St. Thomas did not believe St. Peter and the other Apostles when they told him of the Resurrection of the Lord. We are invited to attain blessedness, believing in what the Church teaches.
Commentary of Second Sunday of Easter
19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
20 When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent Me, so I send you.” 22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”
24 Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in His hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”
26 Now a week later His disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.”
27 Then He said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see My hands, and bring your hand and put it into My side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.” 28 Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen Me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”
30 Now, Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples that are not written in this book. 31 But these are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in His name (Jn 20:19-31).
I – Jesus’ First Apparition to the Apostolic College
Had he so desired, Our Lord Jesus Christ could have ascended into Heaven immediately after the Resurrection. But His desire to save us was such that He chose to remain an additional forty days on earth, manifesting Himself on various occasions to numerous witnesses, to remove all doubt about His victory over death and to show that He is the guarantee of our resurrection. In fact, all of us will leave this life – some sooner, others later – , but our Faith assures us that if we die in God’s grace, we will one day unite in the Valley of Josaphat (cf. Jl 3:2), on the right side of the Supreme Judge, and, having reacquired our bodies in a glorious state, will ascend “to meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thes 4:17), to abide with Him in celestial Paradise. The promise of this future reality is especially clear in the Gospel selected by the Church for this Sunday which closes the Octave of Easter.
Fear: a providential factor
19a On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came…
The Gospel opens with an episode that occurred on the actual day of the Resurrection. From dawn, reports of apparitions of the Lord had followed one after another, and while the Apostles had not given them credence, St. Peter and St. John had verified that the sepulchre was empty (cf. Jn 20:3-8). In the evening, we find them still gathered in the Cenacle. They had locked all the doors fearing that the Jews would search them out and haul them off to prison. Yet, as they spoke – perhaps in whispers, fearing the dangers pressing in on them – suddenly, “Jesus came.”
Now, everything to do with Our Lord has profound meaning. In this instance, the fear that seized the Apostles was helpful, and even providential, for it offered them irrefutable proof of Jesus’ Resurrection with His glorious Body, for if the house had been open they would have believed that the Master had entered by ordinary means. In fact, this act of going through physical barriers stems from one of the properties of glorious bodies: subtlety, by which the blessed are capable of passing through other objects at will. 1
This is explained by the fact that the body is the mirror of the soul or, more precisely, that the soul is the form of the body. 2 A liquid that is poured into a receptacle takes the form of the latter. But it is an error to think that the soul is a type of fluid contained in a “vessel” called the body. Actually, the contrary is true: the body plays the role of liquid inside the “vessel,” which is the soul. Thus, just as wine kept in a magnificent oak barrel takes on some of the qualities of the container, the body also receives characteristics from the soul. For this reason, if the soul contemplates God face to face, upon uniting itself once again to the body it communicates to it its glory, and the body becomes spiritual (cf. 1 Cor 15:42-44); that is, it begins to enjoy the privileges of the spirit. 3
Therefore, it is not difficult to imagine why there was a climate of shock, fear, and surprise among the Apostles when Our Lord entered the Cenacle. It had reached such a pitch that St. Luke affirms that they thought they were seeing a ghost (cf. Lk 24:37). But Jesus reassures them.
To live with Jesus it is necessary to be at peace
19b …and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
With Our Lord everything is weighed, counted, and measured. Accordingly, we should not understand this utterance as a mere greeting. What is its more transcendent meaning? The Apostles, as creatures conceived in original sin, had evil inclinations, temptations, and problems. And it is very likely that, at that moment, they were not enjoying the peace of soul that comes with having one’s conscience in order, and free of scruples and disquiet. Undoubtedly, the devil was troubling them, especially at Jesus’ entrance, provoking them with fear and agitation regarding their spiritual state. Indeed, who can be absolutely certain that he is in a state of grace? No one! Therefore, so that they might profit to the fullest from this visit, the Lord performed a type of exorcism over them in wishing them peace, restoring balance to the soul of each one, and calming the passions.
This passage brings us a warning, a counsel, and an invitation: whenever we seek the company of Jesus – whether in the Blessed Sacrament, in a liturgical ceremony, or any circumstance in which we raise our soul to Him – we should be at peace, for only in this way do we fully benefit from His presence. In short, we need to calm the passions, eliminate attachments and anxieties with regard to material things, and enter a contemplative state. This is one of the great lessons of the Resurrection, as St. Leo the Great points out: “Let us not then be taken up with the appearances of temporal matters, neither let our contemplations be diverted from heavenly to earthly things. Things which as yet have for the most part not come to pass must be reckoned as accomplished: and the mind, intent on what is permanent, must fix its desires there, where what is offered is eternal.” 4
The Apostles confirm the Resurrection
20 When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
The first reactions produced by Christ’s apparition gave way to an affectionate encounter between Him and the Apostles, who were able to come close to Him and even touch Him, as can be deduced from the text of St. Luke, who records the words of the Divine Resurrected One: “Handle Me, and see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones” (Lk 24:39). With this, He made them witnesses of His Resurrection. Moreover, so that their trust would be utterly grounded, He showed them His hands with the nail marks and drew aside His tunic to show them His pierced side. These are the extremes to which the Divine Redeemer goes for love of His own!
St. John’s mention of the disciples’ ensuing joy is understandable. All the anxiety had been dissipated, thanks to the peace instilled by Jesus, without which they would not have benefitted from the great gift He offered them in manifesting Himself. We also see highlighted here the importance of never abandoning the contemplative spirit – whether we find ourselves immersed in activity, facing a tragedy, or experiencing moments of joy – , as well as the need to always be vigilant to prevent our evil inclinations from overpowering us, robbing us of peace. In fear, pain or confusion, in rejoicing, enthusiasm or consolation, we should never lose our peace! Peace is tantamount to the state of sanctity.
Jesus’ mission continues in the Church
21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent Me, so I send you.”
Again, Our Lord Jesus Christ extends peace to them, and then utters these simple, concise, yet profound words, giving an official character to the apostolic mission. What was the Father’s goal in sending Jesus into the world? To save men, by revealing, teaching, pardoning and sanctifying, and this is the mission that the Redeemer transfers to the Apostles gathered together, in the very first encounter after His Resurrection. This is the role of the Church, particularly of those who are called to the priestly ministry, but also of every apostle: to the degree possible, they have the obligation of teaching the truths of the Faith, guiding souls toward pardon, and stimulating their sanctification by example and words.
The Sacrament of Reconciliation
22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”
Jesus then breathed on them, and it may be supposed that in doing so, He vigorously filled His divine lungs. In other words, He wanted to symbolize with a human act what He expressed with the words “Receive the Holy Spirit.” In this way, by the stimulation of the senses, they better grasped what was taking place at that moment: a real effusion of the Paraclete, while not yet in the fullness and solemnity that would later occur at Pentecost – only then would they be infused with all of His gifts. The Son of God granted them the power to pardon sins, leaving to their care “the principality of the supreme court, so that, acting in the place of God, they might retain the sins of some, and forgive those of others.” 5 In fact, without the assistance of the Holy Spirit it is impossible to exercise such a lofty mission, for the confessor should treat each soul as Jesus would, knowing how to discern the dispositions of the penitent, to give proper counsels and encourage sincere repentance for faults committed.
A divine action to understand the Resurrection
Here St. John concludes the narration of this first apparition. As St. Luke relates, Our Lord acted upon the intelligence of the Apostles on this occasion through a direct intervention of His divine power, opening “their minds to understand the Scriptures” (Lk 24:45). Without this action, they would have understood nothing of His Passion and Resurrection, for, formed according to the prevailing Jewish mentality, they had a series of fixed concepts revolving around a Messiah adapted to their personal interests, which did not correspond to Christ. The latter, the true Messiah, was infinitely superior to the image of that political hero endowed with social prestige that, over the course of time, had been envisioned by the Chosen People as the Saviour of Israel.
The Apostles were awestruck with what had taken place, and they saw that the Resurrection was a fact – the Lord even “ate before them” (Lk 24:43). But their faith had not yet reached the plenitude of fervour, enthusiasm, and exaltation that it would acquire with the descent of the Holy Spirit, after the Ascension of Jesus.
II – “Do Not Be Unbelieving, but Believe”
Our Lord let a week go by before reappearing to them, for He wanted the impressions of that first meeting to sink into their souls. But, during this interval, God used an intriguing didactical technique to solidify them in their mission as witnesses of the Resurrection, through a doubt which arose in the Apostolic College.
The obstinacy of Thomas: pretext for God’s action
24 Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in His hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”
Thomas, absent from the Cenacle when Jesus had come to the disciples, had not profited from the Lord’s visit, and when he heard the news he clung to his disbelief, declaring that personal confirmation alone would convince him of the Resurrection. Now, nothing happens by chance. The fact that the tomb had been noisily opened in plain view of the guards, the report of the Holy Women and the disciples of Emmaus, attesting that the Master was alive and had appeared to them, had been insufficient to persuade those men who had been chosen by God to be the foundations of the Church. They needed to see and touch the Resurrected One with their own hands, and even carry on a week-long debate with a brother in the vocation. And St. Thomas was the ideal person for this purpose, for as can be gathered from the narrative, he was obstinate by character, strongly attached to his own ideas, and no one could sway him. He was a positivist, almost Cartesian spirit.
God also permitted this so that the other Apostles, already convinced by Our Lord, would experience a clash with such an incredulous attitude, making the difference stand out for them between those who had twice heard “Peace be with you” and the one who had not received this favour. Thomas was beset with the agitation of activity, along with the distress of those who are strangers to contemplation, and his faith faltered as a consequence.
Jesus appears a second time
26 Now a week later His disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.”
It is interesting to note that Jesus chose the same day of the week as His resurrection day to manifest Himself again. In accordance with Jewish custom, by which rest was observed on the Sabbath, or Saturday, Sunday represented something analogous to our present-day Monday. Since Our Lord had resurrected on the first day of the week, this replaced the Sabbath, and came to be commemorated by Christians with the Eucharistic celebration and denominated dies Dominica – “the day of the Lord,” in Latin – Sunday, to which we find reference in Revelation (cf. Rev 1:10), by St. John.
Despite all of the graces received on the previous occasion, the Apostles were once again frightened. And this is understandable, for if the apparition of an Angel instils fear, how could that of a God made Man, displaying marks of glory on His Body, fail to do so? Accordingly, Our Lord again wishes them peace – a supernatural peace that He transmits to each individual soul.
Virtues develop in a state of peace
27 Then He said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see My hands, and bring your hand and put it into My side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.” 28 Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”
As He had done for the others, Jesus extended His hands to Thomas, and drew aside His tunic, revealing the wound of His side, turning that incredulous Apostle into another witness of the Resurrection. O felix culpa! In touching the sacred wounds, St. Thomas proved to us that this was truly the Body of the Lord, curing “our wounds of incredulity. So that the incredulity of Thomas was more profitable for our faith than the faith of the disciples who believed, for his choosing to touch in order to believe confirmed our soul in faith, dispelling all doubt.” 6 At that moment, Our Lord Jesus Christ, Creator of grace and in Whom all graces are contained, acted over his intelligence, filling him with extraordinary faith, bringing him to acknowledge His divinity. He mystically experienced the presence of the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity – the divine nature united to human nature – and from his lips erupted an exclamation, the strongest expression that he could voice, a true act of adoration: “My Lord and my God!” By touching the God-Man he attained the fidelity that he lacked!
There is yet another side to this passage that deserves attention: all of this happened after St. Thomas received peace from Our Lord. Had it not been so, he would have benefitted nothing in feeling the wound, for it is through peace that faith, hope and charity – in short, all the virtues – unfold.
St. Thomas’ main error
29 Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen Me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”
This verse highlights the contrast between the divine character of the Church and its human element. The latter is incredulous and, in effect, unfaithful, for it is made up of people conceived in original sin and who therefore have shortcomings. But, as an institution erected by Christ to sanctify and save, the Church is impeccable, and no human imperfection can touch its divinity.
This was St. Thomas’ main error. He did not believe in the testimony of St. Peter and the other Apostles, who had seen and touched Our Lord. It was as if he said: “I do not accept what the Pope affirms or what all the bishops affirm together with him; I only believe what I prove for myself.” For this reaction, St. Thomas did not earn the merit of those who heed the word of the Church. In declaring blessed those who believe without having seen, Our Lord underscores our dependence on pontifical infallibility and the need to accept Church Tradition, transmitted through the legitimate successors of the Apostles.
St. John’s testimony
30 Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples that are not written in this book. 31 But these are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in His name.
St. John wrote his Gospel, the last of the four, at the end of the first century, many years after the other three. It could have been considered unnecessary, since Jesus’ story had already been told in the synoptic Gospels. But the beloved disciple had the Christian communities of Asia Minor under his care, communities born of the outpouring of St. Paul’s apostolate. He composed the fourth Gospel, then, with the objective of protecting the faithful from heresies which were being unleashed at that time and were generating confusion with regard to Jesus Christ. He focussed especially on combating the gnostic doctrine, which denied the Incarnation of the Word and the hypostatic union, admitting only the humanity of Christ. 7 St. John strove to correct this human visualization, which has resurfaced so often throughout history, registering a true doctrinal exposition on the divinity of Jesus. It being impossible to narrate everything the Divine Master did – His life being a permanent sign – the Evangelist selected the episodes most suited to his goal, including Jesus’ two meetings with the disciples, mentioned in this Gospel. In fact, they lead us to easily conclude that Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of the Living God and that we should see His divine side more than the human.
III – We Are Called to Blessedness!
With His words to St. Thomas, the Saviour declared that all of His followers after His Ascension into Heaven would need to believe the word of His chosen witnesses. And the Church has lived from this faith for roughly two thousand years. We see this described in the first reading (Acts 2:42-47), from the Acts of the Apostles. The community of the faithful was initially small, but spawned all the other communities, for “they devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers” (Acts 2:42). The germination of the Church is grounded on this faith, which is a vital element for bringing souls to conversion and should reign among us. If this is in place, the apostolate will move forward by itself; we will be mere instruments for the action of the Holy Spirit.
Let us ever bear in mind that, despite not having enjoyed the privilege of living with Our Lord, and of seeing and touching His divine wounds, a greater blessedness is ours, according to Our Lord’s affirmation: that of believing in the Holy Roman and Apostolic Catholic Church. We can apply the words of St. Peter in this Sunday’s second reading (1 Pt 1:3-9) to us: “Although you have not seen Him you love Him; even though you do not see Him now yet believe in Him, you rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, as you attain the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls” (1 Pt 1:8-9). ◊
