The Sunday of Thomas  

In the liturgical calendar of our Church, one week after Easter is known as the ‘Sunday of Thomas’ as well as the ‘After-feast of Pascha’ (Antipascha). Even though popular piety has wrongly attributed to the apostle names such as the ‘doubting’ or ‘faithless’ Thomas because of his alleged suspicions concerning the resurrection of Jesus, his place in the Liturgical cycle of feasts affirms a radically different theological vision. A careful exegetical examination of the Gospel passage, heard on the ‘Sunday of Thomas’ (Jn 20:19-31) confirms, on the contrary, a profound depth of faith on the part of the apostle, expressed in his unique confession in the divinity of the gloriously risen Lord.

It has to be admitted that St Thomas’ ecstatic declaration of faith in Jesus Christ in terms of ‘My Lord and my God’ (Jn 20:28) is one of the most profound pronouncement of the deity of Jesus in the entire corpus of the New Testament since it not only attributes to Christ the highest Christological title in terms of His divinity [Jesus Christ is referred to as ‘God’] but also demonstrates the unconditional acceptance of Thomas in the risen Lord [this is seen in the use of ‘my’ God – the predicate of dedication]. In this way, far from being a story ostensibly about the lack of faith on the part of this apostle, the fourth Gospel writer presented St Thomas as a man who desired nothing less than a personal and palpable encounter with the risen Lord.

This Gospel passage in Jn 20:19-31 occurs immediately after the appearance of Jesus to Mary Magdalene (verses 11-18). Accordingly, the Evangelist would have wanted to show that, just as Jesus had led Mary Magdalene on her journey to faith, so too would He now lead Thomas to an unconditional faith. That is to say that, just as Mary Magdalene and the Myrrh-bearing women in general were the first witnesses to the empty tomb and announced its meaning to the disciples, so too would Thomas bring the Christian faith in the resurrection to its climax becoming in this way a bridge for future believers.

The Gospel passage makes it very clear that the apostle Thomas was filled with desire to meet the Lord personally for himself, and not simply depend on somebody else's account. Even though his other fellow disciples kept insisting that they had seen the Lord (verse 25)—note that the verb (ἔλεγον) is in the imperfect which denotes a continued action—most probably due to the fact that Thomas would have unremittingly discarded their account, he is seen saying: “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” (Jn 20:25).

To be sure, eight days had to pass before Thomas would meet Jesus for himself. We are told that when the disciples were assembled in the house again, Jesus appeared to them, greeted them with his peace and turned specifically to Thomas inviting him to put the fingers of his hand into his side. Jesus continued and said: “καὶ μὴ γίνου ἄπιστος ἀλλάπιστός” (Jn 20:27). This is often mistranslated as “Do not doubt but believe”. However, the Greek specifically says “Do not become a disbeliever”; namely, St Thomas has not doubted, but is simply told, by Jesus, not to be become such a disbeliever.

The apostle Thomas surrenders himself totally to God’s act of gratuitous self-disclosure and confesses the risen Lord as, “My Lord and my God” (Jn 20:28). This constitutes the most climactic moment in the entire narrative since it reveals to us the true identity of Jesus as the Theanthropos; it therefore is the completion of Thomas’ journey of faith. Far from being a disbeliever, St Thomas was the apostle par excellence responsible for offering all future Christians a most exalted portrait of Jesus Christ as 'Lord' and 'God'. Indeed, it was St Thomas who was able to uncover the deepest identity of Jesus Christ, thereby affirming Jesus to be the very revelation of the life-giving mystery of God.

This is a story which has much to say to us today: not only does it betray Thomas’ total and untiring commitment to the risen Lord, but also his unwavering faith. Thomas fulfills the words of Jesus who had invited all his followers to honour Him as they honour God: “so that all may honour the Son just as they honour the Father” (Jn 5:23). The challenge for us today is to honour and adore our risen Lord in the same way, and in so doing to serve and share his message of life and hope with love to all around us.

Philip Kariatlis
Sub-Dean