FIRST SUNDAY AFTER EASTER
(Quasimodo Geniti; Low Sunday)
Readings:
Key Verses (using the World English Bible):
1 John 5:10b: “He who doesn’t believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son.”
John 20:27-28: “[Jesus] said to Thomas. ‘Reach here your finger, and see my hands. Reach here your hand, and put it into my side. Don’t be unbelieving, but believing.’ Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’”
Reflection
Thomas has, for the most part, gotten a bad rap in Christianity. Today’s Gospel story is his signature story, why he’s known as “Doubting Thomas.” It’s not a compliment, and it’s not entirely undeserved. Thomas’ insistence that he will never believe unless he touches Jesus’ wounds comes across as rather defiant. We of course know that Jesus has risen from the dead. We also know, from just a few verses earlier, that he appeared to the other disciples and showed them his wounds. So Thomas’ challenge reads almost as if he’s trying to put God to the test, something which the Bible says is a “no-no”. From here, it’s such an easy leap to conclude that the moral of the story is that God requires belief, and it is wrong, maybe even sinful, to be a “doubting Thomas.”
And indeed Christianity has made this kind of leap—a literal “leap of faith”, which eventually came to define the religion. The classic creeds of fourth-century Christianity, while beautiful, cherished, and even poetic expressions of faith, were originally intended to be a list of correct beliefs, a test to determine who’s “in” and who’s “out”. Down to our own day, early 20th-century Fundamentalist Christianity narrowed the list down to just five simple statements that require absolute belief. There can be no “doubting Thomases” in this worldview. “Stop doubting and believe,” as the New International Version translates Jesus’ words.
This diametric opposition between belief and doubt is probably the major reason that a lot of people have left the Church. Doubting is discouraged, and why stay in something you don’t believe in? And yet neither of these concepts is actually present in today’s readings. In the New Testament, “belief” and “faith” are closer to our concepts of “trust” and “confidence”. That’s why James can say that demons also believe that God exists—they believe, though they obviously don’t put their trust in him. That’s why John’s community, in today’s Epistle reading, argues that not believing God is tantamount to calling God a liar. Not confiding in someone suggests something deceptive about that person's character. In the New Testament, the opposite of faith was not doubt, but faithlessness or distrust.
So with that in mind, let me suggest another reading of this story. Thomas returns (from wherever he was) to overjoyed cries of “We have seen the Lord” from his friends. Yes, Jesus said he would rise again, but there are other possibilities too. What if they just saw a grief-induced hallucination? What if Jesus’ body was stolen? It’s a genuine concern; the chief priests’ feared that Jesus’ body might be stolen to deceive the crowds. Surely if they could think of it, someone else could too, but this time to deceive the disciples. Whatever the reason, Thomas doesn’t trust his friends, their senses, nor the multitudes of Passover pilgrims in the city. And can you blame him after Good Friday? He needs proof.
And then the most extraordinary and wonderful thing happened. Jesus meets Thomas exactly where he is, in the midst of doubt, uncertainty, and even a little defiance. And Jesus grants Thomas’ wish. He didn’t even let Mary Magdalene touch him, and he merely showed his wounds to his disciples. There is no reprimand for doubting, no punishment for questioning, only a plea for trust. This very intimate and personal interaction leads to one of the simplest yet deepest of Christological affirmations ever to come out of the mouth of a disciple. Thomas cries out, “My Lord and my God!” It would appear that Thomas, too, received the Holy Spirit, because “no one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ but by the Holy Spirit.” Jesus didn't withhold from him any gift he gave his other followers; he gave Thomas exactly what he needed because he needed it, and led him to deeper truth.
Of all the church seasons, Easter relies the most on faith. During those times when we feel like we’ve lost our faith, may we never forget that God is there, in love, to meet us where we are, again and again.
Prayer of the Day
O God of life,
you pour forth the Paschal joy on us.
Grant that we may keep in our hearts
the good news of the cross and the resurrection,
so that we may daily die to sin,
and rise to live in you forever;
through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God forever and ever.
Amen.
—Collect for the Sunday after Easter from Den Svenska Psalmboken, 2007
Christ is risen from the dead!
By his death, he has trampled down death.
And to those in the tombs,
he has granted life.
—Paschal Troparion from Orthodox liturgy
(Words: ‘O filii et filiae’, Jean Tisserand, 15th century; translated to English by John Mason Neale, 1818-1866; adapted by Joseph A. Soltero, 2015
Tune: ‘O filii et filiae’, from Airs sur les hymnes sacres, odes et noëls, 1623)
O sons and daughters, let us sing!
For heaven’s King, the glorious King,
O’er death and hell rose triumphing.
Alleluia!
That night, th’ apostles met in fear.
Amid them came their Lord most dear,
And said, “My peace be on all here.”
Alleluia!
When Thomas first the tidings heard,
How they had seen the risen Lord,
He doubted the disciples’ word.
Alleluia!
“My piercèd side, O Thomas, view.
My hands, my feet, I show to you.
Have faith, believe, be not untrue.”
Alleluia!
No longer Thomas then denied.
He saw the feet, the hands, the side.
“You are my Lord and God!” he cried.
Alleluia!
How blest are they who have not seen,
And yet whose faith has constant been,
For they eternal life shall win.
Alleluia!
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