Do You Know Thomas?: 11 April, 2021
John 20:19-31
Since followers of those executed for sedition in the Roman Empire often suffered the same fate, it was reasonable for the disciples to be fearful. The account reports that Jesus greets those gathered with a wish of peace, breathes on them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, and sends them as he was sent by the Father. He gives them assurance that the sins they forgive are indeed forgiven just as the sins they retain are not. As the selection continues, we hear that Thomas was not among this gathering of Jesus’s disciples. On hearing what they experienced, Thomas claims that unless he sees and touches Jesus’s wounds he will not believe the others truly had an encounter with Jesus. . . .
On the Sunday after Easter, the calendar intensifies the story of Thomas. Indeed, his story acknowledges the situation of the Christians who have heard this Gospel since they have not experienced the Risen Christ. The reading tells them that faith is a blessing. It is the grace of God. This emphasis on faith is intensified when the final verses of the reading indicate the text was intended to encourage belief in Jesus.
What can be easily lost is the first part of the reading. Christians generally do not associate the resurrection with the reception of the Holy Spirit. John and Matthew link the two together with Christ’s commission to his disciples to continue his ministry. It is important to connect the text with faith since the text fosters faith and assists us to experience the Risen Lord. –– Regina A. Boisclair
1 John 1:1––2:2
The opening of 1 John bears a close affinity to John 1. The emphasis, however, is not on the testimony of those who heard, saw, and touched Jesus during his lifetime. It is the testimony of those who have come to recognize Jesus as Son of God whose death cleanses his followers’ sins. The text is directed to some who have a false understanding of Christ and who are not in fellowship with the community of the author. It insists that every person sins and that to deny this fact is self-deception. It declares that the blood of Jesus, God’s Son, cleanses the sins of those who seek to walk in God’s light.
The author applies the images of light and darkness to distinguish those who do what is true from those who live in deception and sin. . . . Those who walk in truth confess their sins and are cleansed by Jesus’s blood. The author . . . offers words of assurance that Jesus, the righteous Son, is advocate to God since his death offers forgiveness for the sins of the world. –– Regina A. Boisclair
Acts 4:32-35
[The] early church in Jerusalem [shared and distributed] material resources according to need. This is the only community reported in the New Testament that sold belongings and gave the proceeds to the church. It is a communitarian idealism that has been realized to a significant degree in religious orders, but has otherwise rarely succeeded on long-term basis. The selection also states that the apostles who witnessed to the resurrection were engaged in public preaching and received favorable hearings. –– Regina A. Boisclair
Regina Boisclair, a Roman Catholic biblical scholar, teaches at Alaska Pacific University, Anchorage, Alaska.
Homily Service 42, no. 2 (2008): 108-117.