This (the story of the Risen Christ’s encounter with the disciples 7 days after Christ’s
resurrection) is one of the best known and most powerful stories in the Bible. But different
people use it in different ways.
For some, this is a story about religious skepticism. Thomas is its hero. Doubt, and the
insistence that there be proof before believing, is its point. Its punch line is Thomas’
statement that begins with the word “unless” and ends with the statement, “I will not
believe.” For folks like these, doubt is the highest virtue and faith, the product of
unsophisticated, unscientific minds.
For others, this is a story about believing, not seeing; about treating as literal fact what
other people report to have happened. The heroes in this version are all those who have
ever had absolute faith in the apostolic witness or in the literal words of the Bible. The
punch line is not stated but clearly implied: that, upon seeing the risen Christ, Thomas
turned to these other disciples and exclaimed, “Now I believe what you said! I’ll never
doubt your word again.” For folks like these, the highest virtue is unquestioned acceptance
of literal fact, the product of strong-willed minds.
These two opposite interpretations of the same wonderful story each flow from the same
misconception: Each misunderstands what we mean by faith, by what it is that we believe.
Each assumes that faith equals intellectual assent to scientifically or historically provable
facts. Each forgets that, the object of words like “faith” and “belief,” is God, not someone
else’s report about God. Each forgets that faith is about relationship, not possession; about
trusting some One, not assenting to something.
In the resurrection story we just heard as today’s Gospel — a story history has mislabeled
“Doubting Thomas” — proof of Jesus’ death and resurrection is not the point. Far from it.
In today’s Gospel about the crucified and risen Christ’s appearance to the disciples one
week after the crucifixion and resurrection, the point is this: The crucified and risen Lord
shows up whenever people need to know that God loves them and that they have an
indelible relationship with God.
How do I know this? I know this because of the response Thomas makes to his crucified
and risen Lord. You see, in this story, Thomas doesn’t take up Jesus’ challenge to “reach
out…and touch” the wounds in his hands and feet and side. Nor does Thomas respond by
telling Jesus that he now has proof that Jesus really did die and really was raised. Thomas
says and does nothing in this Gospel to imply that the evidence is important,
Quite the contrary, he does not reach, he does not touch and he does not assent to the
“evidence” before him. In place of these, Thomas affirms a relationship — a relationship
that exists between Thomas and his God. “My Lord and My God,” he exclaims. And that is
the end — or rather, the beginning — of that. Thomas affirms that in the crucified and risen
Christ, God is present for him.
A lot of people spend a lot of time and resources seeking God. In the story of Thomas, indeed, in all
the stories of the Bible, we see God always searching and always finding us. That’s the point of the
Bible, the Church and the ministry. Not to get you to suspend your critical mind, but to trust your
never-critical God; to trust that, no matter, what God loves you and is here for you. Six days later,
that’s what God did when the risen Christ appeared to the disciples. That’s what God is constantly
doing for you and me. You don’t have to take my word for it. You can experience it for yourself and,
like Thomas, you too can exclaim, “My Lord and My God” and enjoy the loving relationship God has
always had with us.
Amandus J. Derr
Saint Peter’s Church
in the City of New York