Fr Alex Swain
Beloved in Christ,
Today we observe the feast of St. Thomas the Apostle. He is the blessed Apostle from whom comes the phrase, “Doubting Thomas,” which typically carries with it tones of mild scorn.
It is not typically seen as a positive to be a “doubting Thomas.”
But, perhaps Thomas so thoroughly believed in the resurrection of Christ from the dead that he said, “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.”
Ghostly apparitions were not substantive evidence enough for Thomas. A vision here or there wasn’t going to cut it.
Not for lack of faith, but precisely because Thomas so strongly believed in the physical resurrection of the dead, of whom Christ is the firstborn from among the dead (Col. 1:18), does Thomas make this proclamation.
Over the years, particularly in the last century, the idea of the physical resurrection of Christ—and the physical resurrection which we will all partake at the Last Judgement—has been gradually eroded in some Christian circles.
I have heard, even by some fellow seminarians back in the day, statements like “well… aren’t our ashes nourishing a tree a kind of resurrection?”
When I heard that, from a future clergyperson, I was shocked. I still am, I suppose!
Because, quite specifically, our ashes and the nutrients therein supporting the growth of a tree—though perhaps lovely in its own way—is specifically not resurrection.
We proclaim a bodily resurrection.
God made us with bodies. We are not disembodied spirits puppeteering a physical thing.
We are given a body and a spirit beautifully intertwined—and will be resurrected as such!
And St. Thomas knew that. Believed that. Trusted that.
Jesus Christ lets Thomas experience the truly, bodily, resurrected physicality of himself.
To which St. Thomas responds in a breathless shock, “My Lord and my God!”
He recognizes the profound reality, which is that humanity’s nature is now brought, by Christ, into the life of the triune God. Jesus Christ maintains his human nature even at the right hand of God the Father who is Spirit.
Totally shocking.
So really, “doubting Thomas” isn’t quite right. Rather, we ought to call him “believing Thomas.” And may St. Thomas pray for us to the Lord our God!
Yours in Christ,
—Fr Alex
