Second Sunday of Easter A 2017

Doubting Thomas?
 Second Sunday of Easter
1. Between 1492 and 1522, European explorers like Columbus, Vasco da Gama, and Magellan
challenged the common belief that the earth was flat, and sailed beyond the known confines of
the ancient world and discovered new lands.
Shortly after that, the main European powers started colonizing the newly discovered lands, in search of
gold and anything of value they could steal.
The conquest of new lands gave also rise to missionary activity. The Church demanded that the
populations of the new world be converted to Christianity.
Unfortunately, the missionary activity of the church became a cover for colonialism: the western nations
took the land and all the resources, converted a few natives to Christianity and made them their subjects.
The Portuguese Vasco da Gama was the first to circumnavigate Africa, cross the Indian ocean, and
established a Portuguese colony in Kerala, India, Soon after that missionaries followed their
conquistadores.
Imagine the surprise of the missionaries when they arrived, and discovered that the church was already
established there. The local Christians traced the origin of their church to St. Thomas, the apostle of
India.
Early Christian sources identify Thomas as the apostle who brought Christianity to the Parthians (an old
name for Persians). So Thomas moved further East from Persia and reached the Western cost of India.
Thomas is one of the most common names in the Indian state of Kerala. When I was in graduate school at
Drew University, my neighbor was an Indian priest, named Thomas M. Thomas.
We do not have historical sources placing the apostle Thomas in India, but we do know that when the
Portuguese arrived in Western India, they found there St. Thomas Christians, also known as Nasranis.
Tradition holds that Thomas came to India to convert Jews who had moved there, and was martyred,
pierced by a lance, in 72 AD.
2. The Gospels do not tell us much about Thomas. We know that he was nicknamed twin. He is
quoted 3 times in the Gospel of John
1. When Jesus planned to go to Bethany to raise Lazarus from the dead, knowing that the leaders of the
Jews were out to kill Jesus, Tomas sais, Lets go to Jerusalem with him and die with him.
 Second Sunday of Easter
2. The second time, Jesus had just explained that he is going away to prepare a heavenly home for his
followers, and that one day they would join him there. Thomas reacted by saying, "Lord, we dont
know where you are going, so how can we know the way?
3. The third time is the doubting Thomas story we read today
A word of caution about this story: the Gospel of John was composed by disciples of John who wrote
down his memories of Jesuss life to preserve them. Scholars believe that in the early church, the
disciples of John and the disciples of Thomas might have been at odds with each other. Eventually, in
the 3rd century AD some of the disciples of Thomas were accused of Gnosticism. This gospel of John is
the product of the school of John and, in it, Thomas is made to look bad. None of the other 3 gospels
report this episode.
3. But if we look at the story carefully, it is clear that the other disciples didnt have more faith
than Thomas
a. The opening sentence states that since the disciples were afraid of the Jews, they had locked
themselves in a room. That was not because they had faith and were waiting for the Lord. They had
seen Jesus captured and killed, and run away, fearing for their lives. They were Galileans (from the
North) in Jerusalem (in the South), and their accent gave them away. So they went hid waiting for the
end of the Passover holiday when for a chance to slip out of Jerusalem with all the other pilgrims.
b. When Jesus appeared, Thomas was not with them. Some preachers make a big deal of this
observation and imply that he might have been drifting away. The reality was that they had all ran
away when Jesus was captured, and now they were scared and hiding. There was no order from Jesus
to sit tight and wait for him. Maybe Thomas was not there because he was not as scared as they were.
c. Jesus appeared and stood among them and said, Peace be with you, then he showed them his
hands and his side. They recognized him and rejoiced. Think about this, why did he have to show his
hands and his side? Could it be that they did not believe that it was him until they actually saw and
touched his wounds? They knew what he looked like, why else would they need to examine him?
d. After Jesus had left, Thomas returned and they told him that they had seen the Lord,. He did not take
their word for it. He said that he would have to touch Jesus to believe that he had risen from the
dead. That is exactly what everyone else had done and believed only after checking his wounds.
 Second Sunday of Easter
4. A week later Jesus came back, and this time Thomas was with them. Jesus said again, Peace
be with you, then he called Thomas and told him to check the wounds on his hands and on
his side.
Exactly what the others had done for the others the first time around. Jesus told Thomas, do not
doubt, but believe. Doubting, questioning is a crucial part of what makes us humans. We have minds,
we reason, and when things do not make sense, we question.
Please note something else in this episode that shows that Thomas was more perceptive than the
other guys. When Thomas saw Jesus, he dropped on his knees and said, my Lord and my God. The
titles used in the Gospel for Jesus are very important because they show how the churchs
understanding of Jesus evolved over time. This is the only passage in all the Gospels where Jesus is call
God. Elsewhere he is called son of God, but the people of Israel was called son of God. Here Thomas
is the first ever to proclaim that Jesus is God
It will take the church 3 centuries to arrive at an understanding of the Holy Trinity and of Jesus as God,
the second person of the Trinity. Everyone else, still steeped in Jewish traditions called Jesus Lord.
Thomas in the first to call him Lord and God. Obviously his doubts had been resolved, his eyes had
been opened and he saw more clearly than anyone else that Jesus was God
5. Faith is a gift from God. One cannot believe unless one receives the gift of faith. All of us
have received the gift of faith in Baptism, but we have the option to accept it or reject it.
When people have doubts or questions, it does not mean that they are rejecting the gift of faith. It
simple means that their minds are working through the questions and looking for answers.
Doubting and questioning did not keep Thomas on the sideline: he maintain faith in his Lord and God,
he continued his mission to preach the Gospel, a mission that took him all the way to India, much
further than any other apostle, and Thomas too eventually he gave his life for his faith.
Faith is not a warm and fuzzy feeling, faith is commitment. Doubts and questions should not keep us
from being followers of Jesus, from obeying his commandment to love God and our neighbors, and
from preaching the Gospel all the time, using words only if we must.