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Dear Father Angelo,

Why did St. Thomas, even though he was an apostle of Jesus and thus had witnessed his miracles, find it difficult to believe what his companions said after the resurrection?

Salvatore

Answer from the priest

Dear Salvatore,

1. probably because, given the triple denial of Jesus uttered in front of a servant (a “maid” Jn 18:17), St. Peter had lost authoritativeness.

He was denied precisely by him who had said: “Even though I should have to die with you, I will not deny you” (Mt 26:35).

2. This is more or less the motivation proposed by the authoritative biblical scholar Father M.-J. Lagrange: “Among the apostles one was not present that evening, Thomas, who, despite having probably been summoned together with the others after the apparition to Peter, could not or did not consider it appropriate to attend, believing perhaps that Peter was not, in that, more reliable than the women were. Not only that, but he even refused to believe the testimony of all his brothers” (The Gospel of Jesus Christ, p. 583 [Translator’s note: the page number refers to the Italian edition of the book]).

The apostles did not believe women. It should be remembered that in those days women were deemed unable to bear witness and to testify in courts.

St. Peter, at that stage, was as credible as women were.

Incidentally, it must be said that Christ with his resurrection confers precisely on women, on those whom males had deprived of the possibility to bear witness and to testify, the task of bearing witness to the greatest news in history, the one that would reveal the deepest meaning of history itself: the resurrection of Christ.

3. Father Lagrange continues: “In our days we are unwilling to believe in miracles, but we are all too credulous when we speak in the name of science.

One of Renan’s tricks was to affirm, as if he had observed it in the East, that Orientals are always looking for a supernatural intervention in order to then embrace it with enthusiasm. The disposition of mind of Jesus’ contemporaries was not as such, nor is it that which is manifested by modern Easterners.

From the heights where they had relegated him to a majestic transcendence, God did not concern himself with the world’s course, except to maintain its regular movement.

Not even the apostles, throughout the history of Jesus, seem very inclined to supernatural manifestations. They were undoubtedly expecting the great Messianic manifestation, but it did not happen.

The Passion, of which they had even rejected the idea, had deeply shaken their confidence. Not having understood what Jesus had said on this matter, the glorious revenge that would follow in the form of resurrection completely escaped their anticipations.

When they were convinced by the evidence of the fact, Thomas remained recalcitrant. For him, the disciples were the victims of a hallucination and had only seen a ghost.

And since they objected to him that they had witnessed the exposition of the wounds of the crucifixion, he added that in such cases it was not enough to see, but it was necessary to touch, and on this point he would only trust himself: «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»” (Ibidem, pp. 583-584 [Translator’s note: see the first note]).

It is interesting to note what Father Lagrange says about Renan “as if he had observed it in the East”. He had written a life of Jesus Christ and spoke of the customs of the Orientals without ever having visited those countries!

4. Father Lagrange concludes: “At this time, let us learn to have the same indulgence for those who doubt as our Lord had.

For a full seven days span he left Thomas to his stubborn denials of him.

The apostles, after seeing Christ in Jerusalem, did not give much thought to returning to Galilee and gathered on the eighth day, perhaps to pray together again, perhaps to make some arrangements for the return journey that was to be done all together.

The doors were closed, when suddenly Jesus appeared again among them and greeted them by saying: «Peace be with you». Then, turning to Thomas, he said to him: «Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe» (Jn 20:17).

Thomas let Christ take possession of his hand and let it be placed next to the wound in his side or, by then abandoning his logic, he surrendered to the evidence of what his eyes were contemplating. However, it was the unbeliever that, as the first explicit act of faith in the divinity of the risen, let out the cry: «My Lord and my God!»” (Ibidem, pp. 584-585 [Translator’s note: see the first note]).

With the hope that your faith, and the testimony you give of it, be like that of the apostle Thomas I remember you in prayer and I bless you.

Father Angelo