Unless I See - I Will Not
Believe
Introduction: May the
Love of God our Abba-Father, the Peace (Shalom) and
Mercy (Hesed) of the Risen Lord, and the Fellowship
of the Holy Spirit be yours today and always!
When we
think of Jesus’ appearance to the apostles on Easter Sunday afternoon, we are continually
amazed. If we had experienced rejection, denial, and abandonment from our close
friends, we may think the first words we would have said would be, “Why did you
desert me?” or “I want to talk to you about your leaving me alone to face my suffering.”
Yet Jesus’ first words to His followers was “Shalom” – a
word of a re-established and renewed relationship, a word of reconciliation and
forgiveness, a word of Hesed-Divine
Mercy. Jesus does not blame, accuse, or question the apostles. He speaks about being
able to move forward together with renewed enthusiasm and spirited unity. Our GOD
is amazingly awesome.
Shalom
(peace) and hesed (mercy) are the themes
that run through our readings today as I see them. In our First Reading, we hear
what are the results of the shalom and hesed of the
first Christians (those who came to believe in Jesus immediately following the coming
of the Holy Spirit). Our psalm reminds us that we need to celebrate today, for this
is the day the LORD has made, and with it comes GOD’s gifts (including peace and
mercy). In the Second Reading, St. John speaks about the implications for our lives
that flow from being people of peace (shalom) who are called to demonstrate
merciful love (hesed) of others. In today’s Gospel, the Risen Lord
Jesus appears to the apostles to strengthen their faith in His being with them.
He also shares with them the gift of Easter shalom (peace) and reconciliation
– which includes the imparting of the Holy Spirit, the divine Spirit of Shalom
and Hesed.
First Reading: Acts 4:32-35
The whole group of believers was united, heart and soul
Commentary: This
reading is about the earliest Christian community. It stresses the unity of the
community, and the mutual caring to ensure that no one is in want. This care of
those in need, and particularly in financial matters, remains a strong
challenge to us today. The care for the needy remains a strong emphasis
throughout the Bible, from the earliest part of the Law-codes of Israel till
the Letter of James and beyond. As man and woman are made in the image of God,
we are to care for one another and those in need as God cares for us; this is
part of the human obligation to foster life and to care for creation.
The gospel of
Luke especially stresses the dangers of wealth and the need to use wealth
responsibly and generously. This is followed through in the Acts of the
Apostles as part of being ‘one in heart and mind’. The other feature of their
life together is the bold proclamation of the Resurrection of the Lord.
Responsorial Psalm: 118:2-4,15-18,22-24
Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his love has no end.
Our psalm is
the psalm that was used last Sunday (Easter). We continue to celebrate that
this is “the day that the LORD has made.” Easter – Resurrection Day – is truly
a GOD-made day.
Second Reading: 1 John 5:1-6:
Whoever believes that Jesus is Christ has already overcome the world
Commentary: This
passage centres on two overarching aspects of Christian love, which are vital
for any genuine manifestation of that love. The first aspect is that this love,
which conquers the world, is built on faith in Jesus as the Son of God. ‘The
world’ here stands for all the evil and godless attitudes standing in
opposition to Christian values. By raising Jesus from the dead God has shown
the vanity of these attitudes and has made the victory of Christian love over
them sure. These are the true values that in the end will prevail. The second
aspect is by Christian love we are raised to be sons of God, co-heirs with
Christ, and able to cry ‘Abba, Father’ truly to God. To the Hebrew mind to be a
‘son of’ is wider than mere physical generation. It involves respect, devotion,
obedience, keeping an eye on, and careful conformity in desire, ability, and
behaviour. It is much like being ‘in the image of’, but closer, stronger, more
heartfelt, and more intimate.
Gospel: John 20:19-31
Eight days later, Jesus came again and stood among them
Commentary: This passage from John’s Gospel has all the more significance because it brings the Gospel to a close. The story of the breakfast party with the Risen Christ on the shore of the Lake of Galilee is a sort of appendix. The storyline of the main Gospel ends with Thomas blurting out ‘My Lord and my God’. The Gospel therefore ends, as it began with the only two unmistakable declarations in the New Testament of the divinity of Jesus. ‘The Word was God’ and ‘My Lord and my God’ bracket the Gospel, showing the purpose and angle of the whole, to show that Jesus is God. It complements the other Gospels: they show a man who is also God, whereas this Gospel shows a God who is also man. It is with the divine authority that Jesus confers on his Church the divine power to forgive. Real forgiveness is indeed Godlike. It is not simply ‘forgive-and-forget’, but forgiveness in the knowledge that a hurt has occurred. Just as a bone, broken and merged together again, can be stronger than it was before it was broken, so forgiveness can create a real link of love on both sides, a treasured secret of divine graciousness between forgiver and forgiven.
Reflection: Do you
know the joy of the resurrection? The Risen Lord Jesus revealed the glory of
his resurrection to his disciples gradually and over a period of time. Even
after the apostles saw the empty tomb and heard the reports of Jesus'
appearance to the women, they were still weak in faith and fearful of being
arrested by the Jewish authorities. When Jesus appeared to them he offered
proofs of his resurrection by showing them the wounds of his passion, his
pierced hands and side. He calmed their fears and brought them peace, the peace
that reconciles sinners and makes us friends of God.
Live and proclaim the Gospel of mercy in the power of the
Holy Spirit: Jesus did something that only love and trust can do. He
commissioned his weak and timid apostles to bring the good news of the Gospel
to the ends of the earth. This sending out of the disciples is parallel to the
sending out of Jesus by his heavenly Father. Jesus fulfilled his mission
through his perfect love and obedience to the will of his Father. He called his
first disciples, and he now calls each one of us to do the same. Just as he
gave his first disciples the gift of the Holy Spirit, so he breathes on each of
us the same Holy Spirit who equips us with new life, power, joy, and courage to
live each day as followers of the Risen Lord.
The last
apostle to meet the resurrected Lord was the first to go with him to Jerusalem
at Passover time. The apostle Thomas was a natural pessimist. When Jesus
proposed that they visit Lazarus after receiving news of his illness, Thomas
said to the disciples: "Let us also go, that we may die with him"
(John 11:16). While Thomas deeply loved the Lord, he lacked the courage to
stand with Jesus in his passion and crucifixion. After Jesus' death, Thomas
made the mistake of withdrawing from the other apostles. He sought loneliness
rather than fellowship in his time of trial and adversity. He doubted the women
who saw the resurrected Jesus and he doubted his own fellow apostles.
Through the gift of faith, we recognize the Risen Lord and
receive new life: When Thomas finally had the courage to rejoin the
other apostles, the Lord Jesus made his presence known to him and reassured him
that he had indeed overcome death and risen again. When Thomas recognized his
Master, he believed and exclaimed that Jesus was truly Lord and truly God!
Through the gift of faith, we, too, proclaim that Jesus is our personal Lord
and our God. He died and rose so that we, too, might have new life in him. The
Lord offers each of us new life in His Holy Spirit so that we may know him
personally and walk in this new way of life through the power of his
resurrection. Do you believe in the good news of the Gospel and in the power of
the Holy Spirit to bring you new life, hope, and joy?
Lord Jesus
Christ, through your victory over sin and death you have overcome all the
powers of sin and darkness. Help me to draw near to you and to trust in your
life-giving word. Fill me with your Holy Spirit and strengthen my faith in your
promises and my hope in the power of your resurrection.
Daily Quote from the Early Church Fathers:
Touching the Flesh, He Invokes the Word, by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D. "But
when Jesus showed Thomas the very places where he had his doubts, Thomas
exclaimed, "My Lord and my God." He touched his flesh, he proclaimed
his divinity. What did he touch? The body of Christ. Was the body of Christ the
divinity of Christ? The divinity of Christ was the Word; the humanity of Christ
was soul and flesh. Thomas could not touch the soul, but he could perceive it,
because the body that had been dead was moving about alive. But that Word is
subject neither to change nor to contact, it neither regresses nor progresses,
neither fails nor flourishes, because in the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God. That is what Thomas proclaimed. He
touched the flesh, he invoked the Word, because the Word became flesh and dwelt
among us." (excerpt from Sermon 145A)
FEEDER SYSTEMS: “A week later, the disciples were
once more in the room and this time Thomas was with them. Despite the locked
doors, Jesus came.” —John 20:26. We have a Church full of doubting Thomases. As
St. Thomas later became a great missionary and martyr, so these doubting Thomases
today are called to renew the face of the earth in the power of the Holy Spirit
(see Ps 104:30). However, they must first be transformed from having little
faith to having strong faith.
We have a
Church full of fearful disciples. These Christians acknowledge that Jesus is
risen. However, because these disciples are locked in fear (see Jn 20:19), the
doubting Thomases of the Church find it difficult to believe the fearful
disciples. Fear feeds doubt, and doubt makes us more susceptible to fear, which
makes our doubts worse, trapping us in greater fears and uncertainties.
Jesus broke
this most vicious cycle by personally challenging Thomas’ doubts and leading
Him to faith. When Thomas cried out: “My Lord and my God” (Jn 20:28), he
prepared the way for the reception of the Holy Spirit by Jesus’ disciples at
Pentecost. The Holy Spirit is not a spirit of fear but of faith (see 2 Tm 1:7).
Thus, after fully receiving the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, Jesus’ disciples were
fearless in leading others to faith, fearlessness, and greater faith.
Fearlessness feeds faith.
Because you are
alive, you are either in a cycle of fear and doubt or a cycle of fearlessness
and faith. On this last day of the octave of Easter, come to the risen Jesus.
He will put you in the cycle leading to eternal life.
Prayer: Father, in Your mercy, challenge me to
repent. “Who, then, is the conqueror of the world? The one who believes that
Jesus is the Son of God.” —1 Jn 5:5. Praise be to You, Lord God! You are “rich
in mercy” (Eph 2:4). Alleluia!
The personal question for today: Do I need “proof” as did Thomas, so that I can
profess my faith in Jesus as my LORD and GOD? Have I experienced the
Shalom-Peace and Hesed-Divine Mercy of the Risen Lord? How has it changed my
life? Do I seek to be one in mind and heart with other believers? Am I willing
to continue to reflect on the life and message of Jesus? Do I share my “wealth”
with the rest of the community of believers? How do I proclaim Shalom Peace to
others and care for them with Hesed-loving mercy, especially those most in need
of the message of “peace” and “mercy”?