NOT SEEING YET BELIEVING

 A SERMON FOR LOW SUNDAY

One of the big differences between Christianity and Islam is that the Muslims do not believe that Christ is God.  It is inconceivable to them that God would be able to die at all, let alone that he would allow himself to be subjected to the ignominious tortures of the crucifixion.  They might actually have a point, if it were not for one important thing—the Resurrection.  Let’s face it, the sufferings of our Lord and his death on the cross would not in themselves be sufficient for us to believe that he was the Son of God, the Messiah. After all, everyone dies sooner or later, and sometimes in the most horrific of circumstances.  What makes the death of our Lord so different is that his death was not the end of the story.  On the third day he rose again from the dead.

Our faith in Christ derives from the Resurrection.  It was this one indisputable event that proves without the shadow of a doubt that this man was indeed the Son of God.  There have been people who have had near-death experiences, or others who have sat up in their coffins when everyone was getting ready to bury them.  There have even been multiple cases where a saint has raised a corpse from the dead—think of Lazarus whose body was already decomposing when our Lord commanded him out of the tomb.  But never has anyone actually raised himself from the dead.  Never, except on that first Easter Sunday when the stone was rolled away and the glorious body of our Lord walked out and appeared to his disciples.

This then, is the underlying and very basic lesson of the Easter Resurrection—that of Faith.  On Good Friday the Apostles had pretty much lost their faith.  Our Lord has prophesied to them several times that he would be scourged and crucified and then would rise again from the dead on the third day.  They had never fully understood what he meant by this.  Probably they took it as some kind of parable, not as something he meant literally.  When he actually was scourged and crucified, they ran away and hid themselves.  Only St. John had the courage to stand beneath the cross and comfort the Blessed Mother, the others were nowhere to be found.  But even though he had courage, he still thought that this was truly the end of our Lord.  It took the Resurrection for his faith to be restored.

When Mary Magdalene brought word to the Apostles on Easter morning that our Lord was no longer where they had buried him, Peter and John rushed to the holy sepulcher.   They saw the empty tomb and their faith was restored.  Listen to the words of St. John himself as he recounts how he and St. Peter rediscovered their faith.  “Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre (St. John is speaking about himself here), and he saw, and believed.  For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead.”  Although our Lord’s terrible death did not inspire them with faith, the Resurrection did.

Today’s Gospel reinforces our own faith in the Resurrection by recounting the story of the one apostle who would not believe.  St. Thomas had been absent during Easter week when our Lord had appeared to the others.  He returned to the company of the apostles to hear a most remarkable claim that Christ was risen from the dead.  He refused to believe them. 

This infamous doubt of St. Thomas was foretold by our Lord in the parable of Dives and Lazarus.  If you remember this story, Dives was a rich man and Lazarus was the poor destitute who begged in vain for crumbs of food at his table.  They eventually both died.  Dives went to hell for his crimes.  Lazarus went to the bosom of Abraham.   In Hades, where he was in torment, Dives looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’ But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’ He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’ ‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.”

St. Thomas represents the first of many millions who would not be convinced by listening to the words of the Apostles that Christ had risen from the dead.  Despite the prophecies of Moses and prophets of the Old Testament and their fulfillment in the life and death of our Lord; despite our Lord’s prophecies about his own resurrection; despite the trust he should have had in his fellow Apostles, Thomas nevertheless doubted.  He refused to believe until such time as could place his fingers in our Lord’s wounds.  Not until then did he finally believe and utter those now famous words, “My Lord and my God!”  If we’re not convinced by all the other Old Testament prophecies of the Messiah, by the miracles and prophecies of Christ, all fulfilled in the Resurrection, the proof offered to St. Thomas should now dispel any remaining doubts we too may have. 

Alas, so many in this world still doubt.  Their faith is weak if they have any faith at all.  And so they eagerly cling to what they perceive as “signs”—evidence, if not tangible proof, that Christ is God or that God exists at all.  We look for miracles, sometimes we even demand miracles.  But as our Lord told the people, “A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonah.”  And what was the sign of the prophet Jonah?  That he was buried within the body of a whale for three days, and then released alive and whole, a sure and certain foretelling of the Resurrection.  Why look for other signs and miracles when we have the Resurrection before us as proof of our Lord’s divinity?

Our faith will be tested this morning.  At the moment of consecration at this Mass, the bread and wine will be changed miraculously into the Body and Blood of Christ.  We shall not see the change take place.  We shall not hear the angels as they sing the praises of their God, present now upon our altar.  And yet, we will pass this test of our faith by kneeling before this God, and whispering to him the words of adoration first spoken by the Apostle St. Thomas as his faith was restored, “My Lord and my God.”  We will remember his refusal to believe and his earlier words that he wouldn’t believe it till he saw it for himself.  And we will remember our Lord’s gentle admonition to him, and ultimately to us, that “Blessed are they have not seen, yet have believed.”