Today is the Feast of St. Thomas the Apostle
John 20:24-29 Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and place my finger in the mark of the nails, and place my hand in his side, I will not believe." 26 Eight days later, his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. The doors were shut, but Jesus came and stood among them, and said, "Peace be with you." 27 Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side; do not be faithless, but believing." 28 Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" 29 Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe."
What an amazing image of the patience of our Lord! He understood the doubts and he made himself available to a man who wanted desperately to believe that what his friends had told him was true. But it was so incredible and it would have been all his hopes and dreams come true, that St. Thomas couldn't allow himself to believe without seeing with his eyes and touching with his hands. St. Thomas was determined that he was not going to believe a fantasy. He wanted it all to be real, but it was too much to hope for! So he refused to believe until he experienced the Risen Jesus for himself.
After he encountered the Risen Christ, he fell to his knees and confessed: "My Lord and my God."
Jesus then says, "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe."
Believing in him, they see him, trust him, love him.
It's not merely that they have believed, but that they have allowed their belief to result in a relationship with Jesus. Faith is more than a feeling and more than merely an assent to an intellectual proposition. Faith here, belief here, is nothing less than total openness to and absolute trust in the God revealed in Jesus Christ.
What we have in this episode is a person who wanted desperately to believe, but wanted his belief to be based on something true and substantial and real. This is important because it confirms for us that Christianity is not merely a spiritual exercise, or a moral code, or a fanciful desire. Christianity is based on the historical fact that God intervened in human history by coming among us, by taking on our flesh and our frailty, and by standing in our place – in the place where we belong – in judgment on the cross.
In just a few days, we celebrate that day, some 2000 years ago, when God humbled himself and stepped into time, stepped into skin, and became one of us. This episode with St. Thomas reminds us that it's not just a nice story. It's all true! It actually happened! We can trust it, believe it, and give ourselves in complete totality to it. And it leaves us with only one appropriate response: we must fall to our knees before the Risen Christ and confess with St. Thomas and all the saints: "My Lord and my God!"
Almighty and everliving God, who didst strengthen thine apostle Thomas with sure and certain faith in thy Son's resurrection: Grant us so perfectly and without doubt to believe in Jesus Christ, our Lord and our God, that our faith may never be found wanting in thy sight; through him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
