The first Sunday after Holy Pascha is known as Thomas Sunday.  It seems strange that only a single Apostle, of all 12, has his name attached to a Sunday of the liturgical year. All 12 followed Jesus.  All 12 immediately followed Him when he called them—no questions asked..  None of the 12 counted the cost but soon learned exactly how “expensive” it was to follow the Rabbi from Nazareth. Yet it is Thomas who is honored on the Sunday after Holy Pascha.

How does the Church view Thomas? Listen to the hymns of Orthros and Vespers. They speak volumes. “…thou didst not deem him unworthy for his lack of faith…”  Another hymn recognizes that all the disciples were entertaining doubts, not Thomas alone.  (Perhaps he was the one with the honesty to admit it.)  In Thomas’ doubt the Church sees a remarkable opportunity. “Reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my side.  See and know; for thy lack of faith will teach everyone of my Passion and Resurrection.”

The Church also compares Thomas to the beloved John the Apostle himself. “What a marvelous wonder!  John leaned against the World’s bosom (Christ)_yet Thomas was made worthy to probe deep in his side. Although St. John the Beloved drew from this the depths of his Gospel’s theology, St Thomas was privileged to announce to us openly and reveal the mystery of Thy Resurrection, crying, My Lord and my God.” It was the first formal doxology to the Risen Lord.

Ironically, the Holy Church sees in Thomas’ unbelief an opportunity for great faith.  Thomas rose to the occasion recognizing Jesus and calling Him both Lord and God. In this example there is hope for all of us who find ourselves from time to time shaken by doubt.  But doubt itself is not a sin because it can lead to a deeper and greater faith.  If we choose to explore the doubt and search diligently for answers, then God will reveal Himself for doesn’t He tell us, “Seek and ye shall find; knock and the door will be opened for you”?  It will be in His time, His way – but it will happen.

St. Gregory the Dialogist (6th cent.) extols St. Thomas: “The disbelief of Thomas has done more for our faith than the faith of the other disciples. As he touches Christ and is won over to belief, every doubt is cast aside and our faith is strengthened. So the disciple who doubted, then felt Christ’s wounds, becomes a witness to the reality of the Resurrection.”

The Church views all human beings, even those hardened in sin, with great love and compassion.  Did Jesus judge sinners with wrath and indignation?  Never, except for hypocrites and Pharisees.  Instead, with great tenderness, the Lord reaches out to bring light to their darkness like the woman caught in adultery, Zaccheus the unscrupulous tax collector and the adulteress who washed his feet with her tears.  Does Jesus treat Thomas harshly?  Not at all.  One can most see Jesus smile and wink at Thomas (whom He knew very well) when He said, “blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.”  There is remarkable love hidden in this personal exchange between Thomas and the Lord.

Jesus always ennobles the people He meets. There are, of course, those who refuse His love. Some leave troubled like the rich, young ruler who could not give up his attachment to his wealth to follow Jesus.  Some leave with anger like the priests and Pharisees who saw in Jesus a threat to their power and position.  Still Jesus reaches out to do or say something that potentially will bring life and illumination to those He meets. Those who accept His love find paradise and those who reject it find turmoil and suffering, but love is nonetheless what the Lord offers everyone.  We are invited to share in His love, but we are free to reject it as well.  Still He loves even those who reject Him.  The choice is entirely ours.

We are called to imitate the Savior by loving everyone.  The question we should always ask when dealing with another person is, “How can I ennoble this person?  What can I do to make her life better?  What blessing can I give?  What can I share?  How can I help?”  If people reject the love we offer, what concern is that to us?  The results are not in our hands.  But if we refuse to offer love, then the problem clearly lies with us, not the other.  God’s love is unconditional and so ours must be.

This is the source of the Orthodox Church’s understanding of heaven and hell.  The monk Thomas Merton wrote, “Our God…is a consuming fire. And if we, by love, become transformed into Him and burn as He burns, His fire will be our everlasting joy. But if we refuse His love and remain in the coldness of sin and opposition to Him and to other men then will His fire (by our own choice rather than His) become our everlasting enemy, and Love, instead of being our joy, will become our torment and our destruction.”

Fr. Thomas Hopko, of blessed memory,  explains, “The final coming of Christ will be the judgment of all men. His very presence will be the judgment. For those who love the Lord, His Presence will be infinite joy, paradise and eternal life. For those who reject the Lord, the same Presence will be infinite torture, hell and eternal death.  According to the saints, the ‘fire’ that will consume sinners at the coming of the Kingdom is the same ‘fire’ that will shine with splendor in the saints.  It is the fire of God’s love; the ‘fire’ of God Himself who is Love.”  The cause of the weeping and gnashing of teeth in hell is Divine Love not Divine wrath.  It is a punishment not imposed by God, but by us.  The choice is entirely ours whether we will embrace God’s love or make the futile attempt to reject it.  It is futile because nothing on heaven or earth can make God stop loving us!

Further Fr. Hopko writes, “Thus it is the Church’s spiritual teaching that God does not punish man by some material fire or physical torment. God simply reveals Himself in the Risen Lord Jesus in such a glorious way that no man can fail to behold His glory.  It is the presence of God’s splendid glory and love that is the scourge of those who reject His radiant power and light.”
Thomas had this choice.  He doubted, yes, but when presented with the Truth he immediately embraced it.  He could have turned away and continued forever in the darkness of disbelief.  He could have insisted in seeing the world in his own way. The choice between the Living Truth and “alternative facts” was his that very day and he chose wisely.  The same choice is presented to us day by day, moment by moment.  If we refuse to love, then we have also chosen to reject God’s love.  The late Biblical scholar, William Barclay, expressed the decision before us: If a man fights his way through his doubts to the conviction that Jesus Christ is Lord, he has attained to a certainty that the man who unthinkingly accepts things can never reach.”

Out of doubt came faith.  Out of the need for proof and the bold and intimate move to insert a hand into the deep, still festering wound in Christ’s side, came the heart of the kerygma (the Church’s proclamation).  The choice of Thomas is our choice.  Our satisfaction is closeness to the Risen Christ Who is our God and our Lord!  I share with you a powerful Sonnet to St. Thomas the doubter, written by Rev. Fr. Malcolm Guite of Cambridge University:

“We do not know… how can we know the way?”
Courageous master of the awkward question,
You spoke the words the others dared not say
And cut through their evasion and abstraction.
Oh doubting Thomas, father of my faith,
You put your finger on the nub of things
We cannot love some disembodied person,
But flesh and blood must be our king of kings.
Your teaching is to touch, embrace, anoint,
Feel after Him and find Him in the flesh.
Because He loved your awkward counter-point
The Word has heard and granted you your wish.
Oh place my hands with yours, help me divine
The wounded God whose wounds are healing mine.

O Holy Apostle Thomas, give us the faith that you had in the Risen Lord!

CHRIST IS RISEN! INDEED HE IS RISEN!

Faithfully yours in the Risen Lord,
Fr. Dimitrios