Feast of Saint Thomas, Apostle

Today's Mass Readings

People usually know Saint Thomas as the one who doubted and had little faith. They see the passage from today (John 20:24-29) as showing what a “bad” disciple Thomas was because Jesus tells him that the ones who believe and do not see are blessed. We might even be prone to thinking that we are “better” disciples than Thomas because after all, 2000 years after Jesus’ death, we are the ones who are blessed because we have not touched Jesus’ hands and side. But if we only think of Thomas as the doubter, we miss some of the richness of what he has to teach us. In John 11, Jesus says that he is going Jerusalem and Thomas says, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” Here is a man willing to follow Jesus to whatever end necessary, a very loyal disciple. He is also a no-nonsense kind of man who sees the work needing to be done and jumps in with both feet.

So, when Jesus did die, I imagine that no-nonsense attitude kicked in, and he thought to himself, “Jesus has died, but what does that mean for what I must do now?” I am actually struck by the fact that Thomas was not present with the other disciples when Jesus appeared to them the first time (see John 20:24). What was he doing? The other disciples were locked away “for fear of the Jews”, but given Thomas’ response to Jesus in chapter 11 that he would die with Jesus, I think the apostle might well have been out in the thick of things. Perhaps he was defending Jesus and his followers to the last detractors, even though he thought Jesus was dead.

Unlike the other disciples who hid in the upper room, Thomas’ way of dealing with Jesus’ death was to go out to the world. Why wouldn’t he doubt Jesus’ resurrection, then? He’s tried to deal with death matter-of-factly; dealing with new life in the resurrection comes matter-of-factly as well. He must see some evidence!

But once he does come around, he is quick to proclaim, “My Lord, and my God!” Notice, too, that this is the first time since the resurrection has happened that any disciple names Jesus “God”. Mary names him “Teacher”; the other disciples name him “Lord”; but Thomas alone names him God. That is a pretty significant thing to say of a man who has just died. Many followers of Jesus likely saw him as just another man, but Thomas sees him as the Son of God.

That is the good news for us, that God becomes human like us. The significance of this is highlighted in the Ephesians reading (2:19-22), where Paul talks about how we are no longer strangers, but members of God’s own household together with apostles like Thomas. That is pretty amazing – that we get to be counted among such faith-filled individuals as Thomas himself.

Christian tradition holds that Thomas continued to proclaim faith in Jesus for the rest of his life by traveling as far as southern India, where he was martyred. When Portuguese explorers landed in there in the sixteenth century, they found there Christians who traced their lineage back to Thomas and his faith-filled message. Today let us reflect on our own faith in God and pray for more faith.

- Jana M. Bennett