Today we see how St. John presents this first appearance of the Risen Lord to His disciples on the evening of that first day of the week – the day of the Resurrection – the new 8th day – the day of the new creation in which something truly phenomenal has occurred.
Jesus miraculously enters through shut doors, and the first thing He says to the fearful assembly is “Peace be with you”. He then shows them His hands and His side to verify that it is truly Him, the crucified Master Who is now risen from the dead. Again, He says “Peace be with you”. This peace is obviously important. What comes next is the disciples “Chrismation” – Jesus breathes on them as on Adam at the initial creation and says “Receive the Holy Spirit” and authorizes them both to bind and loose humanity from their sins.
All of this in 4 fairly brief verses. John, the great theologian amongst the gospelers states it all simply and succinctly.
His immediate focus is not so much on the 10 assembled here, but on the one who is missing…Thomas called Didymus or the twin. Thomas was a realist, and a bit of a skeptic- maybe even a cynic. He found it easier to believe bad news than good.
His response to Jesus’ determination to go to Jerusalem even after announcing what awaited Him was “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” None of the opposition of Peter, but a simple acceptance of the likely reality.
And we see that his personal demand for proof is not met with a sharp rebuke from Jesus, as was Peter’s opposition, but with a demonstration and an exhortation. “Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.” His immediate response is one of deep faith: “My Lord and my God”.
Then Jesus turns to the rest of us, as it were. “Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”
Believe what? Believe that Jesus is Lord and God. Believe that He is risen from the dead, the same one who has died for the sins of all. Believe that He is the only One Who can bestow peace upon us who daily wrestle with principalities and powers without and passions within.
Who daily strive to enter more deeply into a life of union with Him and of the holiness which ensues from His bestowal of the Holy Spirit upon us. Apart from Christ there is no peace. Apart from Him we are slaves to the pleasures of the senses and to a world system which would bind us to itself.
When we take our focus off of Christ and let the seemingly random acts around us stir up our passions and rob us of our hope and our joy in having found the true meaning of our lives and the purpose of our existence on this earth, we lose our peace.
We become faithless once again, not as apostates, but as anxious pawns of an insane world of fallen men and corrupt institutions. We become sheep who believe anything but the truth, and who can be easily led away from the pastures of righteousness.
We are not to be faithless, but believing. We do not need to see, like Thomas, for we have the witness in ourselves, as St. John tells us. Deep inside we know that the kingdom of heaven is more true and more to be desired than any fool’s gold the world would offer us.
This is the season of Resurrection. In it we receive the witness of God, not of men. As believers, we overcome the world. As believers, we have the eternal life which is in the Son of God. It is this life which will see us through our pilgrimage through this world; this life which will keep us in the peace of Christ, if we live into it as those who believe it.
We are the witnesses to the Resurrection, who have not only been washed clean by the water of Baptism, and born anew, but have been illumined by the indwelling Spirit bestowed by Christ Himself.
And we likewise eat the Body and drink the Blood of eternal life in Christ. The Holy Communion is the closest possible communion on earth with Christ Who is our life. Not only is His Name upon us, but His life is in us. He comes to us as He came to Thomas, and we repeat Thomas’ words at the elevation of the Gifts: “My Lord and my God”.
The Altar is our central focus, where we are fed by Christ Himself Who by the Spirit transforms bread and wine that we might receive His very life through them. The Life imparted by the Spirit, acting through water of Baptism and the Blood of the Eucharist is the perpetual witness to the Son of God. The life of the Saints is the evidence for the claims of the Master.
This testimony is not the witness of men & women, but the witness of God in them. As life proceeds from life, so the Risen Christian proves a Risen Christ to be the source of his life, and the perseverance of the Saints and Martyrs is an ever-increasing witness to Christ, a perpetual miracle. It is a witness of love, the transforming power of Christ in us which enables us to love even our enemies.
The witness of the Church, and of each of us as members of the Body, is ever the same to the world, and the most evangelistic thing we can do: Show them love until they ask you why. Then glorify Jesus Who has enabled us to love by His life in us. It is as simple (and as difficult) as that.