{"id":14664,"date":"2024-04-07T00:00:37","date_gmt":"2024-04-06T23:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/?p=14664"},"modified":"2024-06-22T12:42:52","modified_gmt":"2024-06-22T11:42:52","slug":"2nd-sunday-of-easter-9","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/?p=14664","title":{"rendered":"2nd Sunday of Easter"},"content":{"rendered":"

Confusion and doubt reigned supreme on the Sunday of Jesus\u2019 resurrection and the following days. Those of us who attended weekday Masses last week or followed the daily gospel readings might have seen that for ourselves. For example, last Friday, we heard about the Risen Christ, initially unrecognised, appearing to his disciples on the shore of the Galilean lake after their unsuccessful fishing overnight. On Jesus\u2019 prompting from the shore, they cast their nets again and caught so many fish that they couldn\u2019t drag the net back into the boat. Only then did John tell Peter it was the Lord. To cut a long story short, when all seven disciples eventually gathered around a small charcoal fire, \u201cnone of the disciples was bold enough to ask, \u2018Who are you?\u2019\u201d as <\/em>the evangelist astonishingly reported. It was quickly followed by a phrase that looks to me like back-pedalling: \u201cThey knew quite well it was the Lord.\u201d (John 21:12)<\/em> Did they, really? Or did they assume<\/strong> it was the Lord? Essentially, something similar repeatedly happened to a number of Jesus\u2019 followers shortly after the resurrection, when confusion and doubt reigned supreme. More astonishingly, though, the Church has never covered up these inconveniently challenging stories. Couldn\u2019t life have been so much easier if the story had been doctored and smoothed over? Besides keeping the Gospels as they were written – regardless of how inconvenient they might be – there\u2019s also a critically important lesson all the faithful could and should take from those stories of confusion: \u201cBy doubting, we are led to question; by questioning, we arrive at the truth.\u201d (Peter Abelard)<\/em><\/p>\n

This is no more obvious than in today\u2019s story of Thomas the Apostle. He was the only one among those close to Jesus who directly challenged Him: \u201cUnless I see the holes that the nails made in his hands and can put my finger into the holes they made, and unless I can put my hand into his side, I refuse to believe.\u201d<\/em> His outright refusal was rewarded a week later when Jesus offered Thomas the opportunity to do exactly what he had wanted: \u201cPut your finger here; look, here are my hands. Give me your hand; put it into my side. Doubt no longer but believe.\u201d<\/em> That experience resulted in a rather moving profession of faith: \u201cMy Lord and my God!\u201d<\/em> Jesus\u2019 final line in His interaction with Thomas is often seen as a gentle rebuke of the latter: \u201cYou believe because you can see me. Happy are those who have not seen and yet believe.\u201d<\/em> However, he wasn\u2019t being admonished for having doubts but rather for dangerously narrowing his chances by setting very tight criteria.<\/p>\n

There are a few interesting elements in Thomas\u2019 story in today\u2019s gospel. Firstly, he questioned the right person, someone capable of addressing his doubts. It\u2019s important to look for answers in the right places. You don\u2019t ask a dental nurse to fix your car or request a car mechanic to deal with your toothache. These days, many prominent comedians mock Christianity while the so-called \u201ccelebrity atheists\u201d dismiss it. I don\u2019t really mind if they do; thankfully, we live in a country where freedom of expression is still in place. But I wouldn\u2019t go to any of them with my questions about my faith. Instead, I use the sound, mainstream teaching of the Church, available through so many channels, such as – for example – our recent Lenten series \u201cA Biblical Walk Through The Mass\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

The second interesting element in Thomas\u2019 story was the gap between him setting the challenge and getting the answer. According to the gospel, it was seven long days. For Thomas, who had witnessed Jesus\u2019 death, the question of Jesus being alive wasn’t inconsequentially academic or speculative; it was a matter of great importance. So, it must have been on his mind all the time, perhaps occasionally going into overdrive. It\u2019s an experience most of us have had when we’ve faced challenging situations or circumstances, sometimes resulting in sleepless nights or never-ending, exhausting internal discussions in our minds. However tiring such an experience might be, it can lead us to open our minds to different angles or perspectives to look at the problem or even find workable solutions. Taking time is so important in making vital decisions so we can assess and discern all the pros and cons with a cool head. Sometimes, I hear people complaining about God not answering them. God always does – always at the best time.<\/p>\n

The third interesting element in Thomas\u2019 story is the connection between \u201cseeing\u201d and \u201cbelieving\u201d. He stated that \u201cunless I see the holes that the nails made in his hands and can put my finger into the holes they made, and unless I can put my hand into his side, I refuse to believe.\u201d<\/em> So, when Jesus showed himself, He urged Thomas to \u201cput your finger here; look, here are my hands. Give me your hand; put it into my side.\u201d<\/em> We don\u2019t know whether he did as he was told or not. But he professed his faith in Jesus\u2019 divinity: \u201cMy Lord and my God!\u201d<\/em> something that goes well beyond the observable world. \u201cSeeing\u201d is not \u201cbelieving\u201d. Many saw Jesus and His miracles during His earthly ministry and yet rejected Him to such an extent as to murder Him. His opponents saw His miracles but accused Him of performing them with demonic powers. So much for seeing and believing\u2026 You can see me, a middle-aged, bespectacled bald man, like everyone else I come across every day; unlike you, most people I meet don\u2019t believe I have the power to perform miracles. You do, so you come to Mass and receive the bread I will have turned into the Body of Christ. You make sacramental confessions and believe your sins have been forgiven upon receiving absolution. The list could go on for quite some time\u2026 We need tangible elements in our liturgy or celebrations because we perceive the world around us through our senses. We don\u2019t have to believe in those things because we can touch, smell, hear, see or taste them. We are called to believe in the reality we get in contact with through these spiritual portals. As Psalm 34 has it: \u201cO taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the one that trusts in Him.\u201d (34:8)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Confusion and doubt reigned supreme on the Sunday of Jesus\u2019 resurrection and the following days. Those of us who attended weekday Masses last week or followed the daily gospel readings might have seen that for ourselves. For example, last Friday, we heard about the Risen Christ, initially unrecognised, appearing to his disciples on the shore of the Galilean lake after their unsuccessful fishing overnight. On Jesus\u2019 prompting from the shore, they cast their nets again and caught so many fish that they couldn\u2019t drag the net back into the boat. Only then did John tell Peter it was the Lord. To cut a long story short, when all seven disciples eventually gathered around a small charcoal fire, \u201cnone of the disciples was bold enough to ask, \u2018Who are you?\u2019\u201d as the evangelist astonishingly reported. It was quickly followed by a phrase that looks to me like back-pedalling: \u201cThey knew quite well it was the Lord.\u201d (John 21:12) Did they, really? Or did they assume it was the Lord? Essentially, something similar repeatedly happened to a number of Jesus\u2019 followers shortly after the resurrection, when confusion and doubt reigned supreme. More astonishingly, though, the Church has never covered up these inconveniently challenging stories. Couldn\u2019t life have been so much easier if the story had been doctored and smoothed over? Besides keeping the Gospels as they were written – regardless of how inconvenient they might be – there\u2019s also a critically important lesson all the faithful could and should take from those stories of confusion: \u201cBy doubting, we are led to question; by questioning, we arrive at the truth.\u201d (Peter Abelard)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14115,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sermon"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/post-header-yellow.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14664"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14664\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14831,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14664\/revisions\/14831"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}