ACC ~ John 20 v24 - 29

OVERVIEW:

Thomas, a twin not only in name but also in how he writes of divine things, is absent when Christ appears (ORIGEN). His absence is not contradicted by Luke’s account of the Emmaus disciples’ return to the Eleven (BEDE). His return was for our benefit since his questioning helped confirm our belief (GREGORY THE GREAT). Even though Thomas was absent, he still received the gift of the Spirit, just as Eldad and Medad did when they were absent from the seventy elders who had received the Spirit under Moses (CYRIL).

Thomas’s request to see Jesus’ wounds is what the other apostles would have liked to do as well, but he also exhibits precision and carefulness in his request (ORIGEN). He believes the disciples concerning Jesus’ death but not his resurrection (AMMONIUS). Jesus shows Thomas his pierced hands and feet, showing Israel its only ever crucified king (JUSTIN). Jesus also proves to the disciples that it is a bodily resurrection he has undergone. The disciples were assembled on the eighth day when Jesus appeared among them, a practice that still continues as the church gathers on the eighth day to receive its risen Lord in the Eucharist (CYRIL). Jesus delays his appearance eight days to allow Thomas to be instructed by the other disciples as well as increasing his desire and future faith (CHRYSOSTOM). Although Jesus’ appearance despite the locked doors is difficult to understand, we should also admit the limits of our senses in understanding things beyond our comprehension (HILARY).

Jesus condescends to our senses in order to prove he is truly resurrected (CHRYSOSTOM) with a body that has real flesh and bones (THEODORET) and is witnessed to by those who handled the Word of life (TERTULLIAN). The wounds evidence the fact that it is the same body raised that had died (HIPPOLYTUS), albeit more glorious (JEROME). He chose not to wipe away the traces of the wounds, which also causes one to wonder whether martyrs will retain their wounds (AUGUSTINE). Jesus then tells Thomas to put his hand in his side to further prove the resurrection—but how could Thomas’s hand survive such an encounter with the living God unless God’s grace enabled him (ROMANUS)? This act, and all the other resurrection evidences, proves beyond a doubt the fact of the resurrection (GREGORY OF NYSSA) so that those of us who were absent, like Thomas, should take to heart Jesus’ imperative to stop doubting and believe (GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS). Jesus led Thomas to a confession of his divinity (ATHANASIUS, AMBROSE). When Thomas touched Christ’s flesh, he believed he touched God (CASSIAN, AUGUSTINE). In a minority opinion, Theodore expresses his own doubts that Thomas knew that Jesus was God. He rather believes Thomas was only praising God for the accomplished miracle (THEODORE). But the consensus of patristic opinion is that while Thomas did indeed see Christ’s flesh, he confessed the divinity, which he could not see (GREGORY THE GREAT). Throughout this account, Christ shows his patience with Thomas’s lack of faith, and ours (CYRIL), since he knows that many blessings that lead to resurrection are indeed hidden under the outward veil of suffering (AMBROSE). It is comforting then to know that our faith rests on more than the eyes can see (LEO, JOHN OF CARPATHUS).

20:24 | Thomas, Called Didymus, Is Absent

A TWIN IN WORD

ORIGEN: “Thomas” is called Didymus, which means “Twin,” because he was a kind of twin in word, writing the divine things in two ways and copying Christ, who spoke to those outside of his circle in parables, but to his own disciples he spoke privately about everything. And it is not improper to say that Christ’s genuine disciples achieve this double equipment in word that Thomas perhaps had already but even more so afterward. But it may be said that the interpretation of this alone has been recorded because the Evangelist was concerned that Greeks coming into contact with the gospel should notice the peculiarity of the interpretation of the only name specially interpreted, so as to find the cause of his name being set forth also in Greek. FRAGMENT 106 ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN. [1]

[1] AEG 6:140; GCS 10(4):561-62.

DOES JOHN CONTRADICT LUKE?

BEDE: But why does John say that Thomas was not with them, when Luke writes that two disciples, one of whom was Cleopas, on their return to Jerusalem [from Emmaus] found the Eleven assembled and those who were with them? [1] We must understand that Thomas had gone out and that in the interval of his absence, Jesus came and stood in the midst. EXPOSITION ON THE GOSPEL OF LUKE 6.24.36. [2]

[1] See Lk 24:33.

[2] CCL 120:417.

THOMAS ABSENT FOR US

GREGORY THE GREAT: It was not an accident that that particular disciple was not present. The divine mercy ordained that a doubting disciple should, by feeling in his Master the wounds of the flesh, heal in us the wounds of unbelief. The unbelief of Thomas is more profitable to our faith than the belief of the other disciples. For the touch by which he is brought to believe confirms our minds in belief, beyond all question. FORTY GOSPEL HOMILIES 26. [1]

[1] CS 123:206-7**.

DID ABSENT THOMAS RECEIVE THE SPIRIT?

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: How, then, someone may not unreasonably inquire, if Thomas was absent, was he in fact made partaker in the Holy Spirit when the Savior appeared to the disciples and breathed on them, saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit”? We reply that the power of the Spirit pervaded every person who received grace and fulfilled the aim of the Lord who gave him to them. And Christ gave the Spirit not to some only but to all the disciples. Therefore, if any were absent, they also received him, the munificence of the giver not being confined to those only who were present but extending to the entire company of the holy apostles. And that this interpretation is not strained, or our idea extravagant, we may convince you from holy Scripture itself, bringing forward as a proof a passage in the books of Moses. The Lord God commanded the all-wise Moses to select seventy elders from the assembly of the Jews and plainly declared, “I will take of the Spirit that is on you and will put it on them.” [1] Moses, as he was asked, brought them together and fulfilled the divine decree. Only it happened that two of the men who were included in the number of the seventy elders were left behind and remained in the assembly, that is, Eldad and Medad. Then when God put on them all the divine Spirit, as he had promised, those whom Moses had collected together immediately received grace and prophesied. But none the less also the two who were in the assembly prophesied, and, in fact, the grace from above came on them first. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 12.1. [2]

[1] Num 11:17.

[2] LF 48:678-79**.

20:25 | Thomas Has to See and Feel for Himself

REOPENING OLD WOUNDS

PETER CHRYSOLOGUS: Why does the hand of a faithful disciple in this fashion retrace those wounds that an unholy hand inflicted? Why does the hand of a dutiful follower strive to reopen the side that the lance of an unholy soldier pierced? Why does the harsh curiosity of a servant repeat the tortures imposed by the rage of persecutors? Why is a disciple so inquisitive about proving from his torments that he is the Lord, for his pains that he is God, and from his wounds that he is the heavenly Physician? …

Why Thomas, do you alone, a little too clever a sleuth for your own good, insist that only the wounds be brought forward in testimony to faith? What if these wounds had been made to disappear with the other things? What a peril to your faith would that curiosity have produced? Do you think that no signs of his devotion and no evidence of the Lord’s resurrection could be found unless you probed with your hands his inner organs that had been laid bare with such cruelty? Brothers, his devotion sought these things, his dedication demanded them so that in the future not even godlessness itself would doubt that the Lord had risen. But Thomas was curing not only the uncertainty of his own heart but also that of all human beings. And since he was going to preach this message to the Gentiles, this conscientious investigator was examining carefully how he might provide a foundation for the faith needed for such a mystery. [1] … For the only reason the Lord had kept his wounds was to provide evidence of his resurrection. SERMON 84.8. [2]

[1] On this point, see also Gaudentius Sermon 17 (PL 20:961-62).

[2] FC 110:52-54**.

THOMAS IS A PRECISE PERSON

ORIGEN: Thomas seems to have had some precision and carefulness about him, which is shown also by what he said. He most likely did not believe those who said they had seen the Lord. It could have been an apparition, like what had happened in Matthew. [1] I think this was the feeling of the other apostles too, but especially of Thomas. That the other apostles had some such thought on seeing Jesus is clear from there being written, “They supposed it was an apparition, [2] and he answered and said to them, “Handle me and see, for a spirit does not have bones and flesh as you see me having.” [3] FRAGMENT 106 ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN. [4]

[1] Mt 24:5.

[2] Gk phantasma.

[3] lk 24:39.

[4] ESUS IS INFORMED THAT LAZARUS IS SICK | JOHN 11:1-5

THOMAS BELIEVES THE DEATH BUT NOT THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS

AMMONIUS: Thomas was charged with being a real curiosity seeker because he thought the resurrection was impossible. Thus, he not only said “unless I see” but also “unless I touch,” lest somehow what he saw turned out to be an illusion. Therefore, when Thomas had heard from the disciples that Christ had been injured by a spear, Thomas believed them, even though he had not seen it. However, he did not believe their report of the resurrection, as if it were beyond reason. He did not say this so much out of unbelief but out of grief, because he himself had not been deemed worthy of seeing the risen Christ. It fit God’s purpose that Thomas did not believe, so that we all might know through him that the body that had been crucified had been raised. Since Thomas wanted to see the wounds all around Christ’s flesh, as well as his flesh itself, to see if he had risen, Thomas was searching for him. FRAGMENTS ON JOHN 633. [1]

[1] JKGK 354.

JESUS IS THE ONLY CRUCIFIED KING

JUSTIN MARTYR: David refers to Jesus’ suffering and to the cross in a parable of mystery in Psalm 22[:16-18], “They pierced my hands and my feet.” … But you still maintain that this very psalm does not refer to Christ because, in your blindness, you fail to realize that no one in [the Jewish] nation who has been called king or Christ has ever had his hands or feet pierced while alive or has died in this mysterious fashion—that is, by the cross—except this Jesus alone. DIALOGUE WITH TRYPHO 97. [1]

[1] ANF 1:247-48**.

THE PHYSICAL RESURRECTION

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: We are taught by the slight lack of faith shown by the blessed Thomas that the mystery of the resurrection is effected on our earthly bodies and in Christ as the firstfruits of the human race. He was no phantom or ghost, fashioned in human shape, simulating the features of humanity, nor yet, as others have foolishly surmised, a spiritual body that is compounded of a subtle and ethereal substance different from the flesh. For some attach this meaning to the expression “spiritual body.” Since all our expectation and the significance of our irrefutable faith, after the confession of the holy and consubstantial Trinity, centers in the mystery concerning the flesh, the blessed Evangelist has very pertinently put this saying of Thomas side by side with the summary of what preceded. For observe that Thomas does not simply desire to see the Lord but looks for the marks of the nails, that is, the wounds on his body. For he affirmed that then, indeed, he would believe and agree with the rest that Christ had indeed risen again, and risen in the flesh. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 12.1. [1]

[1] LF 48:682**.

20:26 | Jesus’ Appearance to Thomas on the Eighth Day

THE EUCHARISTIC ASSEMBLY

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: With good reason, then, are we accustomed to have sacred meetings in churches on the eighth day. And, to adopt the language of allegory, as the idea necessarily demands, we indeed close the doors, [1] but Christ still visits us and appears to us all, both invisibly as God and visibly in the body. He allows us to touch his holy flesh and gives it to us. For through the grace of God we are admitted to partake of the blessed Eucharist, receiving Christ into our hands, to the intent that we may firmly believe that he did in truth raise up the temple of his body. … Participation in the divine mysteries, in addition to filling us with divine blessedness, is a true confession and memorial of Christ’s dying and rising again for us and for our sake. Let us, therefore, after touching Christ’s body, avoid all unbelief in him as utter ruin and rather be found well grounded in the full assurance of faith. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 12.1. [2]

[1] Closing the doors occurred in the ancient church service at the time of the eucharist.

[2] LF 48:684*.

WHY THE DELAY?

CHRYSOSTOM: And why does he not appear to him immediately, instead of “after eight days”? He does so in order that, in the meantime, being continually instructed by the disciples and hearing the same thing repeated, he might be inflamed with more eager desire and be more ready to believe for the future. But where did he learn that his side had been pierced? He heard it from the disciples. How then did he believe that but not believe the other story? Because the latter was very strange and wonderful. But observe the truthfulness of the disciples and how they hide no faults, either their own or others’, but record them with great veracity. Jesus again presents himself to them and does not wait to be asked by Thomas or to hear any such thing. Rather, before Thomas could even speak, Jesus prevented him and fulfilled his desire, showing that even when Thomas spoke those words to the disciples, he was present. For he used the same words, though in a reproachful manner, and added instruction for the future. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 87.1. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:327**.

ADMIT THE LIMITS OF YOUR SENSES TO UNDERSTAND

HILARY OF POITIERS: The Lord stoops to the level even of our feeble understanding. He works a miracle of his invisible power in order to satisfy the doubts of unbelieving minds. Explain, my critic, the ways of heaven—explain his action if you can. The disciples were in a closed room. They had met and held their assembly in secret since the passion of the Lord. The Lord presents himself to strengthen the faith of Thomas by meeting his challenge. He gives him his body to feel, his wounds to handle. He, indeed, who would be recognized as having suffered wounds must necessarily produce the body in which those wounds were received. I ask at what point in the walls of that closed house the Lord bodily entered. The apostle has recorded the circumstances with careful precision: “Jesus came when the doors were shut and stood in the midst.” Did he penetrate through bricks and mortar or through stout woodwork—substances whose very nature it is to bar progress? For there he stood in bodily presence; there was no suspicion of deceit. Let the eye of your mind follow his path as he enters. Let your intellectual vision accompany him as he passes into that closed dwelling. There is no breach in the walls; no door has been unbarred. Yet, see how he stands in the midst whose might no barrier can resist. You are a critic of things invisible; I ask you to explain a visible event. Everything remains firm as it was. No body is capable of insinuating itself through the interstices of wood and stone. The body of the Lord does not disperse itself, to come together again after a disappearance. Yet where does the one who is standing in their midst come from? Your senses and your words are powerless to account for it. The fact is certain, but it lies beyond the region of human explanation. If, as you say, our account of the divine birth is a lie, then prove that this account of the Lord’s entrance is a fiction. If we assume that an event did not happen, because we cannot discover how it was done, we make the limits of our understanding into the limits of reality. But the certainty of the evidence proves the falsehood of our contradiction. The Lord did stand in a closed house in the midst of the disciples; the Son was born of the Father. Deny not that he stood, because your puny wits cannot ascertain how he came there; renounce instead a disbelief in God the only-begotten and perfect Son of God the unbegotten and perfect Father that is based only on the incapacity of sense and speech to comprehend. ON THE TRINITY 3.20. [1]

[1] NPNF 2 9:67-68**.

20:27 | Put Your Finger Here, and See My Hands

THE SIGNS OF THE RESURRECTION

CHRYSOSTOM: It is worth inquiring how an incorruptible body showed the prints of the nails and was tangible to a mortal hand. But do not be disturbed. What took place was a matter of condescension. For that which was so subtle and light as to enter in when the doors were shut was entirely lacking all density. But this marvel was shown so that the resurrection might be believed and so that people might know that it was the crucified one himself and not another who rose instead of him. This is why he arose bearing the signs of the cross, and it is also why he eats. At least the apostles repeatedly made this a proof of the resurrection, saying “we, who did eat and drink with him.” [1] As, therefore, when we see him walking on the waves before the crucifixion, we do not say that his body is of a different nature but the same as our own. So after the resurrection, when we see him with the prints of the nails, we do not say that he is therefore still mortal. It was for the sake of the disciple that he appeared in this way. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 87.1. [2]

[1] Acts 10:41.

[2] NPNF 1 14:328*.

HE HAS REAL FLESH WITH BONES

THEODORET OF CYR: Before the passion he predicted his bodily death each time, saying that he would be handed over to the high priest’s followers and proclaiming the trophy of the cross. [1] But after the passion, when he rose from the dead on the third day and, since the disciples doubted that he had been raised, he appeared to them in his actual body. [He] declares that he has real flesh with bones, presents his wounded side to their eyes and shows them the marks of the nails. [2] DIALOGUE 2.18. [3]

[1] See Mt 20:18-19.

[2] See also Lk 24:39.

[3] FC 106:139-40.

WITNESSES WHO HANDLED THE WORD OF LIFE

TERTULLIAN: Marcion chose to believe that Jesus was a phantom, denying to him the reality of a perfect body. Now, not even to his apostles was his nature ever a matter of deception. He was truly both seen and heard on the mount. True and real was the draught of wine at the marriage of [Cana in] Galilee. True and real also was the touch of the then believing Thomas. Read the testimony of John: “That which we have seen, which we have heard, which we have looked on with our eyes and our hands have handled, of the Word of life.” [1] False, of course, and deceptive must have been that testimony, if the witness of our eyes and ears and hands by nature is a lie. ON THE SOUL 17. [2]

[1] 1 Jn 1:1.

[2] ANF 3:197.

THE SAME BODY RAISED THAT DIED

HIPPOLYTUS: He calls him, then, “the firstfruits of them that sleep,” [1] as the “first-begotten of the dead.” [2] For he, having risen and wanting to show that that same [body] had been raised that had also died, when his disciples were in doubt, called Thomas to him and said, “Reach here. Handle me, and see. For a spirit does not have bone and flesh, as you see me have.” In calling him the firstfruits, he testified to that which we have said, that is, that the Savior, taking to himself the flesh out of the same lump, raised this same flesh and made it the firstfruits of the flesh of the righteous, in order that all we who have believed in the hope of the risen one may have the resurrection in expectation. FRAGMENT 3. [3]

[1] 1 Cor 15:20.

[2] Col 1:18.

[3] ANF 5:240**; GCS 1 2:254.

THE SAME FLESH, BUT MORE GLORIOUS

JEROME: After the resurrection we shall have the same members that we now use, the same flesh and blood and bones, for it is not the nature of these that is condemned in Holy Scripture but their works. … The true confession of the resurrection declares that the flesh will be glorious, but without destroying its reality. And so, when the apostle says, “This [flesh] is corruptible and mortal,” [1] his words denote this very body, in other words, the flesh that was then seen. But when he further adds that it “puts on incorruption and immortality,” he is not saying that what was put on [i.e., the clothing] does away with the body that it adorns in glory. Rather, it makes that body glorious that previously lacked glory. When the more worthless robe of mortality and weakness is laid aside, then we can be clothed with the gold of immortality and the blessedness of strength as well as virtue. AGAINST JOHN OF JERUSALEM 28-29. [2]

[1] 1 Cor 15:53.

[2] NPNF 2 6:438-39**.

WILL MARTYRS RETAIN THEIR WOUNDS?

AUGUSTINE: The love we bear for the blessed martyrs causes us—how, I do not know—to desire to see in the heavenly kingdom the marks that they received for the name of Christ. And possibly we shall see them. For this will not be a deformity but a mark of honor and will add luster to their appearance as well as a spiritual (if not a bodily) beauty. … For even though the blemishes of the body will not be found in any resurrected body, the evidences of virtue can hardly be called blemishes. CITY OF GOD 22.19. [1]

WHO PROTECTED THOMAS’S HAND?

ROMANUS MELODUS:

Who protected the hand of the disciple which was not melted

At the time when he approached the fiery side of the Lord? [2]

Who gave it daring and strength to probe

The flaming bone? Certainly the side was examined.

If the side had not furnished abundant power,

How could a right hand of clay have touched

Sufferings which had shaken Heaven and earth?

It was grace itself which was given to Thomas

To touch and to cry out,

“Thou art our Lord and God.”

Truly the bramble which endured fire was burned but not consumed. [3]

From the hand of Thomas I have faith in the story of Moses.

For, though his hand was perishable and thorny, it was not burned

When it touched the side which was like burning flame.

Formerly fire came to the bramble bush,

But now, the thorny one hastened to the fire;

And God, Himself, was seen to guard both.

Hence I have faith; and hence I shall praise

God, Himself, and man, as I cry,

“Thou art our Lord and God.”

For truly the boundary line of faith was subscribed for me

By the hand of Thomas; for when he touched Christ

He became like the pen of a fast-writing scribe [4]

Which writes for the faithful. From it gushes forth faith.

From it, the robber drank and became sober again;

From it the disciples watered their hearts;

From it, Thomas drained the knowledge which he sought,

For he drank first and then offered drink

To many who had a little doubt. He persuaded them to say,

“Thou art our Lord and God.”

KONTAKION ON DOUBTING THOMAS 30.1-3. [5]

[1] NPNF 1 2:498**.

[2] Romanus finds a unique poetic way to communicate the fact that the disciples were in the presence of the now-glorified body of the human-divine Jesus. See also his Kontakion on the Baptism of Christ 5.12, where he connects John the Baptist’s touching of the human-divine Christ with Uzzah (2 Sam 6:6-8), who died when he touched the ark.

[3] Ex 3:3-5.

[4] Ps 44:2 (43:3 LXX).

[5] KRBM 1:329-30.

NO ONE NOW CAN DOUBT THE RESURRECTION’S POWER

GREGORY OF NYSSA: Once he had accustomed people to seeing the miracle of resurrection in other bodies, he confirmed his word in his own humanity. You already received a glimpse of that word working in others—those who were about to die, the child who had just ceased to live, the young man at the edge of the grave, the putrefying corpse, all alike restored by one command to life. … Now look at him whose hands were pierced with nails, look at him whose side was transfixed with a spear. Pass your fingers through the print of the nails, thrust your hand into the spear wound. You could surely guess how far within your hand would reach by the breadth of the external scar since the wound that gives admission to the hand shows to what depth the iron entered. If he then has been raised, well may we utter the apostle’s exclamation, “How do some say that there is no resurrection of the dead?” [1] Since, then, every prediction of the Lord is shown to be true by the testimony of events—in fact, we not only learned this from his words but also received the proof in his deeds from the very same people who returned to life by resurrection—what other occasion is left for those who do not believe? Let us rather bid farewell to those who pervert our simple faith by “philosophy and vain deceit.” [2] Let us instead hold on to our confession [of the resurrection] in its purity, a confession that we have learned through the gracious words of the prophet, “You shall take away their breath, and they shall fail and turn to dust. You shall then send forth your Spirit, and they shall be created, and you shall renew the face of the earth.” [3] ON THE MAKING OF MAN 25.12-13. [4]

[1] 1 Cor 15:12.

[2] Col 2:8.

[3] Ps 104:29-30 (103:29-30 LXX).

[4] NPNF 2 5:417**.

AN IMPERATIVE TO BELIEVE

GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS: If, like a Thomas, you were left out when the disciples were assembled to whom Christ shows himself, when you do see him do not be faithless. And if you do not believe, then believe those who tell you. And if you cannot believe them either, then have confidence in the print of the nails. ON HOLY EASTER, ORATION 45.24. [1]

[1] NPNF 2 7:432*.

20:28 | My Lord and My God!

THE CRUCIFIED WAS GOD

ATHANASIUS: Let them therefore confess, even they who previously denied that the crucified was God, that they have erred. For the divine Scriptures bid them, and especially Thomas, who, after seeing upon him the print of the nails, cried out, “My Lord and my God.” LETTER 59.10, TO EPICTETUS. [1]

[1] NPNF 2 4:574*.

LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON

AMBROSE: You have read that the Father is both Lord and God: “O Lord my God, I will call on you, hear me.” [1] You find the Son to be both Lord and God, as you have read in the Gospel, that, when Thomas had touched the side of Christ, he said, “My Lord and my God.” So just as the Father is God and the Son Lord, so too the Son is God and the Father Lord. The holy designation changes from one to the other. The divine nature does not change, but the dignity remains unchangeable. For they are not [as it were] contributions gathered from bounty but free-will gifts of natural love. For unity has its special property, and the special properties are bound together in unity. ON THE HOLY SPIRIT 3.15.108. [2]

[1] Ps 30:2 (29:3 LXX).

[2] NPNF 2 10:150*.

THOMAS TOUCHES GOD

JOHN CASSIAN: Thomas, when he touched the flesh, believed that he had touched God, saying, “My Lord and my God.” For they all confessed but one Christ, so as not to make him two. Do you therefore believe him? And do you believe in such a way that Jesus Christ the Lord of all, both Only Begotten and firstborn, is both creator of all things and preserver of humanity and that the same person is first the framer of the whole world and afterward redeemer of humankind? ON THE INCARNATION OF THE LORD AGAINST NESTORIUS 6.19. [1]

[1] NPNF 2 11:601*.

TOUCHING THE FLESH, HE INVOKES THE WORD

AUGUSTINE: But when Jesus showed Thomas the very places where he had his doubts, Thomas exclaimed, “My Lord and my God.” He touched his flesh, he proclaimed his divinity. What did he touch? The body of Christ. Was the body of Christ the divinity of Christ? The divinity of Christ was the Word; the humanity of Christ was soul and flesh. Thomas could not touch the soul, but he could perceive it, because the body that had been dead was moving about alive. But that Word is subject neither to change nor to contact, it neither regresses nor progresses, neither fails nor flourishes, because in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” That is what Thomas proclaimed. He touched the flesh, he invoked the Word, because “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” [1] SERMON 145A. [2]

[1] Jn 1:1, 14.

[2] WSA 3 4:443*.

THOMAS PRAISES GOD FOR THE MIRACLE

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: And [Thomas] touched him carefully, and when he discovered the truth, confessed his fault by saying, “My Lord and my God!” What does this mean? While Thomas did not believe before that the Savior had resurrected from the dead, now he calls him Lord and God? This is not likely. Thomas, the doubtful disciple, does not call Lord and God the one whom he touched—in fact, the knowledge of the resurrection did not teach him that the resurrected one was God. Rather, he praised God for the accomplished miracle, being astonished for the miracles that he saw. COMMENTARY ON JOHN 7.20.27-29. [1]

[1] CSCO 4 3:358.

20:29 | Seeing Is Not Believing

THOMAS SEES ONE THING, BELIEVES ANOTHER

GREGORY THE GREAT: When the apostle Paul says that “faith is the ground of things to be hoped for, the proof of things that are not evident,” [1] it is clear that faith is the proof of those things that cannot be made evident. Things that are evident no longer involve faith but recognition. Why then, when Thomas saw and when he touched, was it said to him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed”? Because he saw one thing, and he believed another; divinity could not be seen by a mortal person. He saw a human being, and he confessed him as God. … But we also rejoice at what follows, “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” Certainly this saying refers to us who keep in our minds one whom we do not see in his body. It refers to us, but only if we follow up our faith with our works. That person truly believes who expresses his faith in his works. FORTY GOSPEL HOMILIES 26. [2]

[1] Heb 11:1.

[2] CS 123:207*.

CHRIST’S PATIENCE WITH THOMAS AND US

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen me, Thomas, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.” These words were wonderfully pertinent, and they can be of very great help to us. They demonstrate once again how much he cares for our souls, for he is good, and as Scripture says, “He wants everyone to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” [1] Even so, this saying of his may surprise us. As always, Christ had to be patient with Thomas when he said he would not believe and with the other disciples too when they thought they were seeing a ghost. Because of his desire to convince the whole world, he most willingly showed them the marks of the nails and the wound in his side. Because he wanted those who needed such signs as a support for their faith to have no possible reason for doubt, he even took food, although he had no need for it. … But when anyone accepts what he has not seen, believing on the word of his teacher, the faith by which he honors the one his teacher proclaims to him is worthy of great praise. Blessed, therefore, is everyone who believes the message of the holy apostles who, as Luke says, were eyewitnesses of Christ’s actions and ministers of the word. If we desire eternal life and long for a dwelling place in heaven, we must listen to them. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 12.1. [2]

[1] 1 Tim 2:4.

[2] LF 48:691-92**.

BLESSING HIDDEN IN SUFFERING

AMBROSE: There are some … who think a blessed life is impossible in this body, weak and fragile as it is. For we have to suffer pain and grief, weeping, illness—all in this body. … It is not a blessing to be in the midst of suffering. But it is a blessing to be victorious over it and not to be bullied by the power of temporal pain. Suppose that things come that are considered terrible because of the grief they cause, such as blindness, exile, hunger, violation of a daughter, loss of children. Who will deny that Isaac was blessed, who did not see in his old age, and yet gave blessings with his benediction? [1] Was not Jacob blessed who, leaving his father’s house, endured exile as a shepherd for pay, [2] and mourned for the violated chastity of his daughter [3] and suffered hunger? [4] Were they not blessed on whose good faith God received witness, as it is written: “The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob”? [5] A wretched thing is slavery, but Joseph was not wretched. In fact, clearly he was blessed when, while a slave, he checked the lusts of his mistress. [6] What shall I say of holy David, who bewailed the death of three sons, [7] and, what was even worse than this, his daughter’s incestuous connection? [8] How could he be unblessed from whom the author of blessedness himself sprung who has made many blessed? For “blessed are they who have not seen yet have believed.” All these felt their own weakness, but they bravely prevailed over it. What can we think of as more wretched than holy Job, either in the burning of his house, or the instantaneous death of his ten sons or his bodily pains? [9] Was he less blessed than if he had not endured those things whereby he really showed himself approved?

It is true that in these sufferings there is something bitter and that we cannot use mind over matter to hide this pain. I should not deny that the sea is deep because in shore it is shallow, or that the sky is clear because sometimes it is covered with clouds, or that the earth is fruitful because in some places there is only barren ground or that the crops are rich and full because they sometimes have wild oats mingled with them. So, too, count it as true that the harvest of a happy conscience may be mingled with some bitter feelings of grief. In the sheaves of the whole of a blessed life, if by chance any misfortune or bitterness has crept in, is it not as though the wild oats were hidden or as though the bitterness of the tares was concealed by the sweet scent of the corn? DUTIES OF THE CLERGY 2.5.19-21. [10]

[1] Gen 27:28.

[2] Gen 31:41.

[3] Gen 34:5.

[4] Gen 42:2.

[5] Ex 3:6.

[6] Gen 39:7.

[7] 2 Sam 12:16;13:31; 18:33.

[8] 2 Sam 13:21.

[9] Job 1:14—2:10.

[10] NPNF 2 10:46-47**.

SALVATION RESTS ON MORE THAN EYES CAN SEE

LEO THE GREAT: It is the strength of great minds and the light of firmly faithful souls unhesitatingly to believe what is not seen with the bodily sight and to focus your affections where you cannot direct your gaze. And from where should this godliness spring up in our hearts or how should someone be justified by faith, if our salvation rested on those things only that lie beneath our eyes? And so, our Lord said to Thomas, who seemed to doubt Christ’s resurrection until he had tested by sight and touched the traces of his passion in his very flesh, “because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” SERMON 74.1. [1]

[1] NPNF 2 12:188**.

COURAGEOUS ENDURANCE

JOHN OF CARPATHUS: Blessed are those who, when grace is withdrawn, find no consolation in themselves but only continuing tribulation and thick darkness, and yet they do not despair. Rather, strengthened by faith, they endure courageously, convinced that they do indeed see him who is invisible. TEXTS FOR THE MONKS IN INDIA 71. [1]

[1] TP 1:315.