John 20,19-31.
In today’s gospel we have accounts of two appearances of the risen Lord; one to the disciples minus Thomas; and another with Thomas present. It was Easter Sunday evening, the doors are closed for fear of the Jews. Having seen what had happened to Jesus on Good Friday, and now with stories of the empty tomb circulating round Jerusalem they would have felt vulnerable to allegations of stealing the body of Jesus. The closed doors are no barrier to Jesus; he passes through them effortlessly. He wishes them peace and shows them his hands and side to verify his identity. They are filled with joy. He sends them out on a mission to the world as he was sent out by the Father. He breathes on them and confers on them the Holy Spirit, empowering them to forgive or retain sins. Breathing on them is reminiscent of Gen 2,7 when God breathed into Adam the breath of life. This post-resurrection community of disciples is a new creation, receiving new life from the risen Lord in the Holy Spirit, to carry on the mission which the Father gave to Christ for the world.
Those who believe and repent in response to their preaching will be forgiven and those who refuse to repent will not.
The absent Thomas will not believe unless he can feel the mark of the nails in Jesus’ hands and side. His empirical, positivistic conditions for belief in the resurrection of Jesus sound thoroughly modern.
On the following Sunday Jesus appears again to the disciples when Thomas is present and invites him to feel the marks of the nails in his hands and side, and to doubt no longer but believe. Thomas now believes and makes the perfect act of faith in the divinity of the risen Christ: ”My Lord and my God.” He believes because he has now seen Jesus, but “blessed” are those who believe without seeing him.
We belong to this latter category. We thank God for the gift of faith – a priceless pearl which we often take for granted. Thanks are due also for the people, events, and situations, which have enriched and deepened our faith? Can you recall an event which or individual who has enriched your faith recently?
Blessed John Henry Newman said that “a thousand difficulties don’t make a single doubt.” It is good to acknowledge our difficulties with faith and try to resolve them with help and advice from others, as well as through prayer, meditation and reading. Difficulties with faith can be an occasion for growth in faith.
Jesus did not rush to resolve Thomas’ doubts. A full week later he appears to the disciples with Thomas present. He uses Thomas’ own criteria to verify that he is risen. We are grateful for Thomas’s doubts because they elicit a new beatitude from Jesus, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe,” and occasion a perfect act of Faith: “My Lord and my God,” from Thomas, a prayer which we fittingly apply to Jesus’ present in the Eucharist.
Seeing Jesus’ wounds leads Thomas to faith. The risen Lord is Thomas’ and our “wounded healer” who heals us from sin and all that afflicts us.
Fr Geoff O’Grady