Easter 2 2014

Easter 2 2014

Thomas gets a bad rap. I also think that “Doubting” Thomas is a terribly unfair title, after all, not long before this, the disciples who went to the tomb couldn’t believe what was told to them by angels…so, I suppose we ought to give Thomas a little credit.

In fact, if we tried to apply some of our understanding of human psychology to Thomas, we might start to understand where the guy was coming from. I would imagine that after all that had happened, that he would be depressed, a little confused, and certainly a bit lost. After all, the person who had given his life meaning for three years was suddenly dead—executed like a criminal, and it was very likely that he and his friends were next on the list.

So, we can likewise understand why he wasn’t with the rest of the disciples when Jesus turned up in that locked room.

The problem, of course, really, was that when people died, they usually stayed dead. And Thomas saw Jesus die.

Sure, Jesus said he was the resurrection and the life—he may have even raised Lazarus. But who raises the only guy in town who is able to raise the dead, when he himself is dead? Even if Thomas had seen resurrection happen—how could he trust it would happen for Jesus?

Ironically, belief in Jesus wasn’t the trouble for Thomas. In fact, right before Jesus said he was going back to Bethany to check on Lazarus, and everyone told him what a bad idea it was, and that his enemies would kill him. It was Thomas who said emphatically that all of them ought go with Jesus whether it meant death or not. So, it wasn’t for lack of faith that Thomas doubts—instead, it might be that his faith in Jesus was the very thing that had broken his heart so completely when he saw Jesus die.

So, here we have a young man who had left everything he knew to follow a man who he believed was the Messiah.

Even if Jesus did talk about death and resurrection a lot—the Pharisees did the same thing. And, besides, none of the prophecies about the Messiah mentioned anything about him dying and coming back to life again. The point is that, even if Thomas had been paying attention, there was no guarantee that his interpretation was correct—and I would imagine at this point, Thomas was second guessing everything; everything about his faith, and certainly everything about his understanding of life.

Who wouldn’t have a hard time believing?

Remember also that Thomas was not with the other disciples who saw the risen Jesus; and with all of the emotional fallout that Thomas must have been feeling, only a week after Jesus was killed—we might begin to understand not only his disbelief, but also his cynicism.

In the same brash way that he declared that he and the disciples should follow Jesus to Bethany that they might die with him; Thomas, refuses the truth of the resurrection. Unless he touches every single one of the wounds—the wounds that he saw Jesus sustain on the cross—he wanted no part of the delusion. And how in the world could any of us disagree with him?

It seems to me that the biggest issue that we have had with Thomas, historically, is that we first of all think that ‘doubt’ is somehow the opposite of faith. Whereas, a more appropriate antithesis of faith might be something more like ‘apathy’ or ‘faithlessness.’

But in fact, Thomas is really neither of these… By his presumed brokenness, we can guess that he cares far too much about the loss of Jesus to apathetic. And, while he might have found himself wondering if he had gotten his faith “right,” I would certainly not consider him faithless. I suppose we would just have to say that Thomas cared enough to doubt.

The culmination of this whole episode, then, is really quite lovely. Somehow we find that Thomas has made his way back into this group of disciples, whom he had possibly avoided for fear of being arrested by the Temple police. We don’t know how this happened, but maybe we’re just glad that it did happen for poor Thomas.

And, just as he had done before, Jesus shows up mysteriously and miraculously, and he offers them all a blessing of peace… Then Jesus turns to Thomas, and knowing his lapse of hope, says to Thomas to touch his side, and examine the wounds.

The funny thing is that the text never says that he ever touches the wounds—but Thomas confesses, “My Lord and my God…” a very deep confession of faith.

Now, the reason we’re told these stories about the disciples and their difficulty coming to terms with their faith and belief is to help us—the Church throughout the centuries—to find a way to be alright with our own doubts. In fact, this is the reason that the reading ends with Jesus challenging Thomas, and asking if he believed because he finally saw Jesus. And, of course, we have this nice closing with Jesus saying that “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

So, perhaps all of us could do with some of the faith that Doubting Thomas had. Maybe all of us need to feel the freedom to live with our doubts, and struggle a bit with the things that we don’t quite understand about our faith. And while it’s not likely that we’ll ever have the same opportunity that Thomas had, with Jesus showing up to prove his resurrection; we should all the same care enough about our faith to struggle with it—just like the generations before us, and just like the generation who will come after us. Because by being honest about such things, we not only set a good and honest example for those who come after us, but we also stand the chance to develop a much deeper, grounded faith—a mature faith that can weather the trials and troubles of this life. And that, after all, is the whole point of a living faith.