Commentary

I.Theme –   Joining resurrection faith with experiences of community 

 "Incredulity of Thomas" –  Duccio, di Buoninsegna (1308-1311)

The lectionary readings are here  or individually:

Old Testament – Acts 5:27-32
Psalm – Psalm 118:19-24  OR Psalm 150
Epistle –Revelation 1:4-8
Gospel – John 20:19-31 

Today’s readings celebrate the power of the risen Christ demonstrated in the faith and life of the early Christian community.

As we enter into the season of Easter, we read from the Acts of the Apostles, remembering how the early Christians fared in the days after Jesus’ resurrection. We hear the beginnings of the early church, the house-meetings, the agape love feasts, the witnesses and martyrs, and all of the disciples of Jesus.John, in his Revelation, attests to the love of the triumphant Christ for the faithful. In today’s gospel, Jesus promises greater blessings for those who believe in him though they do not see him.

Divided into two major segments, the Festival Half, and Ordinary Time, the Church Year has now reached the mid-point of the Paschal Cycle in the Festival Half of the year. Eastertide extends from the Great Vigil of Easter to Pentecost, some fifty days later. Eastertide is constructed as a “Great Lord’s Day” with each of seven Sundays named as a “Sunday of Easter”

The first two Sundays emphasize appearance stories Details introduced into appearance stories are generally limited to making one of two essential points. Some stress discontinuity between Jesus’ risen body and his previously imperfect, earthly frame. Other details, emphasize essential continuity of the glorified Lord with the historical Jesus of Nazareth — here, gaping wounds which recall His Passion.

Jesus came not to upbraid us for faithlessness or to condemn but only to bestow "peace," full reconciliation with God that replaces fear of deserved judgment, with eschatological "joy." This is accomplished through an efficacious sign — "breathed upon them" — interpreted by words. The same divine life by which Jesus had been resurrected was not passed on to His disciples, through whom it is further mediated. These represent the Church, the divinely intended means through which Jesus offers forgiveness to all willing to accept it. Thus, the Church’s mission of bringing reconciliation to the world comes to concrete expression through word and sacraments.

Thomas represents all who would demand a personal appearance of the risen Lord in order to ground their own faith commitment. Jesus summoned Thomas — and through him, all succeeding generations — to a mature and well-grounded belief founded on the testimony of reliable eyewitnesses, rather than a personal encounter. Today’s reading makes two foundational statements about the Church. First, it is the official witness to the reality of Jesus’ Resurrection for every generation. Second, the Church alone is empowered to determine the requisite conditions for reconciliation, and even more, the only means to effectively bestow it upon an alienated humankind.

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1. Fear that all is lost.
2. Suspicion that death still has dominion, that physical resurrection is impossible, that no one can die and rise again.
3. Mere resurrection isn’t enough, that only a wounded-and-risen savior is the genuine article

Key points

This is the second week of Eastertide (there are seven such weeks, poetically one more than the six weeks of Lent). This week and next are stories of the risen Jesus appearing to his followers, and the following four weeks will explore Jesus’ teachings about faith and intimacy with God.

A recurring theme in the resurrection appearance stories is how, from the very outset, Christian communities struggled to perceive and believe. For starters, the risen Jesus isn’t recognized at first. Mary Magdalene thinks he’s the local gardener, and later in John, the disciples don’t recognize him on the beach (John 20:15; 21:4). Likewise, as we’ll see next week, in Luke, two of Jesus’ followers have an extended conversation with him (and about him!) without realizing who he is (Luke 24:13-27). In this way, both John and Luke go out of their way to suggest that resurrection means something more mysterious than simple resuscitation: Jesus has risen, and at the same time he is somehow different. Part of what’s going on here is early Christian communities wrestling with the fact that great numbers of people didn’t notice Jesus’ return (as they did, for example, in the case of Lazarus’ resurrection (see John 12:9)). And part of it is an exploration of the idea that “resurrection” defies conventional categories. In any case, Jesus is back, but only a few have eyes to see that it’s really him; even his closest followers need help.

Thomas just forthrightly asks for what the others have already received, including the opportunity to inspect Jesus’ wounds. Thomas is no different than the rest of the disciples. On the contrary, he’s a representative icon for their doubts, and for their dependence on “signs and wonders” in order to believe.

Thomas’ name has come down to us as “Doubting Thomas. ”  He’s been labeled a “doubter” for his inability to understand Christ’s resurrection from the dead following his crucifixion.  It’s not so much that he doubted the resurrection but that he needed a personal encounter with Jesus to make the resurrection real. His request that he see the wounds on Jesus’s hand left by the nails before he would actually believe that he was speaking to the risen Christ, has provided us with the phrase “Doubting Thomas.”   That makes it appear to doubt is not a part of faith which it is.

National Geographic – “Thomas’s moment of incredulity has proved a two-edged sword in the history of Christian thought. On the one hand, some theologians are quick to point out that his doubt is only natural, echoing the uncertainty, if not the deep skepticism, felt by millions in regard to metaphysical matters. How can we know? That Thomas challenged the risen Christ, probed the wounds, and then believed, some say, lends deeper significance to his subsequent faith. On the other hand, his crisis of doubt, shared by none of the other Apostles, is seen by many as a spiritual failure, as a need to know something literally that one simply cannot know. In the Gospel of John, 20:29, Christ himself chastises Thomas, saying, “Thomas, because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Loyalty was closer to his character. As one of the disciples, when Jesus announced His intention of going to the Jerusalem area, brushing aside the protests of His disciples that His life was in danger there, at which Thomas said to the others: “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” (John 11:7,8,16) If Thomas was pessimistic, he was also sturdily loyal and determined. He wanted to get it right

Before the Doubting Thomas episode, he was honest and sincere. At the Last Supper, Jesus said: “I go to prepare a place for you…. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.” Thomas replied: “Lord, we know not whither thou goest, and how can we know the way?” To this Jesus answered: “I am the way, the truth and the life.” (John 14:1-6)

Thomas is mentioned again (John 21) as one of the seven disciples who were fishing on the Sea of Galilee (Sea of Tiberias) when the Risen Lord appeared to them. Aside from this he appears in the New Testament only as a name on lists of the Apostles. A couple of centuries later a story was circulating in the Mediterranean world that he had gone to preach in India; and there is a Christian community in India (the Kerala district) that claims descent from Christians converted by the the preaching of Thomas.

Following Christ’s ascensio, the apostles divided the world for missionary purposes. Thomas was assigned to travel to India to spread Christianity. He objected to this group decision. He said he wasn’tt healthy enough to travel. But he couldn’t possibly be successful there, he told the others, contending that a Hebrew couldn’t possibly teach the Indians. It’s even said that Christ appeared to him in a vision encouraging him to travel to India. Thomas remained unmoved by this revelation as well.

A merchant eventually sold Thomas into slavery in India. It was then, when he was freed from bondage that this saint began to form Christian parishes and building churches. It’s not surprising that to this day, St. Thomas is especially venerated as The Apostle in India. According to legend, Thomas built a total of seven churches in India, as well as being martyred during a prayer session with a spear near Madras around the year 72 C.E.

He is often pictured holding a spear. Paintings of martyrs often show them holding or accompanied by the instruments with which they were put to death.

A recently discovered work called the Gospel of Thomas is a collection of sayings attributed to Jesus,

A Primer on Thomas – the Details

The National Geographic -“He traveled farther than even the indefatigable Paul, whose journeys encompassed much of the Mediterranean. Of all the Apostles, Thomas represents most profoundly the missionary zeal associated with the rise of Christianity—the drive to travel to the ends of the known world to preach a new creed.”

“Thomas is said to have raised the first cross in India and performed one of his earliest miracles: When he encountered a group of Brahmans throwing water into the air as part of a ritual, he asked why the water fell back to Earth if it was pleasing to their deity. My God, Thomas said, would accept such an offering. He then flung a great spray into the air, and the droplets hung there in the form of glistening white blossoms. Most onlookers converted on the spot; the rest fled.”

“St. Thomas still stands as the direct link between his converts in Kerala and the founding Christian story on the shores of the Mediterranean, clear across the known world of the first century. Unlike later Christian groups in Asia who were converted by missionaries, Thomas Christians believe their church was founded by one of Christ’s closest followers, and this is central to their spiritual identity. “They are an apostolic church,” Stewart said, “and that’s the ultimate seal of approval for a Christian group.”

“The community was historically united in leadership and liturgy, but since the 17th century have been split into several different church denominations and traditions.

“Historically the Saint Thomas Christian community was part of the Church of the East, centred in Persia.They are a distinct community, both in terms of culture and religion. Though their liturgy and theology remained that of East-Syrian Christians of Persia, their life-style customs and traditions were basically Indian.

“In the 16th century the overtures of the Portuguese padroado to bring the Saint Thomas Christians into the Catholic Church led to the first of several rifts in the community and the establishment of Syrian Catholic and Malankara Church factions. Since that time further splits have occurred, and the Saint Thomas Christians are now divided into several different Eastern Catholic, Oriental Orthodox, and independent bodies, each with their own liturgies and traditions.”

Forward Movement is publishing a meditation everyday during Easter Tide. Access 50days here>

From their introduction – “Easter gives us 50 days to celebrate, 50 days to begin new habits so we can live an Easter life” – and celebrate!

“We get 50 whole days to celebrate the glory of Easter. And we need it. It’s not easy to grasp the mystery and majesty of what happened when Jesus walked out of the tomb on Easter morning.”

“On Good Friday, the powers of the world did their best to extinguish God’s perfect love. It looked like evil had won. But early on the morning of Easter, women found an empty tomb. They went and told others who were disciples of Jesus. The disciples saw that Jesus’s promises had come true.

“Before long, those followers of Jesus told others. And they told others. Soon thousands and thousands, and millions and millions, of people wanted to know the power of God’s transforming love in Jesus Christ. The Easter season invites us to remember that Easter changes everything, not only for Jesus but for us and for the whole universe.”

In this video conducted by 206 Tours, you will see sites of Holy Week in Jerusalem, including the route of Palm Sunday, the site of the Last Supper, the Garden of Gethsemane, the Mount of Olives, the Kidron Valley, the site where he was sent to the High Priests, the dungeon where he was kept as a prisoner in complete darkness, the house where he was taken to Pilate, the site where he carried the cross, Golgotha and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the site of the Resurrection.

1. Dennis Bratcher’s Holy Week article

2. All About Holy Week

3. Family Activities During Holy Week

4. The Events of Holy Week for Children

5. Facts about Crucifixion from a physician

6. What are Stations of the Cross?

A. Virginia Theological – Video, reflection guide

B. Stations of the Cross – Mary Peterman. Art

C. Stations of the Cross – Creighton University

7. Hot Cross Buns recipe

8. Passion Prayers

"Inspired by the St. Matthew and the St. John Passions of J.S. Bach, which interweave scripture texts with commentary, I gathered hymns, prayers, and art as responses to the text of the passion according to St. Mark. I chose northern European paintings of the 15th and 16th century, focusing on details to prompt the imagination toward completing the mood and event. Perhaps I meant the pictures to be like day to day impressions, shards of reality which carry complete truths. – Suzanne Guthrie

9. Holy week in two minutes (Youtube)

10. Praying Holy Week – Brothers of St. John the Evangelist

11. Holy Week with Jesus – TryTank This resource asks for your mobile phone number. “This year, from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday, you’ll receive text messages in real-time so you can walk with Jesus during his final days. When we say ‘real-time’ we mean it! Some text messages will arrive early in the morning or late at night as we truly walk with Jesus and experience the events leading to His death and resurrection. As you read the texts, our hope is that you’ll live the Easter story as if it were happening in the moment.”

12. Ideas to celebrate Holy Week

13. Holy Week, an Introduction Holy Week and Easter Explained using a video.