Acts 4: 33 - 35; Psalm
133; I
John 1: 1 – 2: 2; John
20: 19 - 31
A
homily by Fr. Gene Tucker, given
at St. John’s Church, Huntingdon,
Pennsylvania on Sunday, April 12, 2015.
“BELIEVING
AND KNOWING”
(Homily text:
John 20: 19 - 31)
“I believe in order to know, and I know in order to
believe.”
This statement is a paraphrase[1] of
St. Anselm of Canterbury (c. 1033 – 1109),[2]
who was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1093 until his death.
Knowing and believing are at the
heart of Thomas’ demand to be able to see the risen Christ and to be able to
know that He had risen from the dead by being able to touch the Lord’s hands
and side. Put another way, Thomas told
the other disciples that he had to know for sure that the Lord was alive in
order to put his faith in the power of the resurrection.
Before we look at the matter of
knowing and believing a bit more closely, let’s take a moment to notice some
aspects of this text:
Jesus’
foreknowledge of Thomas’ demand:
Notice that Thomas demands to put his finger into the place where the
nails had been in Jesus’ hands, and then to be able to put his hand into Jesus’
side. Jesus is not present when Thomas
makes this demand, but when Jesus appears on the Sunday following that first
Easter (which is why we hear this gospel text each year on the Sunday following
Easter), notice that Jesus knows what Thomas had said, and grants Thomas’ wish,
point-for-point. Since Jesus was not present
when Thomas uttered those words, the fact that Jesus knew what Thomas had said
points to the fact that Jesus knows the things that only God could know. Throughout John’s gospel account, we see this
divine foreknowledge time and again. It
is proof that Jesus and His Father were one (see John 10: 30).
A
new beginning for Thomas: Jesus
appears to Thomas and the other disciples on the eighth day following His
resurrection. In the Scriptures, the
number eight often denotes a new beginning of something. As indicators of this,
we might point to the understanding that the creation began to operate after
the six days of creation and after God had rested from creating the world (see
Genesis 2: 1 – 2); the rite of circumcision was performed on the eighth day of
a baby’s life, denoting a new beginning for the child and a new beginning for
God’s people as a new generation comes into being; and in the ark following the
Great Flood, there were eight persons traversing the waters, Noah, his three
sons, and their wives, eight persons in all (see Genesis 6: 10 and 7: 7). So we might conclude that Jesus’ appearance
to Thomas on the eighth day constitutes a new beginning for Thomas’ life.
Now let’s return to the matter of
knowing something, and the relationship between knowing and being able to
believe or to put our faith in something.
In Thomas’ case, the connection
between knowing and believing is instantaneous.
In response to Jesus’ presence and Jesus’ gift of offering Himself to
Thomas, Thomas declares, “My Lord and my God!”
It is worth noting that, according
to tradition, the new beginning of Thomas’ life resulted in Thomas’ traveling
as far as the subcontinent of India, carrying the Good News that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of the living God, the one whom God had raised from the
dead. Even today, there is a church in
India which bears Thomas’ name, the Mar
Thoma Church.
Thomas
is remembered in the well-known phrase, “Doubting Thomas”. Jesus’ words to Thomas don’t focus on Thomas’
doubts so much as they do on Thomas’ unwillingness to believe. The more accurate translation of Jesus’
comment is “Do not be unbelieving,
but believe.” If we remember that the
other disciples also doubted Mary Magdalene’s testimony that the Lord had
risen, we can see that Thomas was doing what the other disciples had also done. To each of these, the Lord provides a basis
for knowing and therefore, a basis for believing.
For most of us, I would think, the
trajectory involving knowing and believing isn’t so meteoric as Thomas’ was.
Perhaps the walk we walk with God
involves tentative steps toward believing in the truth of the claims of the
Gospel, and perhaps these initial steps are mingled with a good bit of
disbelief or doubt. But, I think, these
initial steps provide the framework for God to open our minds and hearts to
greater knowing, and therefore, greater believing. The paraphrase of Anselm’s statement affirms
this process, “I believe in order to know, and I know in order to believe.”
One aspect of coming into a closer
walk with God helps the other: Believing
helps us to know or to understand, and further knowing and understanding helps
us to believe all the more deeply.
We will not be entirely done with
this process until we are in God’s presence in eternity someday. As St. Paul so wisely says in I Corinthians
13: 9 and 12, “For we know in part and we prophesy in part….For now we see in a
mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now
I know in part, then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.”
We can trust the witness of those
who have walked this walk before us.
Their eyewitness accounts provide us with a basis, a foundation, for
trusting and believing. Notice what the
author of the Fourth Gospel says in our text this morning, “Now Jesus did many
other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this
book. But these are written that you may
believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing, you
may have life in his name.” (John 20: 30
– 31)
Today’s text calls us to examine the
basis we have for believing. For today’s
gospel text points forward into the ages which were to follow the lifetimes of
those first disciples. Jesus points to
this forward-looking aspect of the Gospel as He says to Thomas, “Have you
believed because you have seen me?
Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.” I’d like to think that there is a blank in
Jesus’ second statement where you and I can put our names. Indeed, we follow all those who have put
their trust and faith in the reality of Jesus’ resurrection and in His identity
as the Son of the living God.
Finally, as we believe, then know,
then know some more and then believe more deeply and fully, God will call us to
be witnesses to God’s power to redeem, to save, and to offer a new beginning to
life. We are called, each of us, to be
apostles, those who have been sent out in witness to God’s power and God’s
love.
AMEN.
