Beyond All Doubt

Honoring and learning from St. Thomas the Apostle

07/03/2020

John 20:24-29 Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” But Thomas said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “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.” Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”

In some ways, I think Protestants get the Christian thing right. Don’t worry, I’m not about to turn in my Catholic card and pick a Protestant one. But what is the one burning question Protestants want to set the world on fire with? They ask: “Have you accepted Christ as your personal Lord and Savior?” In other words, Protestants believe Christianity comes down to the identity of Christ and our relationship with him. Even Bishop Robert Barron agrees with them, and he was no Protestant in Catholic clothes.

He wrote: ‘One of the most important things to understand about Christianity is that it is not primarily a philosophy, or a system of ethics or a religious ideology. It is a relationship to the unsettling person of Jesus Christ, to the God-man. Someone stands at the center of the Christian concern” (Catholicism, 10). Sooner or later every Christian worthy of the name must wrestle with and answer the question that Jesus insistently asks in the gospels, and Protestants echo: “Who do you say that I am?” (Mt. 16:15).

July 3 is the feast of St. Thomas the Apostle, one of my patron saints because he evangelized my native home country of India. We built a huge basilica in his honor to thank him. Thomas gets a bad rap because he’s been given the moniker of “Doubting Thomas.” But I would like to defend the Doubter today because, after all, it is his feast and we should see his strengths, and he’s my patron, so I should say something nice. I believe Thomas’ confession of faith in John 20:28 is equivalent to St. Peter’s profession of faith in Mt. 16:18, when Jesus’ band of brothers arrived in Caesarea Philippi. There, Peter had proclaimed this about Jesus: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Notice the burning question in the background of both of these dramatic scenes: in Matthew 16 and John 20. Jesus asks them if they’re catching on to the core of Christianity. Who is Jesus, and what are you going to do about that?

Now, we should not think Jesus is dropping these questions about his identity out of the blue, like a teacher might give his unprepared students a pop quiz. No. Jesus is THE Teacher and throughout the gospel of John he has prepared his apostles to understand his identity through his seven “I am” sayings. Have you heard of these seven “I am” sayings? Just like God told Moses in Ex. 3:14 from the burning bush his identity as “I am who am,” so Jesus tells his apostles his burning identity in these seven “I am” sayings.

Briefly, they are: (1) “I am the bread of life,” in John 6:35; (2) “I am the light of the world,” in John 8:12; (3) “I am the door of the sheep” in John 10:7; (4) “I am the good shepherd” in John 10:11; (5) “I am the resurrection and the life” in John 11:25; (6) I am the way, the truth and the life” in John 14:6; and (7) “I am the true vine” in John 15:1. So, Jesus is not asking his apostles questions in a vacuum; to catch them off-guard. Rather, he has taught them well, and Thomas passes the test with flying colors today when he declares: “My Lord and my God.” The whole gospel of John has been building up like a great symphony through these seven “I am” sayings. And today the symphony hits its climactic crescendo in St. Thomas’s definitive confession. Thomas knows beyond all doubt, as Bishop Barron said that, “Someone stands at the center of the Christian concern.”

This brings me back to why I think in some important ways Protestants get Christianity right. I hope you don’t mind if I put on a Protestant hat for a minute and ask you that uncomfortable question, “Have you accepted Christ as your personal Lord and Savior?” If a Catholic cannot answer that question with confidence, then I am afraid we’re missing what is at the heart of Christianity. Again, as Bishop Barron said: “Someone stands at the center of the Christian concern.”

And if you’re having any doubts about how to answer that question, just turn to Doubting Thomas, who declared in answer to that question, “My Lord and my God.” On this feast of the great apostle to India, may St. Thomas help us overcome our doubts about who Jesus is and what he should mean to us, especially to us Catholics.

Praised be Jesus Christ!