Gospel Reflection for the Second Sunday of Easter – 16th April 2023

Written by Fr Brian Maher OMI

Gospel Reflection for the Second Sunday of Easter Sunday April 16th 2023

“The evil men do lives after them. The good is oft’ interred with their bones…”

As always, Shakespeare has a way of getting to the heart of matters. It is so true that we are remembered for the poor choices we make rather than for the good we do.

I cannot help but feel that poor Thomas, in today’s Gospel, would agree with Shakespeare. Just one moment of anger, or maybe jealousy, and his name lives on through the ages as the one who ‘doubted’. Everything else of his life is forgotten. Tradition tells us that he travelled to India, where he died a martyr at the hands of those who rejected the message of Jesus. He was a bold and courageous missionary, who died rather than deny his faith in Jesus, yet we remember him only as ‘doubting Thomas.’

As with so many incidents recounted in the Gospels, I find myself intrigued by this story and wishing that I had been there to witness what happened. All of the action took place in the ‘upper room’ – the place where the ‘inner circle’ of Jesus’ followers had gathered in fear and grief after his death. They had all dedicated their lives to Jesus and his message. They were the ones who had “given up everything” to follow him. As well as the apostles, only Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of Jesus, and a few others were present. They knew each other well, were loyal and close friends, and were now also united in tragedy and desolation.

I wonder, sometimes, who it was who remembered this particular incident with Thomas and recounted it to others. Since we find the story only in John’s Gospel, we can presume it was not a widely shared incident. And that does not surprise me. It is not an incident that Thomas would have been proud of, and very probably one he would like to have kept secret. Which of us want our non-flattering and embarrassing moments appearing in print to haunt us forever.

Yet, it had to be someone who was in that upper room who recounted it, someone who was a friend to Thomas and who shared the joys and sorrows of three hard years with him. Why would someone want to retell an incident guaranteed to embarrass and humiliate him?

Could it have been as simple as the very human emotion, anger? Might some of those in that room have resented the fact that Thomas did not take their word that “they had seen the Lord”? He was their friend and colleague; he knew them intimately; they trusted one another, yet when they shared the joy of the Resurrection with him, he threw it back in their faces!

And that raises another question for me. Why didn’t Thomas believe them and trust what they told him? As the story is told in the Gospel, not only does he not believe them, but he states his disbelief in a belligerent and strident way. He almost sounds like a child, angry that he has been left out of a game he wants to play and pretending that he doesn’t really care. Doesn’t he sound as if he’s saying, “…You say he appeared to you. Well, I don’t believe that. If he appeared to me, I would need to put my fingers in the wounds the nails made before I would believe. All of you just believed without even checking if he was real!”

Could we have here another very human emotion somehow blocking his judgement. Might he be just a bit jealous that the Lord appeared to them when he was not there? I would certainly understand if he was a little angry or resentful when they told him what had happened. Surely, he would say to himself, “…I gave up everything to follow him just like they did, yet they see him and I don’t! I have worked just as hard as they have, and I didn’t betray him like ‘his friend’ Judas did, or deny him like Peter, the one Jesus called ‘the rock’, did. Yet they see him, and I don’t. Not fair!”

Now, we might say that none of this really matters, and when it comes to God speaking to us through his word, that is correct. Yet this event happened in that upper room, and for me it is both interesting and important to try to understand the motivations at work in the people involved. Any clues in the Gospels which allow us to be in that room, with those involved in the story, must bring us closer to Jesus himself, and surely that is what God wants for us?

For me, it is also comforting to think that these Saints and founders of our faith, share such things as jealousy, anger and resentment with us. More than that, these negative emotions, which sometimes cause us to make poor decisions or even sin, do not distance us from God or prevent God working through us.

It is good for us to realise this as we celebrate ‘Divine Mercy’ Sunday. God’s mercy, God’s forgiveness, God’s love is far, far greater that anything we can ever do to hinder it. If we can just trust in God’s mercy, and accept it as a gift we are given, then we have nothing to fear. As St. Paul told the Romans (8:28), “…everything works for good, for those who love him…”

God is capable of using the petty jealousy of Thomas, or maybe the anger and resentment of the person who recounted this story in the first place, to ‘work for good’ and bring us closer to God.

God’s Spirit dwells within us; we are created in God’s image and likeness. Even when our humanness lets us down and causes us to sin, God’s Spirit is still within us, “praying to God on our behalf.”

Let me jump to the very end of the Gospel. Isn’t it amazing that despite Thomas’ doubting – or maybe because of it – he is the only person in the New Testament who openly declares the divinity of Jesus? His acclamation of faith, “My Lord and my God…”, is unique. It is true that John’s Gospel opens with a similar declaration of Divinity – “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…” – but Thomas is the only named person in the Gospels enabled to make this proclamation of faith.

We should remember Thomas as ‘faithful Thomas’, but he will be forever ‘doubting Thomas’.

“The evil men do lives after them. The good is oft’ interred with their bones…” How right Shakespeare was!

Let each of us continue to enjoy our celebration of the Lord’s Resurrection, and let us pray that, called to be apostles, we may “witness to the Resurrection” in our lives.

Many thanks,

Brian.   

If you have any comments, questions or thoughts on this scripture reflection, please feel welcome to email me at b.maher@oblates.ie