In praise of St. Thomas…

I was actually going to use the title “In praise of doubt…” I’m writing on 3^rd July which is the Feast of St. Thomas the Apostle. Most famously he’s known as “Doubting Thomas.” Read the Gospel for the day and you can see how he got the name. Jesus appears to the disciples on the evening of the first Easter Day, but Thomas isn’t there. He must have felt that he’d missed out. And he only has their word for it. The Resurrection is not something he can take in – it’s beyond his experience. So when the other disciples tell him, “We have seen the Lord,” he replies:

‘Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands,

and put my finger in the mark of the nails

and my hand in his side, I will not believe.’

I really feel for Thomas. Elsewhere in the Gospels you can find glimpses of how he struggles to comprehend Jesus. And now after three years of faithfulness to him he misses out on something that has evidently been life-changing for his friends. And so he says, “I will not believe.”

But we’re wrong to write him off as “Doubting Thomas.” This is Thomas who is quite open about how he feels, ready to admit what it is his heart, sharing his disappointment and inability to enter into the joy of the other disciples. He is not “Doubting Thomas” but “Honest Thomas.”

I’m writing on the last day of political campaigning before the General Election. I can’t know what the outcome will be even if the pundits are pretty sure. What I can say is that we need more honesty. So many lies have been told, so many false promises made. So often political advantage is seen as being earned by projecting energy even if it’s misdirected, or giving the answer politicians think we want to hear, even if it’s not true. There’s nothing worse, it seems, than taking the time to give an answer, or admitting that you need more time to work it out – except perhaps to be considered boring. Perhaps we can at last have some political leaders who might just dare to say, “I don’t know, but I’ll work on it.” Above all to be honest. “Peace be with you.” Jesus will say to Thomas. May we all know that peace! 

Taken from the July / August issue of our Parish Magazine - read the whole issue by clicking here, or explore the Blog Tabs