2nd Sunday of Easter
John 20:19-31
‘Doubting Thomas’! The name stock. And for the past two thousand years Thomas has been known for all the wrong reasons. He was a very serious man, even intense. When Jesus decided to go up to Jerusalem to face his fate, it was Thomas who suggested that they ‘go to die with him’. At the time when Jesus was explaining his return to the Father and used the wonderful analogy of ‘the way, the truth and the life’ it was Thomas who asked the pertinent question ‘we do not know where you are going, so, how can we know the way?’ He had committed a good deal to the Lord and now that Jesus had died, he was distraught and the ‘rumours’ and gossip about the Resurrection must have aggravated him greatly. Another report of a sighting was too much for him and dramatically he retorts that he needs concrete, physical proof. Thomas was no worse than many of the disciples who had heard the promises and intentions of Jesus. Why did Peter not believe until he had examined the scene? Mary Magdalene should have been expecting the Resurrection and the two disciples on the road to Emmaus were going home in despair. John, as soon as he saw the empty tomb,’believed’. Jesus invited Thomas to probe his wounds, to examine the evidence, investigate like Peter had done at the tomb. There is no evidence that Thomas took up the invitation, but like John, ‘he saw and believed’. As soon as he encounters the risen Lord, he remembers the words of Jesus that after three days he would rise from the dead. The irony of this incident is that the disciple, who doubted the most, gives expression to the highest evaluation of Jesus uttered in the Gospels: “ My Lord and my God”. Because of the recording of this incident, we are shown how difficult it was for the followers of Jesus to come to such and insight-Lord and God! Thomas has been remembered in Christian imagery as the doubter par excellence; yet the last word of Jesus in response to his confession of faith serve as a wonderful affirmation “Happy are those who have not seen and yet believe”.
Thank God for this model of Christian Faith, ‘Believing Thomas’