The following is an excerpt from chapters one and two of the Acts of Thomas.
And when the Apostles had been for a time in Jerusalem… they divided the countries among them… And India fell by lot and division to Judas Thomas the Apostle. And he was not willing to go… And whilst Judas was reasoning thus, our Lord appeared to him… [Thomas said to Jesus] “Whithersoever you will, our Lord, send me; only to India I will not go.”
And as Judas was reasoning thus… Habban [and Indian merchant] [was in town and out looking for a slave skilled in carpentry to buy]. And our Lord saw him walking in the street and said to him, “You wish to buy a carpenter? He says to him, “Yes.” Our Lord says to him: “I have a slave, a carpenter, whom I will sell to you… And when he they had completed his bill of sale, Jesus took Judas, and went to Habban the merchant… Habban… said to him: “He has sold you to me outright.” And Judas was silent.
That is some slick maneuvering on ole JC’s part, no? “Oh, whats that Thomas? You don’t wanna go to India like I told you? Well, don’t worry, I won’t make you go to India… I’ll just sell your butt to this Indian merchant! Now you are free to go wherever your master wants to go. Oh, whats that Thomas? He wants to go to India? Who woudda guessed?”
I just love that last part - “And Judas [Thomas] was silent.” I can just see all of the other Apostles snickering in the background with their little toothpicks in hand, saying, “Dude, thouest should have just gone the first time.”
2 Comments
What is perhaps most interesting about this, is that there is a tradition of Christianity in India to this day that claims it’s origins go back to the apostle Thomas. When Spanish (Catholic) explorers arrived in India in the 1400s or so (give or take) and were doing their imperialist thing, they were quite surprised to find Christians already hanging out. Unfortunately, much of what this group practiced and believed (in some 1000 years of isolation…just think of what they could have been like!) was overridden by the Catholics.
I hope to do some serious research on this group some day, at least write one paper. They fascinate the hell out of me.
Like CheapHam - I’ve also heard this same tradition about thomas. What I’ve come to realize is that, there are a bunch of traditions about the apostles but no one really knows what happened to them.
We take great pride that they were murdered for their beliefs but that’s no where to be found (except in much later traditions). I’ve actually read two books about the apostles and both books said “Tradition has is that Peter was crucified, this other guy, this, or that…etc”. However, the source is not given.
To quote Kramer, “frankly, it sounds make up!”