Divine Mercy Sunday (A)
We end the Octave of Easter, most fittingly, with the celebration of Divine Mercy Sunday. Here we celebrate the immense, incalculable mercy of the Risen Lord which is offered to us in so many ways every single day. Last year at this time, my post focused on this Divine Mercy, with some reflection on the Apostle Thomas at the end. This time, I will focus on Thomas and offer a way of looking at him which, I pray, will shed some interesting light on our own journey of faith, as individuals and, most importantly, as a People of God.
The Gospel reading for Divine Mercy Sunday is always John 20:19-31. It is John’s account of the Risen Jesus’ first appearance to His disciples after His Resurrection, and of a second appearance a week later. This is the account that gave rise to the nickname “Doubting Thomas”.
We all recall the story. The Risen Lord first appears to Mary Magdalene, who goes and tells the disciples. By and large, they do not believe her. Later that day, though the doors are locked where the disciples are gathered, the Risen Lord appears to them. Thomas, however, isn’t with them when this happens. Later, when Thomas joins them, they tell him that they have seen the Risen Lord. Thomas replies that he will not believe it unless he touches the marks of the nails and the scar on the side of Jesus’ body. A week later, the disciples are gathered again. This time, Thomas is there. The Risen Lord appears and invites Thomas to probe His wounds, to be no longer unbelieving, but believe.
But is ‘doubt’ really the best word that describes Thomas in this account? John’s Gospel does not use the word ‘doubt’ here. Jesus seeks to lead Thomas from ‘unbelief’ to ‘belief’. But what kind of unbelief? And what kind of belief? After all, when the Risen Lord appears to Thomas, Thomas doesn’t need faith to know that Jesus is risen and alive. Thomas can see Him, hear Him, touch Him if he wishes. Thomas has proof from his own senses that Jesus is there before him. Seeing the Risen Jesus was enough for the other disciples. Jesus does not ask for more belief from them, even though they, too, did not believe previously. What kind of faith is Jesus seeking from Thomas?
Before we address that question, we should pause for a moment and ask ourselves what we mean by the word ‘faith’. What does it mean to have faith?
Suppose you placed a piece of paper on a table, and then dumped some iron filings on that piece of paper. The filings would land haphazardly on the paper. Now, suppose you put two strong magnets under that piece of paper and then dumped some iron filings on the paper. The filings near the magnets would be arranged into a new pattern by the magnets, a pattern corresponding to the magnetic field. Faith in the Lord is like that magnetic field. It takes the disparate pieces of our lives and rearranges them into a new pattern, a pattern very much like the pattern given us in Christ Himself. When we believe, it has an immediate effect on our lives. To believe is to make a commitment to Christ, to allow Him to rearrange every part of our lives into pattern that resembles His own. We may resist this rearranging. We may compromise ourselves in some ways. But Christ does not cease to work in us. If our faith in Him is true, He will rearrange our lives, gradually, bit by bit.
How does this shed light on the story of Thomas?
Jesus came to gather a renewed Israel around Him, a people whose witness to the reign of God among them would make them a light to all the nations. Through them, people from every land would be gathered to the Lord. Every now and then, in the story of this people, one person is given an insight on behalf of all, that would then be shared by all. Jesus asks the disciples at Caesarea Philippi “Who do you say that I am?” Peter responds, “You are the Christ!” Peter is given the insight, then shares it so that all might fully believe. Later on, when Paul sees the Risen Lord, Paul is given an insight into what the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus means for all the Gentiles, and eventually the Christian community as a whole affirmed it. Something very similar is happening with Thomas.
Based on what I have said so far, let me offer you another way of reading the Thomas story. See if it makes sense.
We pick up the story after the Risen Lord had already appeared to the other disciples the first time. Thomas wasn’t there. Thomas arrives, finally, and the others all tell him that they have seen the Lord. They tell him that Jesus is indeed risen.
Thomas hesitates. If the others have seen the Risen Lord, why are the doors still locked? Why are they afraid? Why aren’t they announcing the news far and wide? Shouldn’t a real belief in the Resurrection of the Lord change their lives dramatically?
But, Thomas begins to see, there is more. Jesus, during His ministry, brought Lazarus back to this life. But Lazarus just came back to the life he had. Lazarus would die again. Jesus isn’t resuscitated, like Lazarus. This is a resurrection, a transformation. Jesus has passed through death and come out the other side. If this is true, Thomas is wondering, then who is Jesus? Who must Jesus truly be? If Jesus is risen, then He must be truly God. But, if Jesus is God, this puts everything in a new and blazing light. The life of Thomas – or any believer – will be profoundly changed by this faith. But is He? Is Jesus truly God?
The disciples gather again, and this time Thomas is there. The Risen Lord comes, and seeks faith from Thomas. Jesus will not force anything; Thomas must freely consent and believe. Believe that Jesus is raised? Well, Thomas can see Jesus. No, more. To believe that Jesus is truly God. Thomas makes his act of faith: “My Lord and my God!” Thomas becomes the first to say, in so direct a way, that Jesus is God. His faith then awakens the same faith in the others. We have shared that faith ever since.
What does Thomas teach us? Faith is not only a matter of knowing about the Lord. It concludes knowledge of Scripture and doctrine, of course. But such knowledge, by its very nature, cannot stay only in the mind. It must sink into the heart, and from there, like that magnet, reorient everything in our lives, shaping us into the very pattern of the Lord Himself. Faith leads us to know both the dying and the rising of Christ in our daily lives. It centers everything we are, everything we think, everything we do, on Him. Nothing remains untouched, unshaped by the Lord’s presence in us.
This story of Thomas can also shed some light for autistic Christians. I am not claiming that Thomas was on the spectrum. We have no way to ascertain that. But this episode may strike autistic people as very familiar to them. We get this.
Why do I say that? It is a common human trait to hesitate before making an important decision. For autistic people, however, this hesitation may be intensified. We know that choices have consequences. Given our aptitude for connecting dots, seeing patterns, and spotting anomalies, we may see the full consequences of a decision more clearly than others might. This clearer vision may make us hesitate. Are we sure? Are we ready? Can we embrace this fully? In such a moment, we remind ourselves that, if the Lord is summoning us to take the next step in faith, He will bye with us all the way. He knows what is good for us, and what is good for all. Our “yes” of loving faith not only reshapes our own lives, but the Lord can grace others through our “yes”, too.
Faith is a centering on God. It is loving God with all we are, and being open to being loved by God. It is loving others with that same overflowing love of God. It is standing in the truth, and speaking the truth in love. It is perseverance in trials. It is love without calculation. It is a vulnerable dependance on God for everything. It is, in these and other ways, a living of the dying of Christ in us, so that the joy of the Risen Christ might also live in us. And it all begins with a yes to God. We have given God that yes. We know that God will give us the grace and love we need to be faithful to that yes. May we, like Thomas, always believe in Our Lord and Our God!