Zechariah said the Messiah King would do. (What a joyous time! You can read about in Mark’s Gospel Ch 10:1-11)

In the next few days too he was popular with the listening crowds. But on his last night, when eating the supper of the Passover Festival with the twelve, he said, “I am with you a little longer, and then I am going where you cannot follow now.”

 

John 13:33

ཕྲུ་གུ་རྣམས། ང་ད་དུང་ཁྱོད་ཚོ་དང་མཉམ་དུ་དུས་ཐུང་ངུ་ཞིག་ཡོད། ཁྱོད་ཚོས་ང་བཙལ་ཡང༌། སྔར་ངས་ཡ་ཧུ་དཱ་པ་རྣམས་ལ་བཤད་པ་བཞིན་དུ་ད་ཁྱོད་ཚོར་ཡང་ཟེར་རྒྱུར། ང་གང་དུ་འགྲོ་བའི་གནས་སུ་ཁྱོད་ཚོ་ཡོང་མི་སྲིད།

Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’

 

They wondered what he meant, and Peter asked, ‘Why can’t we?’ Jesus explained, ‘I am going to my Father’s house, and I will then come back and take you there. You know the way.’

 

John 14:2-4

ངའི་ཡབ་ཀྱི་ཕོ་བྲང་ལ་གནས་ཁང་མང་པོ་ཡོད། དེ་ལྟར་མ་ཡིན་ན་ངས་ཁྱེད་རྣམས་ལ་སྔ་མ་ནས་བཤད་ཡོད། ང་ཁྱེད་ཚོའི་དོན་དུ་གནས་གྲ་སྒྲིག་བྱེད་དུ་འགྲོ། ང་སོང་ནས་ཁྱེད་ཚོའི་དོན་དུ་གནས་གྲ་སྒྲིག་བྱས་ན། ང་ཕྱིར་ལོག་སྟེ་ཁྱེད་ཚོ་ངའི་རྩར་འདྲེན་པར་བྱ། དེ་ནས་ང་རང་གང་དུ་ཡོད་པ་དེར་ཁྱེད་ཚོའང་ཡོད་པར་འགྱུར།  ང་རང་འགྲོ་རྒྱུ་ཡིན་པའི་ལམ་དེ་ཁྱེད་ཚོས་ཤེས་” ཞེས་གསུངས་པ་དང༌།

In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.  And you know the way to where I am going.”

 

But to Thomas a ‘way’ meant a stony, dusty path that led to a town or a house. He said, ‘We don’t know where, and so we don’t know the way.’

 

John 14:5

ཐོ་མཱས་ཁོང་ལ་ “གཙོ་བོ་ལགས། ཁྱེད་རང་གང་དུ་ཕེབས་པ་ང་ཚོས་མི་ཤེས་ཏེ་ལམ་དེ་ཇི་ལྟར་ཤེས་” ཞེས་ཞུས།

Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”

 

Jesus said to him, “I am the way.”

 

John 14:6

ལན་དུ་ཡེ་ཤུས་ “ང་ནི་ལམ་དང༌། བདེན་པ་ཉིད། དཔག་ཏུ་མེད་པའི་ཚེའང་ཡིན། ང་མ་བརྒྱུད་པར་སུ་ཡང་ཡབ་ཀྱི་དྲུང་དུ་འགྲོ་བའི་ལམ་མེད་དོ།

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

 

And after an evening of talking the apostles finally understood that he had come from God; he was the ‘Way’ to Father God. (A full account of Jesus’s talk with them can be read in John’s Gospel Chapters 13 to 16)

What a change next evening when they saw Jesus’s bloodstained and broken corpse being taken down from the cross! They no longer understood; their hopes were destroyed.

They hid in despair and fear, until on the third morning news was brought to the apostles that Jesus had risen; but Thomas was absent. For Thomas, a corpse was a very dead person – just as, a ‘way’ was a road. So, when they told him Jesus was alive, he said, ‘I’ll never believe; that is, unless I can see and feel those nail-pierced hands.’

 

John 20:24,25

འོན་ཀྱང་ཉེ་གནས་བཅུ་གཉིས་པོའི་ནང་ནས་མཚེ་མ་ཟེར་བའི་ཐོ་མཱ་ནི་ཡེ་ཤུ་ཕེབས་པའི་ཚེ་ཁོ་རྣམས་དང་མཉམ་དུ་མེད་པས། ཉེ་གནས་གཞན་པ་རྣམས་ཀྱིས་ཁོ་ལ་ “ང་ཚོས་གཙོ་བོ་མཐོང་ངོ་” ཞེས་ཟེར། འོན་ཀྱང་ཁོས་དེ་ཚོར་ “གལ་ཏེ་ངས་ཁོང་གི་ཕྱག་ལ་གཟེར་གྱི་ཤུལ་མཐོང་བ་དང༌། ངའི་མཛུག་གུ་གཟེར་གྱི་ཤུལ་ལ་འཇུག་པ། ལག་པ་ཡང་ཁོང་གི་གཞོགས་ཀྱི་མདུང་ཤུལ་ནང་དུ་བཅུག་ན་མ་གཏོགས། ངས་རྩ་བ་ནས་ཡིད་ཆེས་མི་བྱེད་” ཅེས་བཤད།

Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin,[d] was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” 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.”

 

But Jesus was kind to Thomas, and came again on another day, and said to him, ‘Thomas, look here, and feel with your fingers my nail-pierced hands, and feel here the wound in my body. Believe me.’

 

John 20:27

དེ་ནས་ཁོང་གིས་ཐོ་མཱ་ལ་ “ད་ཁྱོད་ཀྱི་མཛུག་གུ་འདི་རུ་ཞོག་ཅིག ངའི་ལག་པ་ལ་ལྟོས། ཁྱོད་ཀྱིས་ལག་པ་བརྐྱངས་སྟེ་ངའི་གཞོགས་ཀྱི་ནང་དུ་ཆུག་ཅིག དད་མེད་ཀྱི་སེམས་སྤོངས་ལ་དད་པ་བྱོས་ཤིག་” ཅེས་གསུངས།

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.”

 

And Thomas believed, and worshipped.

 

John 20:28

ལན་དུ་ཐོ་མཱས་ “ངའི་གཙོ་བོ་དང་ངའི་དཀོན་མཆོག་ལགས་” ཞེས་བཤད།

Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”

 

What gracious pity Jesus showed to Thomas!

 

John 20:29

ཡེ་ཤུས་ཁོང་ལ་ “ཁྱོད་ཀྱིས་ང་མཐོང་བས་དད་པ་བྱེད་པ་ཡིན་ནམ། ང་མི་མཐོང་ཡང་དད་པ་རྣམས་བདེའོ་” ཞེས་གསུངས།

“Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

 

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Thomas would never forget that evening spent with Jesus in a locked room. He went on to spend his life walking in the way of faith and obedience to Jesus.

He went to South India where he preached the Good News.

Then one day priests of the Indian Sangha killed him with spears, as the Jewish Sangha had killed Jesus his Lord.

Churches founded in South India are still there today. They give honour to Thomas.

As for believers for whom Jesus is the Way of Salvation, they were not called Christians at first, but ‘People of the Way’.

 

THE  STORY  OF  AUGUSTINE

There are various sources for the story of Augustine which may be found listed on the internet.

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Augustine was born on the 13^th November in the year 354 of the Common Era in the town which is today called Suk Arras in Algeria. His family belonged to a respected African lineage that was influenced by the Roman occupying power, so that the boy was given a Roman name and brought up with the education and culture of Rome. His father worshipped the old North African gods, but his mother had a faith in Jesus Christ.

As a schoolboy Augustine and his friends were naughty. One day they stole pears from a garden. He later wrote, “It was not because we were hungry; it was just because it was wrong. We loved being sinful.”

After becoming a student, aged 17, he went to the big city of Carthage, which is now a ruin in the modern country of Tunisia. Here he and his fellow students pretended each to do worse sexual things so as to be heroes (dpa’-bo gzugs-nyams) among their friends.  He knew in his heart that some of his behaviour was wrong, and admitted, “I am foul”; and he once prayed to God, “Help me to be pure in sexual matters, but not yet.” The religions and culture of N. Africa at the time allowed much freedom in sexual relationships.

Academic studies were Augustine’s chief interest. He was intelligent, and advanced in a short time to become appointed professor of philosophy and debating in the capital city of Milan in Italy. By the age of 31 he was among the best debaters in the Roman world.

But at that time he met an even better and more experienced debater, a devout believer in Jesus by the name of Ambrose. Their friendship grew. He wrote, “And I began to love him, not at the first as a teacher of the truth, for I had entirely given up hope of finding philosophical truth in the Christian Church – but as a friendly man. That man received me as a father, and welcomed my coming as a good Christian leader should.”

It was in this way, influenced by his mother and by Ambrose, that Augustine was converted. He tells how it happened. It was after he had been visited back at home by a country friend who had told him stories of simple uneducated believers in Jesus who had succeeded in overcoming sensual desires. What to say! Why was he, a learned professor, still held captive by the flesh? He went into the garden to think about the problem, and threw himself down in tears.                                                                                                    It was then he heard from a neighbouring house a child’s chanting voice saying again and again, “Take and read, take and read”. It seemed like a voice from God. He picked up his bible, opened it and read,

“Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarrelling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” (Roman 13:13, 14)

རོ་མཱ་པ། 13:13-14 – ཉིན་མོར་བགྲོད་པ་བཞིན་སྤྱོད་ལམ་དྲང་པོ་ཡིན་དགོས་ལ། བག་མེད་དང་ར༌བཟི། གཡེམ་སྦྱོར་དང་འདོད་ཆགས། རྩོད་གླེང་དང་ཕྲག་དོག་བཅས་མི་བྱེད༌པར། གཙོ་བོ་ཡེ་ཤུ་མཱ་ཤི་ཀ་ནི་གོས་བཞིན་དུ་ལུས་ལ་གྱོན༌ཏེ། ཤ་གཟུགས་ཀྱི་ཕུང་བོའི་འདོད་པ་ཚིམ་པར་བྱེད་པའི་བསམ་པ་སྤོངས་ཤིག།།

 

It was clear to Augustine that he must at last obey, and follow Christ. So, later that year, he and his son and a friend went back to Ambrose at Milan, and they were baptized.

Augustine went on to write many famous works. One of them, “Confessions”, tells how he confessed to God what was wrong in his heart and mind to Jesus.

It is the promise of God that if we, with heart-felt sorrow admit our sins, that is confess them, and have the honest desire to turn away from them, then he will clear them completely.

“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say  we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us (1 John 1:8-10).

ཡོ་ཧ་ནན་དང་པོ། 1:8-9 – བདག་ཅག་གིས་རང་ལ་སྡིག་པ་མེད་ཟེར་ན། དེ་ནི་རང་མགོ་རང་གིས་གཡོག་པ་ཡིན་པས། བདེན་པ་ཉིད་ནི་བདག་ཅག་གི་སེམས་སུ་གནས༌པ་མ་ཡིན་ནོ།། དཀོན་མཆོག་ནི་ཡིད་རྟོན་རུང་བ་དང་དྲང་བདེན་ཡིན་པས། བདག་ཅག་གིས་རང་གི་སྡིག་པ་མཐོལ་བཤགས་བྱས༌ན། ཁོང་གིས་བདག་ཅག་གི་སྡིག་པ་བསལ་ཞིང་དྲང་བདེན་མ་ཡིན་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་གཙང་མར་མཛད་ངེས་ཡིན། བདག་ཅག་གིས་སྡིག་པ་བྱས་མ་མྱོང་ཟེར་ན། བདག་ཅག་གིས་དཀོན་མཆོག་ནི་ཞལ་རྫུན་གསུང་མཁན་དུ་བརྩིས་པས། ཁོང་གི་བཀའ་ཡང་བདག་ཅག་གི་སེམས་སུ་གནས༌པ་མ་ཡིན་ནོ།།

 

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As I write this it is the first day of Lo Sar – a new year.

In the weeks to come, we will be starting a new series of posts. We’ll explore how sin first arose in people’s hearts, and how in ancient times some continued to walk away from God in bad ways. But how others, tried to do good and walked like pilgrims (gnas skor ba), believing in God’s help. They were not heroes in sinning; the bible describes them as heroes of faith.