Thomas

When Jesus came to meet the apostles after the resurrection Thomas was not there. Where was he? We don’t know. Did he go shopping? Did he go fishing? Maybe he was still running away. All we know is that he wasn’t there. We need to be there when Jesus comes. No excuses. We cannot miss our Lord. We need Him. He comes when he likes and we need to be ready, waiting.

When Thomas came back the apostles told him, with a hint of jealousy: “Who do you think came while you were running around?” He didn’t know. They told him: “We have seen the Lord!” This is our Christian message, a great act of faith, witness to his resurrection. He couldn’t believe it. When they insisted, he became upset and proud, and he denied it: “Impossible!” And he declared more angrily: “I want not only to see his wounds, but to touch them and put my fingers in them.” Fair enough; we recognise the risen Christ through his wounds, but his statement was a bit too much. Thomas is a modern man, sceptical and empirical: “Unless I see and touch, I don’t believe.” Thanks to his unbelief our faith grows. The doubting Thomas increases our faith.

Today, eight days later, Thomas was there when Jesus appeared again. This time Thomas had learned the lesson and he is there. The first thing Jesus says is: “Peace be with you!” Be at peace. I have risen, it is all over, I have overcome death, be not afraid. The same angels say when they appear to men. These were the first words Saint John Paul II said when he was elected Pope: “Be not afraid!” We are afraid and angry because we are not at peace with ourselves.

When Thomas saw Jesus, he hid straight away behind the other apostles thinking: I hope he didn’t hear the silly thing I said the other day. He was ashamed now, all his arrogance gone. But Jesus hears everything; we cannot hide anything from him. He went directly to Thomas, walking through the people around him. He took his right hand, and, even though Thomas tried to resist, with the strong force of his glorious body, Jesus placed Thomas’s hand into his wounds saying: “Do not be faithless but believing.” Thomas could only say: “My Lord and my God!” A good act of faith in front of the Eucharist. Then Jesus praised all of us when we feel our lack of faith, and we are envious of Thomas: “Blessed are you who have not seen and yet believe.”

When Jesus left, Thomas kept staring at his hand. Tradition says that his hand became red, a reminder of his lack of faith. Thomas never forgot this encounter with Our Lord, the first one of a line of saints to find refuge in Jesus’ wounds. Later on, Thomas would had shown his hand to the early Christians, when they asked him about this scene, showing off with pride and a bit of arrogance: I am the only one who touched Jesus’ wounds. It is not completely true because the holy women anointed them with oil, when they buried Jesus’ body. When I read this Gospel, I would like to ask Thomas what he felt when he put his fingers into Jesus’ side. You could say that he felt the depth of Jesus’ love for him.

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