Some people are incapable of seeing beyond what is immediately evident. Perhaps they lack what contemporary psychology now calls EQ (emotional intelligence), or they have a limited capacity for formal operational thinking. They need the concrete and immediate experience and have a difficult time imaging that which is beyond them.
The disciples of Jesus, huddled together in the Upper Room, have been aware since before dawn that the body of Jesus was missing. They have also heard that some among them – notably Mary Magdalene – have seen Jesus alive, as resurrected from the dead, so by the evening they are in a state of emotional uncertainty and anticipation.
When suddenly – without even a knock at the door – Jesus appears in their midst, they are necessarily confused and at the same time, awestruck. They experience Jesus differently than they have before, and yet they know that he is in their midst.
If there were any among them at that point who were skeptical or uncertain that doubt was eclipsed by the gift of the Holy Spirit Jesus bestowed upon them at that point: “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”
At this point the disciples – now formed as apostles – are empowered to forgive sins, but are also given the gifts necessary to exercise that power – the encounter in faith.
Throughout the John’s Gospel, Jesus has been drawing us deeper and deeper into abandoning the certainties that come with knowing the world in order to accept the order of faith. The seven signs which so dominate the first twelve chapters of the Gospel gradually pared away at the senses of ordinary perception while challenging the disciples and the crowds to see with new eyes – the eyes of the heart; the eyes of faith.
For whatever reason, Thomas was not present at this moment in the Upper Room. He returns ever the skeptic to the others and is yet unable to see with the eyes of faith. He cannot accept their testimony and their unwavering assertion that they “had seen the Lord.” Had he gone to the tomb to see for himself that it was empty? Did he not understand the teaching of Jesus about the Resurrection, even when, now filled with the Holy Spirit, the others explained it to him? Did he also scoff at Mary Magdalene and the others who reported what they had seen?
One must wonder what it must have felt like to be Thomas that night. A skeptic living in a room with those who must have been talking hours on end about all that they had seen and heard. It was here – in this room and at this time that the Gospel proclamation – the kerygma – began to take shape.
The week that passed must have been a harrowing one. Why did Jesus not make himself known to them for another week? Even the ardent believers among them must have had some private moments of wonder. What is next? What are we to do? Certainly Jesus hadn’t been raised from the dead just for them to see him once and then to abandon them there to figure this out with no further instruction.
It is not until Thomas can see, hear, and touch the Risen One that he can see beyond the surface and look deeper into the veiled realities of eternal truth.
How do we guide those who, like Thomas, cannot see beyond the here and now to discover veiled realities of eternal truth? Just as important, of course, is the hope that we do not allow their blindness to cloud our vision. Those who prefer darkness to light, blindness to vision, the seen to the unseen, can often be the loudest and – sadly – most convincing voices in the room. The seeds of the skeptic are toxic – but we pray through the power of the Holy Spirit – that they, too can like Thomas, be lead to recognize the Lord and proclaim in full voice: “My Lord and my God!”
Father Garry Koch is pastor of St. Benedict Parish, Holmdel.