The Feast of St. Thomas the Apostle, Saturday, July 3, 2021

John 20:24-29

Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” But Thomas said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nail marks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.” Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”

It is not clear why Thomas was not with the other Apostles, late on Easter Sunday.  Presumably he was with the others when, that morning, Mary Magdalene ran to the house to say that she had seen the Lord (cf. John 20, 18).  At least, John does not say that he was absent from them.  Perhaps some time after Mary had departed, Thomas had gone to see the tomb for himself, as Peter and John had gone earlier.  As a Galilean, Thomas would probably not have had family or relatives living in Jerusalem, so there were few places he could go.  Also, as John tells us the Apostles were hiding “for fear of the Jews” (John 20, 19), Thomas would have acted very carefully, lest he draw attention to himself and perhaps be arrested as one of the Lord’s followers.  The Church Fathers did not hazard any suggestions as to his whereabouts, but did see the hand of Divine Providence in his absence, for if he had remained with the others, he would have seen the Lord for himself and not merely learned of his Resurrection from them, resulting in his protestations of unbelief.  As St. Gregory the Great puts it, “The unbelief of Thomas is more profitable to our faith than the belief of the other disciples.”  That is, we owe to the Lord’s mercy his showing of his wounds to St. Thomas, assuring us that he rose in the flesh.  The Apostles, seeing him in person, knew the truth of his bodily Resurrection, but we might wonder, and so the Lord, appearing at a time when he knew Thomas to be absent, later might show himself to us through Thomas’s eyes.

This episode shows us a thoughtful, practical man, and one of great faith.  From the fact that he persevered with the Apostles for the next week until the Lord appeared again tells us of his great desire to believe even against his caution.  His immediate declaration of faith in Jesus as Lord and God tells us how great his faith was.

The St. Thomas Christians of India claim that their ancestors were converted by this Apostle, corroborating an ancient tradition that has come down to us.