Be Not Faithless
Gospel Reflection for Divine Mercy Sunday, April 7 2024 - John 20:19-31
Now when it was late that same day, the first of the week, and the doors were shut, where the disciples were gathered together, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them: Peace be to you.
And when he had said this, he shewed them his hands and his side. The disciples therefore were glad, when they saw the Lord.
He said therefore to them again: Peace be to you. As the Father hath sent me, I also send you.
When he had said this, he breathed on them; and he said to them: Receive ye the Holy Ghost.
Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.
Now Thomas, one of the twelve, who is called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.
The other disciples therefore said to him: We have seen the Lord. But he said to them: Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.
And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them. Jesus cometh, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said: Peace be to you.
Then he saith to Thomas: Put in thy finger hither, and see my hands; and bring hither thy hand, and put it into my side; and be not faithless, but believing.
Thomas answered, and said to him: My Lord, and my God.
Jesus saith to him: Because thou hast seen me, Thomas, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and have believed.
Many other signs also did Jesus in the sight of his disciples, which are not written in this book.
But these are written, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God: and that believing, you may have life in his name. (John 20:19-31 DRA)
The Gospel chosen for this second Sunday of Easter, Divine Mercy Sunday, is appropriate for several reasons. First, Christ’s demonstration of His wounds to St. Thomas occurred eight days after the Resurrection, thus on the second Sunday of Easter. Second, Christ showed the true depths of divine mercy to Thomas who, despite having witnessed Christ’s miracles for three years and heard His teachings, then known about His Passion and death, still did not believe the truth of His repeated promises that He would rise from the dead, even after hearing the testimony of His fellow apostles to the fact. Yet, Christ did not, as He rightfully could have, simply dismiss Thomas. Instead, after admonishing his lack of faith, He gave Thomas the proof he desired and accepted his proclamation of faith in the divinity of Christ, one of the clearest in the entire New Testament:
Consider the mercy of the Lord, how for the sake of one soul, He exhibits His wounds. And yet the disciples deserved credit, and He had Himself foretold the event. Notwithstanding, because one person, Thomas, would examine Him, Christ allowed him. But He did not appear to him immediately, but waited till the eighth day, in order that the admonition being given in the presence of the disciples, might kindle in him greater desire, and strengthen his faith for the future. (Chrysostom, Catena Aurea)
If Christ gave this mercy to Thomas, allowing him to touch His resurrected body to ensure his faith, why doesn’t He do this for believers today? Christ’s words, “blessed are they that have not seen, and have believed,” describe the condition of nearly all Christians since apostolic times. Our faith is not based on personal, sensory experience, or even on human reason, since the truths of revelation cannot be discovered by the unaided intellect: rather, through the power of grace, we must assent to truths revealed by God on His authority (the greatest possible veracity), entrusting ourselves to Him. As St. Paul taught, “Now faith is the substance of things to be hoped for, the evidence of things that appear not.” (Heb 11:1) For this reason, Christians have been ridiculed throughout history, from the ancient Romans to modern atheists, as being irrational and foolish, confusing myth with history and being willing to die for conjectural stories.
Even for Christians who have faith and try to live by it, the question can still arise: is God truly merciful if He will not offer us more definitive proof for His existence and revelation? Why does He choose to give only limited historic instances, substantiated by trustworthy witnesses and corroboration, while in daily life we rarely encounter any direct experience of the divine? While the miracles of the saints can be reassuring, they often only reinforce this question: if they can receive or perform miracles, why can’t I? What kind of “mercy” motivates God to allow countless millions of people to live without tangible proof of His existence or loving actions in history? Is it “merciful” to risk the damnation of souls if they do not accept doctrines and moral principles which are based on revelations that few people have ever personally experienced?
In His wisdom, God answers these questions in Scripture, both in this passage and elsewhere. In truth, Thomas did not directly experience Christ’s divinity – he only felt the signs of His resurrection in the body. Yet from this sign, he came to believe both in Christ’s lordship and divinity, as St. Augustine explains: “Thomas saw and touched the man, and confessed the God whom he neither saw nor touched. By means of the one he believed the other undoubtingly: Thomas answered and said unto Him, My Lord and my God.” (Catena Aurea) St. John makes clear that “No man hath seen God at any time: the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.” (Jn 1:18) The divinity of God is not visible or palpable: “God is a spirit; and they that adore him, must adore him in spirit and in truth.” (Jn 4:24) Thomas was given a superior kind of sign, like the miracles experienced by other saints, but his act of faith in Christ as the Son of God was still wholly spiritual, requiring the power of grace elevating his intellect to accept that which it could not know on its own power. In truth, all we deserve is Hell for our sins, but even when, in total gratuitous mercy, God gives us signs, as He did to some in Scripture, or the clear truth of the Law, many will still deny Him, as Christ said: “If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they believe, if one rise again from the dead.” (Lk 16:31)
Finally, this issue raises an even more important question: why is faith so important to God? Does He need our belief for His reassurance? Certainly not; He exists whether we think He does or not, contrary to the presumptions of atheists, as they will eventually learn. No, faith and belief are distinct; one can believe in God, even in the correct terms of Christianity, and still not truly know or love Him. Authentic faith is loving trust, the fidelity of marriage by which we are united to Christ who gave Himself to the Church in the consummation of the Cross. Like devoted wives, we submit to receive His love with trust and total reciprocity.
Ultimately, faith is important because love is important. We are made to love both God and one another in faith – not as a mere feeling but as the complete and free gift of self in indissoluble union. Sin is adultery, idolatrously loving a creature above Christ our Bridegroom. Thomas’s faithlessness was adulterous, a betrayal of His vows as a disciple of Christ to trust Him utterly and perfectly. But Christ forgave him in His supreme mercy, just as He forgives our frequent lapses of faith. This is why the life of faith for those who do not have such signs as did the apostles is such a wonder and blessing, and why God requires all people to have faith: it is what we are made for. Without faithful love, we are not completely human; God thus makes Himself “a hidden God” (Is 45:15) and gives us our neighbor so that we may learn to love in the freedom of the gift, to share His divine mercy. Like Thomas, Christ gives us not merely signs but the grace to have “faith that worketh by charity”, (Gal 5:6) if only we will accept His Divine Mercy, as this Gospel passage illustrates:
It was not an accident that that particular disciple was not present. The Divine mercy ordained that a doubting disciple should, by feeling in his Master the wounds of the flesh, heal in us the wounds of unbelief. The unbelief of Thomas is more profitable to our faith, than the belief of the other disciples; for, the touch by which he is brought to believe, confirming our minds in belief, beyond all question. (Bede, Catena Aurea)
Happy Easter!