On the evening of that first day of the week,when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”Today's lesson about Thomas is one of my favorite lessons. I refuse to call him "Doubting Thomas" because he really didn't have any more doubts than the other disciples, or any of us for that matter. I frankly think that Thomas got a raw deal.
Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them,“Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.” Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”
Now, Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.
John 20:19-31
As I wander thru the pages of the gospels trying to imagine what it must have been like in the first days of the Resurrection, I discover that none of the disciples believed Jesus had risen until they saw Him for themselves. In fact, the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke are riddled with doubt concerning the Resurrection.
"Three days after the crucifixion, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb where Jesus had been buried. She found the tomb empty and was the first to see the risen Lord. He commaned to her to go and tell the rest of the disciples, but they would not believe her, 'Then they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the elven and to all the rest...But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen clothes by themselves: then he went home, amazed at what had happened. " Luke 24:89, 11-12.
"After this he appeared in another form to two of them, as they were walking into the country. And they went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them." Mark 16:12 - 13.
The truth is that their unbelief was so great that Jesus took them to task about it.
" ...later he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were sitting at the table; and he upbraided them for their lack of faith and stubbornness, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen." Mark 16:14In fact, at the beginning of today's gospel, Jesus appeared to the eleven and showed them His hands and His side (see the first quote). This tells me that at least some of the other disciples had been thinking that they (like Thomas) really needed to see and touch our Lord's wounds before they could believe.
So why, then, do we make Thomas out to be the "heavy" in this case? Why is he the one who is dubbed "Doubting Thomas"? What makes him different from the rest? He is different because he was the only disciple who was honest enough to state his unbelief outright. The others kept it to themselves. They let it grow and fester and were scolded by Jesus for it. However, because of his honesty, Jesus responded to Thomas' unbelief by giving Thomas the very things he said he needed to believe. It was an act of utmost love and generosity on Jesus' part. At this point, Thomas proclaims (about Jesus): "My Lord and My God!" It could be added that Thomas was the first disciple to do so.
However, doesn't Jesus do this for us all? Isn't it true that most of us are like Thomas, unable to believe fully in Jesus until we have our own personal encounter with Him and have "seen" Him for ourselves? Isn't it true that none of us can really believe until we have experienced Him for ourselves? At some point in our lives, each of us could be dubbed "Doubting Thomas". Once we make an honest and sincere acknowledgement of our inability to believe, Jesus will respond to each of us according to our needs. He gives Himself to us completely so that we can believe completely in Him. It is an act of the utmost love and intimacy on His part.. The gift of His love to us is so overwhelming that we can only respond in the same manner as Thomas and proclaim: "My Lord and my God!"
No comments:
Post a Comment