St. Peter Chrysologus: Sermon 84: Low Sunday

 

 

Unless I see the nail- marks and put my hand into his side, I shall not believe.  Why does Thomas seek this kind of basis for faith? Why is he so harsh in his investigation of the Resurrection of One who suffered with such loving devotion? Why does the hand of a faithful disciple in this fashion retrace those wounds which an unholy hand inflicted? Why does the hand of a dutiful follower strive to reopen the side which the lance of an unholy soldier pierced? Why does the harsh curiosity of a servant repeat the tortures imposed by the rage of persecutors? Why is a disciple so inquisitive about proving from his torments that he is the Lord, from his pains that he is God, and from his wounds that he is the heavenly Physician?

The power of the devil has crumbled, the prison of hell has been thrown open, the shackles of the dead have been broken, the graves of those who have risen have been torn asunder, on account of the Lord's Resurrection the whole condition of death has been rendered insignificant, the stone has been rolled back from that most sacred tomb of the Lord,  the linen cloths have been taken off,  and death has fled before the glory of the Risen One, life has returned, and flesh has arisen incapable of further harm.

So why, Thomas, do you alone, a little too clever a sleuth for your own good, insist that only the wounds be brought forward in testimony to faith? What if these wounds had been made to disappear with the other things? What a peril to your faith would that curiosity have produced? Do you think that no signs of his devotion and no evidence of the Lord's Resurrection could be found unless you probed with your hands his inner organs which had been laid bare in such a way by the cruelty of the Jews?

Brothers, his devotion sought these things, his dedication demanded them, so that in the future not even godlessness itself would doubt that the Lord had risen. But Thomas was curing not only the uncertainty of his own heart, but also that of all human beings; and since he was going to preach this message to the gentiles, this conscientious investigator was examining carefully how he might provide a foundation for the faith needed for such a mystery. Certainly, at issue is prophecy more than hesitation; for why would he be seeking such things unless he had come to know by the prophetic Spirit that the only reason that the Lord had kept his wounds was as evidence of his Resurrection? And so, the request that he made because he was late was something that in the end he provided spontaneously for others.

Jesus came, it says, and stood in their midst, and showed them his hands and side (vv. 19—20). For he who had entered through locked doors and was understandably thought by his disciples to be a spirit, could prove to them in such doubt that it was he himself in no other way than by the very suffering of his body, by the very marks of his wounds. And so he came and said to Thomas: "Take your finger and examine my hands, and put your hand into my side”, so that these wounds, which you are opening and which have already shed water for the baptismal bath and blood for the redemption of humanity, may inundate the whole world with the faith.

Thomas said in response: "My Lord and my God!"  Let the heretics come and listen, and as the Lord has said, let them not be unbelievers, but believers.  Notice that not only his human body but also the excruciating sufferings his body endured in punishment show that Christ is God and Lord, as Thomas proclaims. [And truly he is God, who comes to life out of death, who rises up from his wounds, and who, even though he has endured such great and terrible things, lives and reigns, God forever and ever. Amen.