Our Gospel reading today is about the appearance of our Lord Jesus to his disciples. If you’ve been reading your scriptures on a daily basis, you would know that the gospel readings for the whole week is focused on the appearance of our Lord, first to Mary Magdalene, then on the road to Emmaus, one of my favorite Bible stories. Then our Lord appeared to his disciples in Jerusalem where showed them his glorified body that he was not a ghost, but have flesh and bones and asked if there’s anything to eat. They gave him baked fish and he ate it. Today’s gospel is found on John 20:19-31.
“On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 [Jesus] said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”
22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” Thomas, called Dydymus, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
26 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.” 27 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!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”
30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of [his] disciples that are not written in this book. 31 But these are written that you may [come to] believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.”
There are many titles to this gospel… it can be called the story of the doubting Thomas, it can be the hour of the Holy Spirit or it can be the sending of missionaries. What is significant in today’s gospel is that the glorified body of our Lord Jesus Christ is flesh and bones. He bore the scars of his crucifixion and he hungered to eat fish. But this glorified body could pass through locked doors. Now isn’t that something?
The second thing to note is, whenever our Lord appears before his disciples, he had a special greeting for them, “Peace be with you.” Then he went on to say, “Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” Now this sounds very much like the marching orders for our priests. Now why would our Lord Jesus Christ tell this to his disciples? It is because our Lord Jesus experienced being a man and as human as we are, we are all prone to commit sin and therefore, he was instituting the Sacrament of Confession in today’s gospel reading.
Of course, the most famous part of today’s gospel is the story of the doubting Thomas, a story that we have written over and over again. When we see the priest lift up the Holy Eucharist, we then loudly declare “My Lord and My God!” These very words came from this scripture and came from St. Thomas who despite his being given the prophesy of the death and resurrection of our Lord, he still doubted that Jesus would rise again. He even doubted his friends who told him that they saw the Lord.
But after the Lord confronted him and let him touch his sacred wounds, Thomas knelt down and uttered those famous words, “My Lord and My God.” Clearly our Lord wanted to confront Thomas as he had a very special message for all of us when he replied to the declaration of Thomas and said, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”
2,000 years after this event, Christianity has become the greatest religion in the world and this is because through their faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the eyes of Catholics were opened, even if they don’t see the face or the wounds of Jesus. But things are changing because too many Catholics today can no longer see the poverty around them even if their eyes are opened. Too many of us are contended with our comfort zones and refuse to help others. Because many priests have fallen into mortal sin, we often blame the church, not realizing that the church is the body of Christ and we are all part of it even in our wretched sinfulness! It is time for us to change our ways.
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