Word to the Wise
Sunday, April 11, 2010 - Second Sunday of Easter
[Acts 5:12-16; Revelation 1:9-11a, 12-13, 17-19; John 20:19-31]Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, "Peace be with you." Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe." Thomas answered and said to him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, "Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed."
"Seeing is believing!" is an old expression that represents common skepticism. It can also represent the broad perspective of secularism that allows only data that can be interpreted by the five senses to have any truth value - a heritage of the "Enlightenment!" The Gospel of John uses the seeing/believing image in a very different way. Here it is a matter of believing the word of the disciples that Jesus has risen. The "doubt" expressed by Thomas is not simply his, but represents all the questions faced by the community in the period after Jesus' death and resurrection. The difference between Thomas and the disciples on the one hand and the rest of us on the other is that they did have the physical experience of Jesus both in life before his resurrection and after, but we do not have that experience. Jesus declares to Thomas that what matters is faith and not physical experience. Throughout the Gospel of John Jesus declares that the one who believes in him HAS eternal life. It is not a future event after we "die." He also declares that whoever accepts the one he sends, accepts him. This is how the Christian faith has been passed down through the centuries. It is not simply the Bible, but living evangelism that makes the difference. If we are going to overcome the skepticism of our age, we will have to be the ones whom others will "see" and come to belief. Our baptism commits us to this task. Are we up to it? AMEN
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