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.”
