Thomas July 3

8/9/2019 Thomas July 3

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And what is it that he doubts? As 21 st century Westerners we assume he has thesame difficulties as we have to believe in something as unusual as the resurrection of aman from the dead. But Thomas is a first century Jew. Three weeks or so before todaysincident he saw Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead. When King Herod was puzzled byJesus he jumped to the conclusion that he must be John the Baptist raised from the dead.

So for Thomas it was no big deal to believe that some people could rise. Thats not hisdoubt or his worry.His doubt is that Jesus could rise from the dead. Not that God could do this for

someone, but that he could do it, or would want to do it, for Jesus. The reason why Jesusrising from the dead was more a problem than anyone else was this: Jesus had beencrucified. That meant for a first century Jew that God had completely washed his handsof him, indeed Deuteronomy states quite clearly that if anyone dies like this then God hascursed them. The religious authorities could have made things much easier for themselves by having Jesus quietly bumped off in a back street, but the wanted himcrucified. Remember Pilate tells them to go and stone him themselves, but even that sortof public execution wasnt enough. He claimed to be messiah, he claimed to be God and

it seemed as though the whole world had gone after him, everyone thought he waswonderful. So if he could be crucified that would be Gods definitive declaration that hewas no good, an impostor, a liar. Crucifixion would totally, finally and definitivelydiscredit him.

So is surprising that Thomas doubts that he could be raised from the dead? Is itsurprising that he doubts that God had finally not cursed him but vindicated him?

As Modern Westerners we have an almost inbuilt sympathy for people who areunjustly condemned. Nothing makes us angrier than hearing of someone being stitchedup and we have very sensitive antennae for that sort of miscarriage of justice. Thereason - and the only reason for that - is for two thousand years the central story of western that is Christian - civilization is the story of Jesus, someone stitched up by theauthorities but proved righteous by God. Western history has played itself out under theshadow of the cross, so its easy enough for us to believe that a man horribly shamed anddisgraced can very well be innocent.

But Thomas stands at the very beginning of the revolution worked by the cross of Christ. Hes being asked to believe something unheard of, and he has no idea how all thisis going to play itself out. Thats why he doubts and hesitates.

And the marks in Jesus hands and side tell him that the crucifixion wasnt somehorrible nightmare, wasnt some awful hallucination hes had. It happened, and his friendwas stood now in front of him. The only way Thomas knows its Jesus is through thosemarks. And Jesus says Doubt no longer, but believe. The word for believe in theoriginal Greek is pisteuo and that can equally be translated as trust. We could interpretJesus few words to Thomas as something like: hesitate no longer Thomas, but trust me,trust that it is safe to continue making me the centre of your life, as you have done thesethree years.

For three years Thomas had followed Jesus who enjoyed a great reputation, Evena week before his death the crowds in Jerusalem had gone ecstatic over him. Now as far as those same crowds were concerned Jesus was a total no-good. He promised people thekingdom of God, but he failed totally. And Thomas now knows that he is alive, butwhats it going to be like being associated with this discredited man? Does he want to

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continue with someone who everyone still thinks is no good? Thats his doubt, hishesitation.

This all sounds remarkably like what we are living through as Catholics at themoment. Weve always been a bit suspect in this country, but we were known for

charitable institutions and great schools and our dedication. We were often admired. Butin our own time huge efforts are made to ridicule, discredit, to destroy the good name of the Catholic Church. The Church in general and the Pope in particular has been blamedfor most of the evils of mankind.

The comedian Frank Skinner, who is a practising Catholic in an interview withEddie Izzard a transvestite comedian, pointed out that its probably more sociallyacceptable in Britain today to be a transvestite than to be a practising Catholic. You mayagree or disagree with that, but he has a point.

So whats happening to the Church is to some extent what happened to Jesus. The powers that be did all in their power to cast Jesus in the worst possible light. Many of those who have influence over public opinion today are doing exactly the same thing to

the Church.So to give your life to this organisation which many people think is balmy andsome think is downright evil is not the easiest thing. Even some practising Catholic

parents are very wary about their sons going for the priesthood. We may well doubt or hesitate, but let those words of Jesus speak to us as they spoke to Thomas: Doubt nolonger but believe. That applies whatever the Lord asks of us priesthood, religious life,lay life.

And its good to remind ourselves that despite the best efforts of the mostaggressive anti-church secularists, some three million adults a year are received into theChurch, because for all its faults, Christ founded it.

Thomas then responds My Lord and my God . Now Jesus either is or isnt God,and once we are convinced that he is God, in a sense, thats that. Its not something wehave to revisit or re-examine every day. Two billion people call themselves Christian, soat least nominally recognise Jesus as God. But to really allow him to be Lord, that isntsomething you just decide once and for all. Thats a daily effort, a daily choice, to reallylet him be the one who rules my life. Calling Jesus Lord and meaning it is probably muchmore difficult than calling him God and meaning it. Making him truly my Lord , separatesreal followers of Christ from the surrounding culture.

I began my priestly life in Pakistan. I was sent to one group of Hindus, but while Iwas still learning the language got friendly with another similar group called theMegwars. None of these had heard the gospel at all and the asked me to come and tellthem about Christ. I did my best with my rudimentary Gujarati, and very soon I foundsome of them telling me that the believed Jesus was God. I was delighted at first, butsoon realised that although they genuinely believed he was God, they believed the sameof Krishna and Vishnu and Ganesh and Hanuman and all the other myriad Hindu gods.Hindus very easily accept another god into their pantheon but were nowhere near tomaking him Lord. They were certainly not going to stop worshiping all their other gods.

Jesus says Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe. God is not lessvisible today than he was in the past, but society and culture used to help us more. WhenI was born to be an atheist was to be a bit odd. Now almost every media personality,

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every comedian seems to rush to tell us how they are atheist. Many of the most witty andentertaining people are atheists.

But we are all here because we have tasted something of the blessedness that belief in Jesus can give us. When Thomas truly makes Jesus his Lord, it doesnt makehim safe, but it does make his life blessed and rich and happy.

Ive been a priest for 27 years and like everyone else its been extraordinarily fullof all sorts of things, expected and unexpected, great joys, terrible sorrows, real dangersfrom bullets and poisonous snakes, and all the other Boys Own stuff that missionaries goon about. Ive known wonderful love and kindness from some of the poorest people onearth. For the last 14 years Ive worked in seminaries and had the joy of preparing menfor the priesthood, and teaching the Sacred Scriptures. Every day at the elevation of theMass I look at the host and say with Thomas My Lord and my God . People ask me wouldI do it again, would I be a priest again? And with all my heart I can say yes, Id do it allagain a hundred times over.

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