I went to school with two identical twins. Their voice, appearance, facial expressions, and mannerisms were so similar that unless you knew them intimately it was easy to be confused about which one was which. This confusion was something they often counted on. As one was smart in subjects the other one wasn’t, it was rumored they sometimes switched places on test days, forcing teachers to look again to see which one was sitting in their classroom.

If I were to tell you that at least one of the disciples had a twin, would you know which one? Discovering this made me look again at the eleventh chapter of John, and I’m so glad that I did! It makes these hidden nuggets such a delight to discover. Take a moment to read this short passage with me before I tell you what they were:

⁷ Then after this He said to the disciples, “Let’s go to Judea again.” ⁸ The disciples *said to Him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone You, and yet You are going there again?” ⁹ Jesus replied, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks during the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. ¹⁰ But if anyone walks during the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” ¹¹ This He said, and after this He *said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going so that I may awaken him from sleep.” ¹² The disciples then said to Him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will come out of it.” ¹³ Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about actual sleep. ¹⁴ So Jesus then said to them plainly, “Lazarus died, ¹⁵ and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe; but let’s go to him.” ¹⁶ Therefore Thomas, who was called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, “Let’s also go, so that we may die with Him!”

What stands out to you in that passage? Depending on which translation of scripture you prefer, you may already know where I’m heading. Two things stood out to me about Thomas.

The first was his second name, Didymus, which is translated “twin“. Well what do you know about that, Thomas was a twin! Although scripture does not tell us plainly who was Thomas’ twin, according to commentaries there was speculation that it might have been Matthew (!), or possibly Philip, or even Lydia.

There is even speculation that the word Didymus may have been a reference to a double or “halting” spiritual nature. Given the way Thomas looks at this event with the darkest apprehension, I would say that’s quite fitting as well, wouldn’t you?

There is a second thing in this passage which caught my attention. When Thomas says, “Let’s also go, so that we may die with Him!”, perhaps you were like me and may have thought the “him” he was referencing was Lazarus. After all, that’s who Jesus had just referenced, right? But did you catch the capital H in “Him”? That is a direct reference to Jesus, not Lazarus… DOH!

Thomas had possibly shut out the whole part about Lazarus because he was still stuck back in verse 8. The last time they were in Judea, the Jews wanted to stone Jesus. Good ole Thomas, if he was in for a penny, he was in for a pound! Not yet believing in the resurrection of the dead, he was expressing his full love and devotion for Jesus in his willingness to die in Judea with Him, should that happen.

Ironically in the end it was Thomas himself who was invited to look again. Later in this same chapter, Thomas witnesses the resurrection of Lazarus, but he still didn’t quite get it. Later, when the other disciples testified (in John 20:24-29) that they had seen Jesus risen from the dead, the halting spiritual nature raises a head again as Thomas expresses doubt. Only when Thomas is invited by Jesus Himself to physically touch Him does he fully understand that there is real life beyond this material world.

²⁸ Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” ²⁹ Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.”