Fr. Michael Cummins – Word on Fire Blog –
I have never been a fan of the “Doubting Thomas” designation. I believe it makes light of a very real spiritual and emotional turmoil occurring within the life of the disciple and within countless people throughout history. The term can lead one into the assumption that Thomas must have been a second-rate disciple if not even something worse. But Thomas was not a second-rate disciple. He was a man who had been hurt. He was a man whose hopes had been crushed.
So Thomas says, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my fingers into the nail marks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe” (Jn 20:27).
Every Sunday in the Eucharistic Liturgy we profess the Nicene Creed. We profess what we believe and hold true as Christians. What Thomas says in the twentieth chapter of John’s gospel, “Unless I see the mark of the nails…” is, in fact, a non-creed that is professed by many people in our world today. People who hold to this non-creed are not necessarily evil or bad people but they are people who have nevertheless turned in on themselves and who have become lost in their own pain and their own sensations. They have become egocentric. Thomas, at this moment in the gospel story, was focused inward and lost in himself precisely because of his pain and crushed hope. Any person who has experienced intense pain, whether that be physical or emotional, can testify to how easy it is to become turned in on self. So, even when the other disciples say that they have seen the Lord, Thomas does not believe because he is so imprisoned within. Thomas cannot even entertain the possibility. Non-creed may not lead to a publically professed unbelief as found in atheism but it does lead to a practical unbelief in a person’s life; which is an even more besetting sin of our age, I believe.
The world is deeply wounded by sin and its effects. There is hurt. There is violence. There is massive injustice and sin. We all experience hurt and maybe we have even been the cause of hurt in another person’s life. In the experience of sin (in whatever form) the temptation to turn in on self and shut the doors is always present and may even seem the most logical thing to do. The danger is that lives turned inward can quickly devolve into fear-filled and violent lives. The “other” can quickly become the “enemy” and a searing and isolating mistrust can settle in our hearts. It is worthwhile to note that when our Lord appears to the disciples (both without Thomas present and then with him present) he passes through locked and shut doors and says, “Peace be with you.” Through the resurrection there is now another way. We do not have to live focused inward, behind locked and shut doors in fear and uncertainty! We can know life and we can know peace!
Jesus does not correct Thomas with a developed argument or a theological lesson. It is by the showing of his wounds that Jesus answers the non-creed of Thomas. This is how all non-creeds with their effect of practical unbelief in a person’s life are ultimately met and answered really. The risen Lord shows Thomas the marks of evil on his own person which he still bears even in glory and by doing so he invites Thomas to turn away from self and be moved by both his own salvific wounds and, through them, the wounds of the least of Thomas’ brothers and sisters. Thomas is moved, his heart is opened, and he makes that beautiful profession of faith, “My Lord and my God!”