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 Various
themes in John 20:19-31: (1) Nothing can inhibit the progress of the gospel, not
the world’s disbelief , not skepticism, and not even doubt within the church! (2)
faith is personal ("My . . . my" in verse 28); the appropriation of different
titles of Christ-"Lord," "God."); (3) the notion of seeing and
believing that appears throughout John’s Gospel and culminates here in Christ’s
resurrected state. (One may see and not believe. And one may not see, yet be blessed!)
• Also, we see a leit motif of the role of
community of faith: "Only from the moment that it could be said of Thomas that he was
. . . ‘with them’ [i.e. in the company of the other disciples, where he
belonged, and should have been!], did he fully understand the mystery of Jesus’
identity. That is to say, it is only within the community of faith that one can encounter
the living Christ. Belonging precedes believing.
• NIB on John 20:
For the Fourth Gospel, the gift of the Spirit and the articulation of
the community’s mission are intimately and inseparably tied to the resurrection and
ascension of Jesus. When the church celebrates Easter, it also celebrates the beginnings
of its mission . . . for John, the church’s ongoing life as a community of faith, as
the people who continue Jesus’ work in the world, derives from Jesus’ Easter
promises and gifts.
 Buechner on Thomas:
Imagination was not Thomas’s long suit. He called a spade a spade.
He was a realist. He didn’t believe in fairy tales, and if anything else came up that
he didn’t believe in or couldn’t understand, his questions could be pretty
direct . . .
. . . Jesus was dead just as he’d said he’d be . . . Eight
days later, when Jesus did come back, Thomas was there and got his wish. Jesus let him see
him and hear him and touch him, and not even Thomas could hold out against evidence like
that . . . All he could say was, "My Lord and my God!", and Jesus seemed to
consider that under the circumstances that was enough.
. . . "Have you believed because you have seen me?" Jesus said and then
added, addressing himself to all the generations that have come since, "Blessed are
those who have not seen and yet believe."
 Please refer to this Sunday’s homily, "No Interview," on
DPS which is posted for Sunday, April 7, 2002; the sermon is based on John 20:19-31.
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