This Sunday we have the familiar story of “doubting Thomas”. He said, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nail marks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” It was hard for Thomas to believe in the Resurrection. It seems it was an either-or for Thomas: either alive or dead. But the Resurrection is something so much more!
Thomas came to believe once the Lord made entered the bolted door a second time. What is striking is the way that Jesus became present – it was the way He was present that allowed Thomas to believe. No need for aggression – Jesus did not yell at Thomas for being so obstinate, did not push him around or threaten him in any way. There was, as always, a loving almost pleading approach: “peace be with you”. This approach of the Lord allowed Thomas to come to believe. The Resurrection was not a “coming back to life from death”, it was something totally different – from death a New Creation, a new life fully animated by God’s own spirit.
We stand somewhere along the side of Thomas. The pandemic seems to be moving away, and we know that everything will be different. But, we still ache from the many ways that the virus took life away from us. We still have so many tears to shed. Allowing Thomas to teach us, we do need to allow ourselves to hear the voice of the Lord. We are able to hear the voice of the Lord, it is the same voice that we hear when we visit the cemetery and the graveside of a parent, child, sibling. The Lord’s voice is their voice when they whisper: “peace be with you”, “I am fine, I am still here, I will not abandon you, I still love you”. Again, it is not “coming back to life from death”, it is a new creation in the Spirit of the Lord.
When the early disciples were touched by the Resurrection, they also called it an experience of freedom. They were freed from the bondage of sin and basically, a past that was not worth living. This was similar to the experience of ancestors when they left Egypt, made it to the Jordan and crossed into the Promised Land. This has to be for us as well. The pain and suffering of the pandemic need to awaken in us, at the most profound level of our existence, that we being called to be free, let go death and accept becoming a New Creation – AND it means, letting go of sin and a past that is no longer worth living. We need to allow ourselves to become something new! What is it that keeps you and I stuck? Life’s details can be so revealing. Do we really need to sit where we have always sat before? Is it a sense of entitlement, that because we are high and mighty, changes and rules do not apply?
Whatever it is, big or small, it amounts to the same obstacle – We don’t want to believe. We have the wounds of the pandemic, let us touch them again. Let the Lord speak to us, “peace”. Let us be free.
Father Francisco Gómez, S.T.