Thomas in the dock- Feast of St Thomas – John 20:24-29
If Peter had his confession, “you are the Christ the son of the living God”, then Thomas had his too, when he said, “My Lord and my God”. Unfortunately we never hear the confession of Thomas spoken with the same adulation as Peter. Thomas has been maligned unfairly for centuries from the pulpit for what seems to be a moment’s weakness of unbelief. He has forever been tarnished with the name ‘doubting Thomas’, when in reality he is like you and me, a ‘seeking Thomas’; seeking answers all his life with a thousand questions.
If we are to be fair to Thomas, let’s look at the rap sheet of some of the other apostles. Peter denied the Lord three times, but we don’t call him denier. Nathaniel scoffed when he said, “What good can come from Nazareth’’, but we don’t call him a scoffer. James and John were fighting for the right to sit at the Lord’s left and right seats, but we don’t call them opportunists. The rest abandoned the Lord at Gethsemane, but we don’t call them cowards. Poor Thomas, he got the worst end of the Christian preachers’ stick, and a name, ‘doubting Thomas’ which has stuck to him like feathers to tar.
Fr. Warner D'Souza is a Catholic priest of the Archdiocese of Bombay. He has served in the parishes of St Michael's (Mahim), St Paul's (Dadar East), Our Lady of Mount Carmel, (Bandra), a ten year stint as priest-in-charge at St Jude Church (Malad East) and at present is the Parish Priest at St Stephen's Church (Cumballa Hill). He is also the Director of the Archdiocesan Heritage Museum and is the co-ordinator of the Committee for the Promotion and Preservation of the Artistic and Historic Patrimony of the Church.
