Thomas has come in for a lot of flak down the ages for his lack of faith.  He has been for ever remembered as the disciple who did not believe.  He is known universally and pejoratively as ‘doubting Thomas’.  And yet, speaking for myself, I would have no respect for him if he did otherwise, because if he had said instead, ‘Really! The Lord has been here?  He has risen from the dead: how marvellous!’ he would have put the whole future of Christianity at risk. Why?

Thomas was absent at the first appearance of the risen Jesus to the disciples.  He had been outside into the world on whatever mission, but out there he would have been aware of the prevailing theory put about by the soldiers that Jesus’ body had been stolen by his followers.  This is a much more plausible explanation in human terms of the disappearance from the tomb than the frankly implausible claim that he had risen from the dead.  Dead people simply did not do that in the whole history of human experience.

If Thomas had just accepted what the others said it would have been just too convenient.  It would look like these followers of Christ were just too ready to believe in the resurrection theory: “well, they would say that wouldn’t they?”  It would seem like very convenient wish fulfilment, that they had lost all objectivity and were gullible enough to believe the impossible because that is what they wanted to believe, that is what served their cause.

The fact that Thomas was having none of it is much more real and, paradoxically, makes the story of the resurrection much more plausible.  And he wasn’t going to be easily convinced.  He wants to put his hands into the wounds before he would believe.  In fact the Greek is much more forceful: Thomas wants to ‘thrust’ his hands into the wounds and unless he can do this he ‘refuses’ to believe.  He’s really quite strong in his conviction that the other disciples are dangerously deluded and wilfully deceiving themselves and he won’t be gulled.

However, when Jesus appears again a week later in exactly the same way when Thomas is there, Thomas knows at once that it is the Lord and he needs none of the very physical proof he said he would demand before he could believe, even though Jesus offers his hands and his side for prodding and proof.  For Thomas, it is enough to see the Lord and he utters the words which are the supreme act of faith on which the Gospel of John really ends: “My Lord and my God”.  

These are the words John wants to be on our own lips as we read about these extraordinary events.  It is the purpose of his Gospel precisely to bring us to such an act of faith in Jesus.  This is why he flatters us in the closing lines of his Gospel by saying ‘Happy are those who have not seen and yet believe’. That is you and me.  Only one of Jesus’ close disciples believed in the resurrection without seeing the risen Jesus; that was the one who ran into the empty tomb and saw the cloths on the ground.  He saw and he believed, we are told, on this evidence alone.  That man was the Beloved Disciple and at the end of his Gospel John has Jesus pay us the wonderful compliment of being one with the Beloved Disciple because, like him, we have not seen and yet believe.

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The Collects, or Opening Prayers, at Mass provide us rich insight in our theology and spirituality, especially during Eastertide. On this Second Sunday of Easter, known as Divine Mercy Sunday, many truths about the Easter festivities are highlighted. Firstly, it is the octave day of Easter. This Sunday is also called White Sunday (dominicia inalbis), Bright Sunday, or Low Sunday. Historically on this Sunday, those who received the Sacraments of Initiation at Easter put aside their baptismal garment. The Collect has many of these baptismal references. Today we invoke God as a God of everlasting mercy, who in his compassion restored us to divine friendship through the life, death and resurrection of his Son – Jesus Christ. In the Sacraments of Initiation, we participate, or enter, into the Paschal Mystery, into the life of Christ. We pray for an increase of grace or that divine assistance which the Sacraments of Initiation bestowed on us, so we may grasp and understand what has happened in the celebration of these Sacraments. We have been washed in the baptismal waters of our original and personal sins, we have been reborn by the Holy Spirit as adopted children of God, and we have been redeemed by his Blood, which we partake in Holy Communion. The Sacraments of Initiation are the start of divine life, that relationship which we have with God. Growing in the divine life takes time, and this is our lifetime journey. Eastertide allows us the opportunity to reflect deeper on this great gift of our relationship with God- to live as people of freedom, joy, peace, and true happiness.

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These hymns have been selected from the Laudate Hymnbook:

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284 We walk by faith

280 O sons and daughters, let us sing

and

Eastertide hymns 254-288