in defense of thomas, no doubt

eight days after easter sunday has come, since at least as early as the sixth century, comes “thomas sunday.” then is read the gospel which says, “thomas, called the twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when jesus came. when the disciples said, ‘we have seen the lord,’ he answered, ‘unless i see the holes that the nails made in his hands, and can put my fingers in the holes they have made, and unless i can put my hand into his side, i refuse to believe.’ eight days later the disciples were in the house again. . . . jesus came in . . . . then he said to thomas, ‘put your finger here; look, here are my hands. give me your hand; put it into my side. soubt no longer, but believe.’ thomas replied, ‘my lord and my god.’” (john 20:24-2, jerusalem bible): “doubting thomas.”



although matthew’s gospel records that even forty days after the resurrection, at jesus’ ascension, “some doubted” (28:17), this sunday thomas’ doubt will be spotlighted. In many hundreds of pulpits, we will be reminded, “happy are they who have not seen yet believe.” (john 20:29)



in what do we who “have not seen” believe? it is the witness of thomas’ insistence on actually touching the physical body of our risen lord (along with luke’s homely inclusion of jesus' question, “have you anything to eat?”—a ghost perceivably could have been lying [24:41]) that establishes the certainty that the resurrection was indeed physical.



there are always those who want to reduce the resurrection to “a spiritual event,” or to suggest that the disciples were having some sort of mass hallucination. this idea is very much alive today among those who talk about “christ consciousness,” or who say “we are not religious, we are spiritual.” biblical christianity is always more than spiritual. the creed merely expresses the teaching of the psalms, the gospels, the letter to the hebrews and the first letter of peter: “we believe in the resurrection of the body.”



death is the separation of the soul from the body. the life in the world to come is the reunion of souls and bodies. the souls of the faithful underneath the heavenly altar in the revelation to john (6:9-10) cry out “how long?” waiting for their bodies!



this allows for true religion. religion literally means to rebind together things that are or have become separated. the reconciliation of god and mankind; the union of hebrew and greek, of male and female, of slave and free, are not merely spiritual events. nor is what we usually call morality merely a spiritual matter. james wrote of this when he said, “pure, unspoiled religion, in the eyes of god our father is this: coming to the help of orphans and widows when they need it, and keeping oneself uncontaminated by the world” (1:27).



it is his insistence on touching the lord’s wounds that allows dear thomas to recognize jesus as both lord, and god, and that founds our religion, in which we can offer ourselves, our souls and bodies, as a living sacrifice.