MY LORD AND MY GOD
When Thomas recognized his Master, he believed and exclaimed that Jesus
was truly Lord and God!
How can we attain
to unshakeable hope and confidence in the face of doubt, failure and even the
fear of death? Let's look to the example of Thomas and the apostles.
The apostles
abandoned Jesus in His hour of trial and lost hope when Jesus was handed over
to the Romans for execution. They saw the cross as defeat rather than victory.
They were slow to believe the reports of the resurrection until the Risen Lord
appeared to them and reassured them of His presence and love.
One was slowest of
all. Poor Thomas! Thomas was a natural pessimist. He made one remark and has
been branded as "Doubting Thomas" ever since. But if he doubted, he
also believed. He made what is certainly the most explicit statement of faith
in the New Testament: "My Lord and My God!" and, in so expressing his
faith, gave Christians a prayer that will be said till the end of time. He also
occasioned a compliment from Jesus to all later Christians: "Have you come
to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and
have believed" (Jn 20:28,29.)
Thomas should be
equally well known for his courage. Thomas, the last apostle to meet the
resurrected Lord was the first to go with Him to Jerusalem at the Passover
time. The occasion was when Jesus proposed to go to Bethany after Lazarus had
died. Since Bethany was near Jerusalem, this meant walking into the very midst
of his enemies and to almost certain death. Realizing this, Thomas said to the
other apostles, "Let us also go to die with him." Perhaps what he
said was impetuous - since he ran, like the rest, at the showdown - but he can
scarcely have been insincere when he expressed his willingness to die with
Jesus.
Thomas shares the
lot of Peter, James and John, Philip and indeed all the apostles in their
weakness and lack of understanding. Yet we must remember that Jesus did not
pick worthless men. Their human weakness points to the fact that holiness is a
gift of God, not a human creation. It is given to ordinary men and women with
weaknesses. It is God who gradually transformed each of them despite their
weaknesses into the image of Christ Jesus, the courageous, trusting and loving
one.
Thomas truly wanted
to see the living Lord, and seeing Jesus did strengthen his faith. Thomas was
moved from deep doubt to deeper faith. In this we see that doubt is not always
a symptom of faith that is weak and dying. Doubt may well be a sign that faith
is alive, longing for the good news of Jesus to be a part of our life. We as
Christians long to believe that Jesus Christ is alive and active in our world.
We want to believe what the reading from Ephesians declares, that we are indeed
fellow citizens with the saints in the household of God, - and we are!
Even doubting - the
things we doubt in life can play a role in helping us to believe.
When Thomas
recognized his Master, he believed and exclaimed that Jesus was truly Lord and
God! Through the gift of faith we, too, proclaim that Jesus is our personal
Lord and our God. He died and rose that we too, might have new life in Him. The
Lord offers each of us new life in His Holy Spirit that we may know Him
personally and walk in this new way of life through the power of the
resurrection.