Today the Church closes the Octave of Easter, eight days of celebrating the Lord’s resurrection from the tomb. So great are the blessings that flow to us from Jesus’ resurrection, that they cannot be contained in any single day. Our first reading from the Acts of the Apostles almost makes us feel that the Church got right to work after Jesus’ death, and the bestowal of the Holy Spirit, preaching, teaching, and healing in the name of the Savior, Jesus the Christ. The tragic ending of Good Friday seems all but forgotten and overshadowed by the apostles’ need to get the salvific message out to “great numbers of men and women” who joined the apostles as “believers.” Just the “shadow” of Peter was already known for its curative powers. The view of the apostles in Acts is a far cry from the apostles we find in today’s gospel from John.
Our gospel passage is very likely the original ending of the gospel of John, although John, or one of his disciples, added a further chapter to more fully elaborate on Jesus’ post-Resurrection appearances. To be fair, in the Acts the Holy Spirit had already been shared with the apostles, and it is that Holy Spirit who is no doubt responsible for them assuming their roles as the foundation of what would be a new Church.
Today’s gospel passage has the apostles still cowering in an upper room behind locked doors. It is the Sunday after what we call Good Friday, and the apostles are still frightened that the authorities might be coming for them. Unlike the Synoptic writers, John has everything accomplished on one day – the Resurrection, Pentecost, and Ascension. We are sometimes distracted by the wonderful story about Thomas, that we fail to notice the bestowal of the Holy Spirit, which happens with less fanfare than the story told at the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles.
Thomas’ skepticism is very understandable. As we said last week, Resurrection is a concept that is difficult to resonate with human understanding. He surely thought his fellow apostles in their grief were trying to wish into reality something that was impossible, and rather boldly he states that “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.” A gruesome, but perhaps honest, acknowledgement from someone trying to deal with the unexplainable.
A week later (what happened to the power of the Holy Spirit?), the apostles are still gathered together in the safely locked room, and Jesus mysteriously makes His way into their midst, wishing them what Jesus wants for all of us, “Peace.” The embarrassment for Thomas must have been immediate, especially since Jesus graciously invites Thomas to perform the anatomical analysis. Thomas is no doubt amazed that Jesus knew what he said, and makes the right decision not to explore Jesus’ wounds. “Do not be unbelieving,” Jesus says, “but believe.” Thomas was clearly overwhelmed, and can only utter the famous words of faith, “My Lord and my God.” While not fully a rebuke, Jesus reminds Thomas, and us, that “blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”
Although we do not have the privilege of walking and talking with Jesus, we can see from the witness of Thomas that that would not have made our faith in Jesus any easier. It is why we so often say that faith involves a “leap,” a leap into the unknown where even putting our fingers in Jesus’ nail marks or our hand into His side is not going to make any difference. Believing is a challenge, but if we are filled with that same Holy Spirit that Jesus personally bestowed on His apostles, and us at our baptisms, we should be able to see Jesus in the unexplainable kindness of a stranger, in the generosity of those unrelated to us by blood, in those whose innate holiness is visible. As Peter proclaimed in last weekend’s first reading from Acts, we have had the privilege of “eating and drinking with the risen Lord” at every Eucharist we are privileged to celebrate. It takes keen eyes, eyes of faith, to see in the elements of bread and wine the very Body and Blood of our Lord, given up for us in obedience to His Father, that we might one day be invited to spend eternity with God. Such wonder is what causes us to say: “My Lord and my God!”
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