📖 Wahusika wa Biblia II — Sehemu ya 8: Tomaso — Mwenye Shaka Aliyetoa Ukiri Mkuu📖 Bible Characters II — Unit 8: Thomas — The Doubter Who Made the Great Confession

Tomaso maskini anakumbukwa kwa neno moja: "mwenye shaka." Tumeligeuza jina lake kuwa lebo ya kutoamini. Lakini hilo si haki kwa mtu huyo, kwa maana Tomaso alikuwa na mengi zaidi ya shaka — ujasiri, uaminifu, na moyo wa kweli — na hadithi yake haiishii katika shaka hata kidogo. Inaishia katika ukiri wa imani ulio juu kuliko yote katika Injili. Tomaso anatufundisha kwamba shaka ya dhati, inapoletwa kwa Kristo aliyefufuka, inaweza kuwa imani ya kina kuliko zote.Poor Thomas is remembered for one word: "doubting." We have made his name a label for unbelief. But that is unfair to the man, for there was far more to Thomas than doubt — courage, loyalty, and an honest heart — and his story does not end in doubt at all. It ends with the highest confession of faith in all the Gospels. Thomas teaches us that honest doubt, when it is brought to the risen Christ, can become the deepest faith of all.

Somo: Tomaso — mwenye shaka aliyetoa ukiri mkuu.Subject: Thomas — the doubter who made the great confession.

Kusudi kuu: Shaka ya dhati, ikiletwa kwa Kristo aliyefufuka, inakuwa imani iliyo juu kuliko zote — "Bwana wangu na Mungu wangu."Proposition: Honest doubt, brought to the risen Christ, becomes the highest faith — "My Lord and my God."

Tutafuatilia hatua tatu katika hadithi ya Tomaso.We will trace three movements in the story of Thomas.

Kabla hatujaifikia shaka yake maarufu, tunapaswa kumfahamu mtu mzima jinsi alivyo. Yesu alipoondoka kwenda Uyahudi ili kumfufua Lazaro, akijua kwamba maadui huko walitaka kumwua, wanafunzi wengine walisita kwa hofu. Ni Tomaso aliyesema:Before we reach his famous doubt, we should meet the whole man. When Jesus set out for Judea to raise Lazarus, knowing that enemies there wanted to kill Him, the other disciples hung back in fear. It was Thomas who said:

Hiyo si sauti ya mtu mwenye dharau na kutoamini; huo ni uaminifu na ujasiri, utayari wa kufa kando ya Yesu. Na baadaye, katika chumba cha juu, Yesu aliposema juu ya kwenda kuandaa mahali na akasema kwamba wanafunzi waliijua njia, ni Tomaso mkweli aliyekiri kile ambacho wengine waliona aibu kukisema: "Bwana, hatujui uendako; nasi njia twaijuaje?" (Yohana 14:5). Ukweli wake ulimfanya Yesu atamke mojawapo ya maneno makuu kabisa katika Maandiko: "Mimi ndimi njia, na kweli, na uzima." Tomaso hakuwa mdhihaki. Alikuwa mtu jasiri na mkweli ambaye asingejifanya kuamini kile ambacho alikuwa bado hajakielewa.That is not the voice of a cynic; that is loyalty and courage, a willingness to die at Jesus' side. And later, in the upper room, when Jesus spoke of going to prepare a place and said the disciples knew the way, it was honest Thomas who admitted what the others were too embarrassed to say: "Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?" (John 14:5). His honesty drew from Jesus one of the greatest sayings in Scripture: "I am the way, the truth, and the life." Thomas was no scoffer. He was a brave, honest man who would not pretend to believe what he did not yet understand.

I. ShakaI. The Doubt

Yesu aliyefufuka alipowatokea wanafunzi kwa mara ya kwanza jioni ya Siku ile ya kwanza ya Bwana, Tomaso, kwa sababu fulani, hakuwa pamoja nao. Wengine walimkuta baadaye, wakiwa wamejaa habari: "Tumemwona Bwana!" Lakini Tomaso hakuweza kujileta kuamini. Jibu lake limesikika katika karne zote:When the risen Jesus first appeared to the disciples on the evening of that first Lord's Day, Thomas, for some reason, was not with them. The others found him afterward, overflowing with the news: "We have seen the Lord!" But Thomas could not bring himself to believe it. His answer has rung down the centuries:

Lazima tumtendee haki. Wafu hawafufuki; jambo hilo halikuwa na maana, na Tomaso alikuwa amemtazama Bwana wake akifa. Hakuwa akiikataa kweli kwa ukaidi kiasi hicho bali alikuwa akiulinda moyo uliovunjika dhidi ya kukatishwa tamaa kwingine kwa kuponda. Kwa juma moja zima alibaki katika mahali pale pa giza, akiwa amezungukwa na marafiki waliokuwa wakishangilia, asiweze kushiriki furaha yao — akihuzunika, akiona shaka, na akiwa peke yake katikati ya umati. Shaka ni nchi ya upweke.We must be fair to him. Dead men do not rise; it made no sense, and Thomas had watched his Lord die. He was not refusing the truth out of stubbornness so much as guarding a broken heart against another crushing disappointment. For one whole week he stayed in that dark place, surrounded by rejoicing friends, unable to share their joy — grieving, doubting, and alone in a crowd. Doubt is a lonely country.

Hata hivyo angalia jambo moja la busara ambalo Tomaso alifanya hata katika shaka yake: hakujitenga na wanafunzi wengine. Walipokusanyika tena baada ya siku nane, alikuwa pale pamoja nao — na hiyo ndiyo sababu hasa alikuwa chumbani Yesu alipokuja mara ya pili. Mwenye shaka anayeendelea kushirikiana na watu wa Mungu, na kukaa mahali ambapo Kristo anaelekea kupatikana, anajiweka njiani mwa jibu. Watu wengi wamejitoa kwenye imani kwa hoja zao wenyewe kwa kujitenga tu na kila mtu ambaye angeweza kuwasaidia.Yet notice one wise thing Thomas did even in his doubt: he did not walk away from the other disciples. When they gathered again eight days later, he was there with them — and that is precisely why he was in the room when Jesus came the second time. The doubter who keeps company with God's people, and stays where Christ is likely to be found, puts himself in the way of an answer. Many a person has reasoned himself out of the faith simply by withdrawing from everyone who might have helped him.

II. Kukutana na KristoII. The Encounter

Baada ya siku nane wanafunzi walikuwa pamoja tena, na safari hii Tomaso alikuwa pamoja nao. Milango ilikuwa imefungwa, lakini ghafla Yesu alisimama katikati yao akasema, "Amani iwe kwenu." Kisha akageuka akaenda moja kwa moja kwa yule mtu mmoja chumbani aliyemhitaji zaidi. Hakumkaripia Tomaso wala hakumwaibisha mbele ya wengine. Badala yake, kwa upole wa kushangaza, alimpa Tomaso uthibitisho ule ule aliokuwa ameudai:Eight days later the disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them. The doors were shut, yet suddenly Jesus stood among them and said, "Peace to you." Then He turned and went straight to the one man in the room who needed Him most. He did not scold Thomas or shame him before the others. Instead, with astonishing tenderness, He offered Thomas the very proof he had demanded:

Angalia kwamba Yesu alikuwa amesikia kila neno la shaka ya Tomaso, ingawa hakuwa ameonekana pale Tomaso alipolisema. Bwana aliyefufuka humkuta mwenye shaka wa dhati mahali hasa pa shaka yake. Na Tomaso, uso kwa uso na Kristo aliye hai, hakuhitaji tena kugusa chochote. Shaka yake ilivunjika ikawa ibada, na kutoka kinywani mwake ukatoka ukiri mkuu kuliko wote ambao mwanafunzi yeyote amewahi kutoa:Notice that Jesus had heard every word of Thomas's doubt, even though He had not been visibly present when Thomas spoke it. The risen Lord meets the honest doubter exactly at the point of his doubt. And Thomas, face to face with the living Christ, no longer needed to touch anything. His doubt collapsed into worship, and out of his mouth came the greatest confession any disciple ever made:

Hapa kuna tamko la juu kabisa la Yesu ni nani — si Bwana tu, bali Mungu. Mtu tunayemwita "Tomaso mwenye shaka" alitupa ukiri ulio wazi kuliko wote wa uungu wa Kristo katika Injili zote nne. Shaka yake, ikiletwa kwa Kristo aliyefufuka, ilikuwa imekuwa imani ya kina kuliko zote.Here is the highest declaration of who Jesus is — not merely Lord, but God. The man we call "doubting Thomas" gave us the clearest confession of Christ's deity in all four Gospels. His doubt, brought to the risen Christ, had become the deepest faith.

III. BarakaIII. The Blessing

Kisha Yesu akasema jambo linalofika kuvuka karne zote na kutufikia sisi:Then Jesus said something that reaches across the centuries and lands on us:

Baraka hiyo ni kwa ajili yetu. Hatujawahi kutia kidole katika alama za misumari; hatujawahi kumwona Bwana aliyefufuka kwa macho yetu. Hata hivyo tunaamini — na Yesu anatuita wa heri. Kwa namna fulani imani yetu ni kubwa kuliko ya Tomaso, kwa maana yeye aliamini kwa sababu aliona, ilhali sisi tunaamini kwa macho ya moyo, tukitegemea si kuona bali Kristo mwenyewe na ushuhuda wa wale walioona. Mtume Yohana, aliyekuwa katika chumba kile, baadaye aliandika ili tuweze kuwa na uhakika:That blessing is for us. We have never put a finger in the nail prints; we have never seen the risen Lord with our eyes. Yet we believe — and Jesus calls us blessed. In some ways ours is a greater faith than Thomas's, for he believed because he saw, while we believe with the eyes of the heart, resting not on sight but on Christ Himself and on the testimony of those who did see. The apostle John, who was in that room, later wrote so that we could be sure:

Imani yetu haielei hewani. Inasimama juu ya msingi imara wa ushuhuda wa mashahidi waliojionea kwa macho yao — watu walioona, waliogusa, na waliokula pamoja na Kristo aliyefufuka, na ambao kisha walikufa badala ya kukana kile walichokiona. Yesu angeweza kujionyesha kwa ulimwengu wote — kwa Pilato, kwa Kaisari, kwa makutano waliokuwa wakidhihaki — lakini hakufanya hivyo. Aliwatokea mashahidi waliochaguliwa na kuwatuma na ujumbe, ili imani ije kwa kusikia ushuhuda wao; na imani inayomwamini Mungu kwa neno lake inamheshimu kwa namna ambayo kuona peke yake hakungeweza kamwe.Our faith does not float in the air. It rests on the solid ground of eyewitness testimony from men who saw, touched, and ate with the risen Christ, and who then died rather than deny what they had seen. Jesus could have shown Himself to the whole world — to Pilate, to Caesar, to the jeering crowds — but He did not. He appeared to chosen witnesses and sent them out with the message, so that faith would come by hearing their testimony; and a faith that takes God at His word honors Him in a way that mere sight never could.

Shaka ya TomasoThe Thomas Doubt

Kuna aina ya shaka iliyo tofauti na kushindwa kwa ujasiri kwa Petro au hofu ya Gideoni. Ni shaka inayoihoji imani yenyewe — kama lolote kati ya hayo ni kweli kabisa. Hii ndiyo "shaka ya Tomaso," na waamini wengi wakweli huikabili wakati fulani. Nakumbuka mgogoro wangu wa kwanza wa imani, maswali yaliponijia kama gharika: Je, kama kweli hakuna Mungu? Je, kama Yesu hakuwa Mwana wa Mungu bali, kama profesa mmoja alivyosema kwa ubaridi, "Myahudi aliyekufa tu"? Hayo ni maswali ya kutisha. Lakini kuna jibu kwayo, nalo ni ukweli ule ule uliomgeuza Tomaso kutoka mwenye shaka kuwa mwabudu: ufufuo. Yesu alifufuka kutoka kwa wafu, na mitume wake walikuwa mashahidi wake. Ukweli huo ulimfanya Tomaso mwenye shaka aanguke kwa hofu ya kicho miguuni pa Mwokozi wake na kumwita Mungu wake.There is a kind of doubt that is different from Peter's failure of nerve or Gideon's fear. It is the doubt that questions the faith itself — whether any of it is even true. This is "the Thomas doubt," and most honest believers face it at some point. I remember my own first crisis of belief, when the questions came at me like a flood: What if there is really no God? What if Jesus was not the Son of God but, as one professor coldly put it, "only a dead Jew"? Those are frightening questions. But there is an answer to them, and it is the same fact that turned Thomas from a doubter into a worshiper: the resurrection. Jesus rose from the dead, and His apostles were witnesses of it. That fact caused the doubting Thomas to fall in awe at the feet of his Savior and call Him his God.

Ushahidi umewashawishi wenye mashaka wakweli tangu wakati huo. Frank Morison, jina la kalamu la mwandishi mmoja Mwingereza, alikuwa na hakika kwamba ufufuo ulikuwa uzushi, na akaanza kuandika kitabu cha kuukanusha mara moja na kwa wakati wote. Lakini alipouchunguza ushahidi kwa vipimo vikali vya mahakama, alijikuta, kwa maneno yake mwenyewe, akishawishika kinyume cha mapenzi yake juu ya ufufuo wa kimwili wa Yesu. Kitabu alichoandika hatimaye, Who Moved the Stone? (Nani Aliliondoa Lile Jiwe?), kinaanza na sura iitwayo "Kitabu Kilichokataa Kuandikwa." Mtu aliyejaribu kuuzika ufufuo aliishia kuutetea.The evidence has persuaded honest skeptics ever since. Frank Morison, the pen name of an English writer, was convinced the resurrection was a fabrication, and he set out to write a book disproving it once and for all. But as he examined the evidence by the strict tests of a court of law, he found himself, in his own words, persuaded against his will of the bodily resurrection of Jesus. The book he finally wrote, Who Moved the Stone?, opens with a chapter titled "The Book That Refused to Be Written." The man who tried to bury the resurrection ended up defending it.

Na hatari haiwezi kuwa kubwa zaidi. Wakati wa uamsho mmoja huko Evansburg, mwamini mmoja aitwaye Rick alikuwa akimshuhudia rafiki yake wa zamani, aliyeinua mabega akasema, "Basi, huenda umekosea." Rick akajibu, "Uko sahihi — huenda nimekosea. Lakini hata kama nimekosea, sijapoteza chochote; Yesu amenipa maisha bora zaidi kuliko niliyokuwa nayo hapo awali. Lakini ikiwa wewe umekosea, utakaa jehanamu kwa muda mrefu sana." Kuna kila kitu cha kupata katika kumtumaini Kristo aliyefufuka, na kila kitu cha kupoteza katika kumkataa.And the stakes could not be higher. During a revival in Evansburg, a believer named Rick was witnessing to an old friend, who shrugged and said, "Well, you could be wrong." Rick answered, "You're right — I could be. But even if I am, I haven't lost anything; Jesus has given me a far better life than I had before. But if you are wrong, you are going to spend a very long time in hell." There is everything to gain in trusting the risen Christ, and everything to lose in turning Him away.

Mwenye Shaka Anakuwa MwabuduThe Doubter Becomes the Worshiper

Hili ndilo somo la Tomaso: shaka si mahali ambapo imani lazima iishie. Ikiwa una maswali ya dhati, usiyafiche wala usiyaache yawe magumu yakawa kutoamini; yalete, kama Tomaso alivyofanya, mbele za Kristo aliyefufuka na ushahidi wake. Bwana yule yule aliyerudi mara ya pili kwa ajili ya mwanafunzi mmoja mwenye shaka atakukuta mahali hasa pa shaka yako. Na atakapofanya hivyo, maswali yaliyokuweka mbali hapo awali yanaweza kuwa ukiri ule ule unaokupigisha magoti: "Bwana wangu na Mungu wangu."This is the lesson of Thomas: doubt is not where faith must end. If you have honest questions, do not hide them and do not let them harden into unbelief; bring them, as Thomas did, into the presence of the risen Christ and His evidence. The same Lord who came back a second time for one doubting disciple will meet you at the point of your doubt. And when He does, the questions that once kept you at a distance can become the very confession that brings you to your knees: "My Lord and my God."