n the evening of that same day, the first day of the week, the doors were closed in the room where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood among them. He said to them, ‘Peace be with you,' and, after saying this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were filled with joy at seeing the Lord, and he said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. ‘As the Father sent me, so am I sending you.' After saying this he breathed on them and said: Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone's sins, they are forgiven; if you retain anyone's sins, they are retained. Thomas, called the Twin, who was one of the Eleven, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples said to him, ‘We have seen the Lord,' but he answered, ‘Unless I can see the holes that the nails made in his hands and can put my finger into the holes they 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 and Thomas was with them. The doors were closed, but Jesus came in and stood among them. ‘Peace be with you,' he said. Then he spoke to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here; look, here are my hands. Give me your hand; put it into my side. Do not be unbelieving any more but believe.' Thomas replied, ‘My Lord and my God!' Jesus said to him: You believe because you can see me. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe. There were many other signs that Jesus worked in the sight of the disciples, but they are not recorded in this book. These are recorded so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing this you may have life through his name.

(John 20:19-31 NJB)

Meditation for Thomas / Low Sunday
 

n 1942 a 37 year old Jewish physician from Vienna was deported to the concentration camp of Theresienstadt. He served his fellow inmates there for two years as a general practitioner. He was then moved to Auschwitz and eventually to Türkheim, a camp not far from Dachau. He was finally liberated in April, 1945, managing to survive where his mother, father and wife did not. Throughout his time in the camps this young man fought to continue to find meaning and purpose in life. The world remembers his story, because this young physician was Viktor Frankl, the eminent neurologist and psychiatrist. Frankl wrote the story of his observations of men in the death camps. The book was first published in 1946 and the first English translation appeared in 1959. A somewhat revised edition in English was published in 1962 and was entitled, “Man’s Search for Meaning”. Although he authored more than 40 books, it is this work that he is probably best known for.

Frankl believed that even in the midst of the concentration camps of Nazi Germany that men could preserve their spiritual independence. Men, he believed, were capable of choosing what would be their own mental and spiritual fate and that nothing was able to take away that autonomy. He also believed that if there is meaning to life, then there is also meaning to suffering, since suffering, like death, is inescapably, a part of life.

Viktor Frankl, I think, understood St Thomas far better than most Christians do.

When Lazarus died Jesus decided to return to Judea that He might go to His friend. But the Eleven sought to prevent Him, even reminding Him that the power structure was allied against Him and had tried to stone Him to death. Peter, the rock, didn’t support Jesus’ decision to go back into Judea. James and John, those so-called “Sons of Thunder”, didn’t have Jesus’ back. Of all the disciples, it was only Thomas who understood that they must go back to Judea, whatever the cost. It was Thomas who said, “Let us also go that we may die with Him.” It was Thomas who understood that even death could not dispel the need to follow the path that they had all chosen. He had cast his lot in with Jesus and that was all there was to it.

This is not the only time that Thomas is the only one of the Eleven to “get” it. Today’s Gospel begins by telling a story of the first Easter and how the Risen Christ entered the Room where the disciples were hiding for fear. But Thomas, it turns out, was not with them at that encounter. The Gospel does not tell us where Thomas was, but it does tell us that he alone was off on his own. He was not holed up in hiding. He was not allowing the fear of pain, suffering and an imagined death sentence to make him give up his life and freedom. He knew what would happen to him if he was arrested, but that fear did not paralyze him. He alone of the Eleven was still out and about. So perhaps it is not so very strange that Thomas should not just fall into line and accept the testimony of those who said that they had seen Jesus raised from the dead. These were, after all the very same people who just a day ago were cowering together, and Thomas was his own man.

Thomas understood long before the others what the ruling class had in mind for Jesus and he saw that their death sentence on his Lord had been carried out. He knew Jesus was dead and buried. Perhaps he had not yet found the reason for what had happened, but it seems to me that Thomas, alone, like Viktor Frankl in his concentration camp, realized that there must be some deeper significance, some transcendental rationale for the suffering, passion and death of Christ. Thomas alone, of the Eleven, understood that what transpired on Calvary was not an utter defeat and rejection of the Kingdom of God, and that there was meaning and purpose to be found in the crucified One. He might have to search to find it, but there would also be meaning in his own suffering and death if he encountered a similar fate.

If this is true, St Thomas becomes transformed before our eyes. No longer is he merely Doubting Thomas, the object of rebuke and ridicule. Instead he becomes Searching Thomas, which is a far different picture from that which we normally have. Searching Thomas is someone that we can look to, respect, and identify with. He is real. He believes that God’s Kingdom will ultimately prevail, but he has questions that he still doesn’t have answers for. Searching Thomas is someone who courageously faces the same ultimate questions of the existence of pain, evil, suffering and death that we all ask.

I think that this is what makes his encounter with the Risen Christ a week after the rest of the disciples all the more real and so utterly believable. Knowing that death is the final enemy from which none of us escapes and knowing that his intimate friend, his Lord, Jesus, was dead and now is remarkably, impossibly alive, Thomas gives voice to the only answer his mind can even begin to form. The meaning, the reason, the purpose of the crucifixion is standing right in front of him, inviting him to feel and probe the wounds in hands and feet and side. Jesus, “Yahweh saves”, is the absolute truth. There is no room for doubt. Jesus, who was dead and who is now alive, is, can only be, “My Lord, and my God!” Searching Thomas knows when he has found the answers and he responds.

Across the centuries, Thomas still speaks. He welcomes us to share in his search for meaning and purpose in life and in death. He calls us to look beyond our current circumstance and to embrace the truth that, even though we can only see through a mirror darkly now, the Kingdom of God really is among and within us. He invites us to know and worship the One who is, and was, and is to come, the Risen Christ, our Lord and our God. Amen. Alleluia!
 

ALMIGHTY Father, who hast given thine only Son to die for our sins, and to rise again for our justification; Grant us so to put away the leaven of malice and wickedness, that we may always serve thee in pureness of living and truth; through the merits of the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

All Meditations ©2004-2007 Randolph A. Brown (IP not subject to Fair Use Clause). Permission will not be given for reprint†. Previous Meditations 2nd Sunday After Easter (April 22, 2007) Thomas / Low Sunday (April 15, 2007) Easter, The Feast of Feasts (April 8, 2007) Good Friday (April 6, 2007) Palm Sunday (April 1, 2007) 5th Sunday in Lent (March 25, 2007) 4th Sunday in Lent (March 18, 2007) 3rd Sunday in Lent (March 11, 2007) 2nd Sunday in Lent (March 4, 2007) 1st sunday in lent (February 25, 2007) Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent (February 21, 2007) Last Sunday After the Epiphany / Quinquagesima (February 18, 2007) 6th Sunday After the Epiphany / Septugesima (February 11, 2007) 5th Sunday After the Epiphany / Septugesima (February 4, 2007) 4th Sunday After the Epiphany (January 28, 2007)   †Regarding the copyright, Bp. Brown would like us to mention that it is not his intention to be stingy. It's only that he has future plans for the writings which do not facilitate their being shared at this time.   Personal Blog of Abp. Brown: