April 19, 2009 Cycle B
Acts 4:32-35 1 John 5:1-6 John 20:19-31
Joe went to see the doctor and at the end of his routine check up, with his and his wife’s doctor, Joe was asked if there was anything else that needed to be discussed. Joe said, with some concern, “I think Helen may be going deaf.” The doctor said, “Well, try to test her hearing at home and let me know how severe her deafness is before you suggest to her that she come here for treatment. She may be defensive about this.”
Later that evening while his wife was preparing dinner, Joe stood about 15 feet behind her and said in a moderately loud voice, “What’s for dinner honey?” There was no response so he moved to 10 feet behind her and he asked again. Again no response. Then Joe stood just 5 feet back of Helen and tried again. But still he got no answer. Finally Joe stood directly behind her and asked, “Honey, what’s for supper?” Helen turned around and said, “For the 4th time, I said chicken.”
Today’s Gospel reminds us of an individual who simply says, “I can’t hear you.” Thomas was out of the room and the disciples told him when he came back, “We have seen the Lord.” In essence Thomas said, “I can’t hear you. I won’t believe until I have some physical affirmation.” Thomas was like poor Joe. He could not believe the fabulous tales of the Risen Christ. He didn’t want to hear it. Maybe he was deaf too. Maybe he thought they were just seeing things. Maybe they heard about Jesus being risen incorrectly.
Isn’t it interesting how often people blame their lack of faith, or spirituality, on others? For example, we hear of those who went to Catholic schools in the past, how the nuns misled them when they were in grade school, or how the Pope was wrong in his recent teaching in Africa. Or the Church is simply just too strict. Or the homilies at that Mass across town are not inspiring. Or the Church is too lax, and so it goes on and on and on.
For this post-Easter season, we listen daily and on the weekends to people’s encounters with the Risen Christ, and how the first followers of Jesus came to grip with that reality. It is a reminder for all of us to ask ourselves in our own spiritual lives if we have really been open to the possibility of the Risen Christ. Are we willing to open our ears and eyes so as to allow the Lord to touch our lives? Or like Joe with Helen, do we think everyone else has a problem?
It’s obvious today that our world has faced many, many big questions. There are many complicated, moral and ethical riddles. There is the economy; there is the genetic research, the environment, just to name a few. Isn’t it true, however, that we cannot begin to make sense of the big questions until we grasp the “smaller” personal values of honesty, integrity, and responsibility. It is also true that there are many who are deaf to the message of the Gospel, who choose to walk away from the ethical and moral values that our Church lays out for us.
In a society with issues that are complex and complicated, we cannot hope to heal great divisions until we face our own culpability for the divisions we cause. We further cannot hope to bring Easter Resurrection to the injustice and suffering of Good Friday until we acknowledge our own betrayals of Christ in our midst. We cannot hope to change our world until we change the greed of Judas and the fear of Peter within ourselves.
The Gospel of John today concludes with the statement “Jesus did many other things in the presence of His disciples that are not written in this book.” It is another testimony to the reality of the grace of God at work in the lives of the early Christian community and continues to be manifested in our own hearts and lives today. It is true that there are many Christians who have disconnected the values of the Gospel from the realities of their lives. Nonetheless Thomas might stand as a reminder of those times of doubt and disbelief in our own lives when in reality we refuse to hear the challenges of the Gospel message. When we seem to ask for almost impossible signs and miracles from God to verify His presence in our lives and hearts. What it really means too is that we are called to be disciples, to embrace that spirit of servanthood and committed integrity, to Jesus’ Gospel of mercy and justice.
It has been said that only those who have a deep faith can survive a deep doubt. In time, the apostle Thomas began to be known as Thomas the Believer. It is in affect the witness of the early Church that asks us to trust in Jesus, Risen and waiting to raise us up. As we approach the altar today for the Holy Eucharist, we make Thomas’ prayer our own, “My Lord and my God!” Amen! Msgr. Tom,