Second Sunday of Easter
April 15, 2007


Why did Thomas need to see the hands and side of Jesus? (Or when was the last time you thanks God for your weaknesses?)

I saw a student at the university the other day, and I felt instant kinship with them. I had never met them, but I knew at least a part of their story. You see, they had their arm in a sling. And whether they had broken a collar bone as I did several years ago, or just stretched some tendons, I knew intimately what it was like to have your arm immobilized like that, because I had been there for 3 months.

And then on Friday night, I participated in UMSL’s first ever Relay for Life on campus. It was a hoot – people gathering to spend the entire night walking and talking and supporting people who had been afflicted with Cancer. Some of the folks were there simply to walk and raise money for cancer research. But some wore sashes – those were the survivors of cancer. And when they passed each other on the track, there was a wordless bond that happened. Because they had suffered, because they had been through the process, they connected to anyone else who had been there as well.

Thomas asks to see the marks of the suffering of Jesus. And though the Scriptures are never big into psychology, I think I understand at least a part of what was going on. Thomas, like the other disciples had suffered greatly in the death of Jesus. Besides his own grief at the loss, like the others, he had abandoned his Lord, after promising to be faithful. Like the others, he was torn by guilt and sorrow. And like some people who have made huge mistakes, he was having a hard time letting go of his betrayal, a hard time forgiving himself. So when he hears about the resurrection, he can’t quite trust it. He hears the stories, hears the promise of forgiveness, but it seems too good to be true, too easy for the disciples. “I’ll never believe it until I see his hands and his side.”

Thomas knows that with each wound, we get a new understanding. Break collarbone and we feel like kin with anyone who has their arm in a sling. Struggle with cancer – then your heart is there for anyone in chemo therapy. Been laid off from work – your heart goes out to someone who has been downsized. Big wounds or little wounds, with each pain we experience, we can grow in sensitivity to the suffering of others. (not automatically – it takes work…)

When Thomas sees the risen Christ, the nail marks in his hands, the hole in Christ's side, then he can let go of his doubt. Because Jesus’ heart was pierced, Thomas knew that the hole in his own heart could be healed. Because Jesus’ hands were nailed open, Thomas knew that those same hands would be open to forgive his failing, his betrayal. Because his feet bore the nail wounds, Thomas knew his own stumbling steps would be forgiven.

There are two concrete applications to this in our lives. First – when was the last time you praised God for your weaknesses or your wounds? When was the last time you thanked God for the illness that you struggle with, the depression that sometimes grips you, the losses and sorrows that pain you? Because each wound offered to God, like that of Christ, opens us up to a greater capacity to offer mercy and love to others – a greater capacity to be witnesses to the love of God.

Secondly, if, like Thomas, you are struggling to let go of a choice of your own, a betrayal of your integrity, a misuse of your sexuality, a deception in your relationships, then approach the throne of grace this divine mercy Sunday, and know the forgiveness that Thomas knew from the wounds of Christ. Make use of the sacrament of reconciliation this week, and ask forgiveness of the one you’ve wounded. Or better yet, offer forgiveness to someone else because you are in touch with your own weakness and suffering.

Thomas came to believe in the good news because he let the wounds of Jesus make him whole. May we do the same…