During
my homily on Holy Thursday, when I called the people to have their feet washed
early, I said, “Trust me, I know what I’m doing.” There was a lot of laughing except for one
person for sure. I’ve said that many
times to my beautiful wife throughout our life together and unfortunately there
has been a few times that it just didn’t work out so well. So when I say, “Trust me, I know what I’m
doing” it is a pinch point for Judy because trust in my words has been shaken
by contradictory results.
“Faith
is a rich reality that includes taking something on the word of another person.”[1] As the Gospel writer says, “Blessed are those
who have not seen and have believed.” (Jn 20:29) Faith is often challenging, because it’s
based on trust. Especially trust in the
unseen and the often contradictory actions and results of the world around us. The question is commonly asked, “How can we
say there is a loving and merciful God, when our children are turning to guns
and knives to resolve school yard conflicts?”
Thomas’ closest friends tell him, “We have seen the Lord.” (Jn 20:25) Yet Thomas rejects their testimony, his doubt
matches their certainty and he lays out clear terms for yielding his disbelief. Because of this moment of doubt, Thomas is
most often remembered as Doubting Thomas.
It’s
interesting that Thomas only speaks four lines in the whole New Testament, all
of it recorded in the Gospel of John:
The first time we hear him speak, he says, “Let us also go to die with
Him.” (Jn 11:16) Quite a courageous suggestion!
But we don’t remember him as ‘Courageous Thomas’ do we? He then says, “Master, we do not know where
you are going, how we can know the way?” (Jn 14:5) A very smart question that
leads to one of Jesus’ most famous lines ever: “I am the way, the truth, and
the life.” (Jn 14:6) Maybe we should be
calling this Apostle ‘Smart Thomas’ for asking the best question in the New
Testament. The last words we hear from
Thomas’ lips are “My Lord and my God!” (Jn 20:28) which is the culmination of
John’s entire Gospel, but we don’t call him ‘Confessing Thomas’ either. It was because of this one sentence: “Unless
I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nail marks
and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” (Jn 20:25) We call him ‘Doubting Thomas’.[2]
Can
you blame him though? Put yourself in
his sandals. Your friends are in the
midst of mass hysteria, claiming that someone who is very, very dead, and very,
very buried, was alive! What would you
think?!
Yet
Thomas says something very important for us, he wants to see the wounds. Jesus needed someone to point out his
wounds. Even though suffering and death
are in his past, his future contains the wounds he suffered. Jesus wants us to know that even in heaven,
he has those wounds. Even today, God
bears the wounds of the Crucifixion.
Don’t
you see? Because of those wounds, God
can’t ever forget what he did for us!
God can’t pretend that it never happened. No matter how sinful or ungrateful we
are. No matter how many crusades,
inquisitions, or wars—no matter what we do:
those wounds are an eternal reminder of how much God loves us. Those wounds, even now, in heaven, are a
reminder of what God is willing to do for you and for me—especially because we
are sinners. Those wounds are a sign of
God’s mercy.
In
the Divine Mercy image, the rays emanating from the image of Jesus represent
the blood and water that flowed from His body at the Crucifixion. It was his blood and water, poured out to cleanse
a wounded world, pouring out abundant graces, especially for those who’ve had
their faith and trust in His unfathomable mercy shaken.
So
here is the great challenge of today’s Gospel message. Jesus says, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send
you.” If your faith allows you, approach
the table, enter into the Paschal mystery, to receive this sacred nourishment. Nourishment that enlightens our faith,
strengthens our trust in God’s love, and encourages us to be witnesses to God’s
mercy. Jesus needed Thomas’ courage, his intelligence, his confession, his
insistence on seeing his wounds. He
needs us to contemplate his wounds, to be his courageous witnesses, not of his
judgement, beware of seeking God’s justice.
For the judgement we use now, will be the yard stick God will use on
us. Rather be an ambassador of his
unfathomable divine mercy. Let the world
see how we can confidently say, Jesus, I trust in you.
New
American Bible, Saint Joseph Edition. ©
1986. Scriptures: Acts 5:12-16; Rev
1:9-11a, 12-13, 17-19; John 20:19-31.
[1]
James DiGiacomo, SJ. Sundays
with Jesus. © 2006. Paulist Press,
Mahwah, NJ.
[2] James Martin, SJ &
Richard Rohr, OFM. Hungry, and You Fed
Me © 2012. My Lord and my God. By Fr. Paul Holmes
No comments:
Post a Comment