SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER
12 APRIL 2026
In
Saint John’s Gospel, Thomas the Apostle is known as “Didymus,” or the
twin. Over the centuries, he is better
known as “Doubting Thomas,” which is unfair.
In the Gospel, Jesus announced that he was going to Bethany to tend to
his friend, Lazarus. Thomas said, “Let
us also go, that we may die with him.”
By stating this, Thomas was realistic.
He was aware of what was going to happen and was open to moving forward,
despite the cost. At the Last Supper,
Jesus told his Apostles that their hearts should not be troubled, because they
knew where he was going. None of them
knew that. But only Thomas had the
courage to ask Jesus what he was talking about.
We have no idea why Thomas was not with the others in that locked room
on the day of the Resurrection. We
presume that he had run away, like most of them had. When the others tell him that they had seen
the risen Lord, he refuses to believe them.
He insists that he will not believe unless he sees the mark of the nails
in his hands and puts his finger into the nail marks and puts his hand into his
side. To be fair, the other ten had
refused to believe Mary Magdalene when she told them that she had seen the
risen Lord. They believed only when the
risen Christ walked through the locked doors and showed them his hands and
feet.
Today, the
risen Christ walks through the locked doors again. Instead of yelling at his closest friends for
abandoning him in his greatest hour of need, he gives them peace and
mercy. When Thomas sees the same proof
that they others had seen on the previous Sunday, he beholds the flesh of
Jesus, branded with the marks of crucifixion and gasps: “My Lord and my God!” The Prologue of the Gospel tells us that the
Divine Logos, the Word, became flesh and made his dwelling among us. With these words, Thomas brings the Prologue
of John’s Gospel to its conclusion. With
his profession of faith, he recognizes that flesh as God himself.
Jesus tells
Thomas that he has come to believe because he has seen him, like the other ten. But he calls those who have not seen him “blessed,”
because they have believed without seeing.
The early Christians in the Acts of the Apostles are blessed, because
without seeing the risen Lord, they believe and devote themselves to the
communal life and trust the teachings and eye witness accounts of the
Apostles. Not only do they believe in
the presence of the risen Lord in their community, they also hold all things in
common and divide property and possessions among all according to each one’s
need. They meet together in the temple
area and celebrate the Eucharist (breaking bread) in their homes.
We too are
blessed, because we believe what the Apostles said about their physical
encounters with the risen Lord. Like
those earliest Christians, we join together in the communal life of this
parish. Every Sunday, we hear the
teaching of the apostles and believe that the entire Word of God that has found
its culmination in Jesus Christ, risen from the dead. We too are conscious of the needs of others
and share our possessions through our soup kitchen and our Saint Vincent de
Paul Society. We may not meet in the
temple area, but we meet each other on a regular basis in the parish hall and
in other parish activities. At the heart
of everything we do as a parish, we celebrate the Eucharist and recognize the
risen Lord in the breaking of bread.
Every
Sunday during these 50 Days of Easter, we will hear about the growth of the
Church from the Acts of the Apostles. We
will hear their difficulties and failures, as well as their triumphs and
successes. We will hear the many ways in
which they are blessed and continue to believe without having seen the risen
Christ. We too are blessed and continue
to believe. As a parish, we are not
perfect. We rely on the Lord’s mercy
when we fail. But we are convinced that
we have received the mercy and peace that the world cannot give.
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