The season of Easter is a mind-boggling mystery. We are celebrating something that none of us have seen with our own eyes and yet we continue to celebrate it as a Church in every generation throughout history. It just doesn’t make sense. Yearly we see friends and family around us dying and these deaths seem to bring to an end our relationships with these loved ones whose physical presence we grieve so dearly. And yet, despite such a consistent experience of death as being final the Gospel message of Jesus Christ fills us, and the whole of creation, with hope in the resurrection of the dead by the power of Christ’s Spirit living within us who is the guarantee that God is faithful to his promise.
The apostle Thomas is portrayed in the fourth gospel as one who really struggled with the death of a loved one, Jesus. For Thomas, Jesus brought meaning into his life. Jesus taught Thomas what it was to be a man and what it meant to love. Now Thomas is confronted with the death of Jesus and his heart is torn in many directions. On top of this his brothers and sisters in the faith testify to and claim that Jesus has risen from the dead. How can this be, Thomas would have asked himself no doubt? After all death has shown itself in his experience to have the final say. I think that our experience of death is very much the same. When was the last time that we encountered someone risen from the dead? It is with all of this in mind that we should approach the figure of the apostle Thomas who often times gets a bad reputation for his doubting. Thomas shows us a very clear example of someone struggling to comprehend with ones understanding the Easter mystery, which is clearly beyond comprehension. It is only with the eyes of faith that we can recognize and accept the truth upon which we base our Christian hope, which is Christ risen from the dead and our call to participate in that new life through the outpouring of his spirit into our hearts.
While I was reflecting upon this resurrection story I was drawn back in time to my childhood days when I would spend many an hour by the ocean playing with my friends. I am can still remember one day in particular when I found myself puzzled by something that just didn’t make sense. I had taken a piece of driftwood from the beach and I stood it up straight in the water and to my amazement the section of the wood under water seemed crooked. I took the wood back out of the water and sure enough it was straight but when I put it in the water again it appeared crooked. As I gazed upon this piece of driftwood as it stood in the water my senses told me one thing and reality told me another thing. In relation to the Gospel, reality is Jesus Christ is arisen from the dead and before our senses this reality appears crooked and its not until we immerse our selves in the water that we begin to see the reality that lies beyond our senses.
Each resurrection narrative presented in the gospels challenges us to go beyond the surface of our experience knowing that all things are possible with God. Just as the water in which I had stuck the driftwood pointed to one thing that didn’t appear to agree with reality so too does the waters of Baptism. Each of us have been immersed into the life of the Risen Christ through the outpouring of his spirit into our hearts and this very same Spirit teaches us to hope in what appears to be contrary to human experience, namely, the resurrection of our bodies on the last day. Our hope is not based on any human optimism but on the promise of God the Father who invites us to believe without seeing by going beyond the surface of what can be known by our limited understanding. By immersing our selves in the ocean of grace flowing from the pierced side of the risen Christ we are given the eyes of faith to perceive the reality upon which all other realities rest. Herein lies the mercy of God- that through our faith in the risen Christ we are assured the promise of everlasting life. Where the divine mercy of God comes into the picture in today’s gospel is seen in the way that Jesus honors the struggle with faith that was at work within Thomas by actively pursuing him with gentle love.
Like Thomas we too may find ourselves struggling at times to make sense of the mystery of Christ’s risen life among us. We may also be tempted to reject parts of our faith that seem to be unexplainable or beyond reason but we must go beyond the surface and encounter the risen Christ dwelling deeply within us through the gift of faith. Today, the Risen Lord present in the Holy Eucharist invites each of us to reach forth our hands in faith placing them in his pierced side, the very fount of mercy. As we make this spiritual gesture may our prayer humbly be: ‘Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.’
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