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Thomas Sunday |
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Thomas Sunday
 Today is the first Sunday after the Resurrection of Our Lord. It is known as “Thomas Sunday” or “New Sunday”.
It is called “Thomas Sunday” because Our Lord appeared to His disciples and Thomas was with them. His appearance was intentionally for Thomas. It is known that our Lord previously appeared to the disciples and Thomas was not with them.
It is called “New Sunday” because it is the day that Our Lord confirmed more clearly than the previous time His resurrection by showing His wounds to St. Thomas. In this day St. Thomas declared his faith in Christ by saying, “My Lord and My God.” (John 20:28)
The Liturgy Gospel reading is from the Gospel according to St John (20: 19-31).
On Good Friday although it was a day of our redemption, it was a suffering day for Our Lord. It was the betrayal of Judas the Iscariot, the conspiracy of the Jews against Him, the shouting of the Jews “Crucify Him; Crucify Him”, the escape of His disciples and the denial of some. Our Lord said about His disciples, “All of you will be made to stumble because of Me.” (Matthew 26:31).
Our Lord Jesus Christ resurrected from the dead and put in front of Him the mission to clarify all this matter. He said, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.” (John 5:17). He works all the time; He was working while He was on the cross, in the tomb, and also in His Resurrection.
On the Cross:
He was working for the salvation of the whole world. He offered for us salvation free and He paid the price which was His Precious Blood.
On the cross he offered His mercy to many:
To His mother and asked His disciple whom he loved to take care of her and said to her, “Woman, behold your son!” (John 19:26)
He offered His mercy to His disciple and rewarded him by having the Virgin Mary to dwell in his home, and said to him, “Behold your mother!” (John 19:27)
He offered His mercy to the right thief. He accepted the confession of his sins, his acknowledgment of Our Lord’s Divinity and rewarded him on his faith by dying with Christ on the cross after declaring his faith - It was possible for him to die before declaring his faith. Our Lord also rewarded him by making him to deserve to enter to paradise with those who preceded him.
He offered mercy even to those who crucified Him. Our Lord faced humiliation by offering His working love and compassion.
Our Lord was working while He was in the tomb:
His spirit descended to the lower parts of earth and preached the imprisoned spirits who rested in hope waiting for salvation and released them by forgiving the original sin of Adam and Eve. He also went down to preach and to celebrate His victory over the powers of darkness. The Holy Bible says, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison.” (1Peter 3: 18, 19)
His spirit took these saints to paradise. The gate of paradise was opened by His Precious Blood. He took the soul of the right thief to paradise after them because there was two hour difference between the death of Our Lord in Flesh (ninth hour) and the death of the thief (eleventh hour).
On the resurrection there were many works that He did:
He wanted to preach the faith to the whole world through his disciples.
Therefore, it was necessary to strengthen the faith of his disciples.
It was necessary to let them visualize the strength of His Resurrection.
The strength of His Resurrection was clear in the following:
1.He resurrected and the tomb was closed.
2.He came out of the tomb while it was closed.
3.He resurrected by His own power without anyone else involved.
4.He resurrected although the tomb was heavily guarded by Roman soldiers.
5.He resurrected and left the Holy shroud in an amazing orderly manner.
6.He resurrected while the seal on the tomb was still there. He came out of the sealed tomb as He came out of St. Mary’s womb and Her virginity was sealed.
7.He resurrected and left the tomb empty. Archangel Michael then rolled the stone from the door of the tomb in order to declare two facts:
a.That Christ has resurrected and left the tomb.
b.The tomb is empty and Christ is the only person who was there and exterminated the power of death. As it is said in the Holy Bible, “Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.” (Psalms 16:10). He is the only One who overcame the sting of death.
All these confirm his amazing power in His resurrection.
Why all that?
It was because Christ resurrected with a glorified body that overcame any material obstacle. In the Epistle of St. Paul, it is said, “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body…” (Philippians 3: 20, 21)
Through the power of His resurrection, Christ has shown that He is more powerful than death. No one can overcome death except Our Lord.
Eventually He was more powerful than any evil power surrounding Him. His resurrection confirmed his innocence from all the false accusations that was attributed to His crucifixion. His death was thus a condemnation to the Jews who asked for His Crucifixion and to the Romans who executed it. Thus, the chief priests of the Jews tried to oppose the resurrection before its occurrence and also made great efforts to mar its glories after it was accomplished. Christ’s resurrection frightened them because His existence used to tire them and reveal their wrong deeds. They said to disciples who were preaching the resurrection of Our Lord, “Did we not strictly command you not to teach in this name (referring to Christ Our Lord)? And look, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this Man's blood on us!” (Acts 5:28)
In any case, the resurrection of Our Lord shed in His disciples the power and joy. “The disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.” (John 20:20)
As I told you previously in Good Friday, the stand of Our Lord with the Jews was to offer forgiveness but forgiveness for them was passive. The proactive way for them is to enter into faith first in order for their sins to be forgiven. Christ on the cross offered forgiveness for everyone but no one will benefit from this forgiveness unless he abandoned his sins, repented, and believed in Christ that He is the Lord and Savior.
In a similar fashion, the father priest when he prays and provides absolutions for the entire congregation present in the church, only those who repented and confessed their sins in front of God in the presence of the father priest will benefit.
In order for the Jews to believe in Christ, it was necessary for the disciples to be strengthened in their faith so that they preach and have the ability through their strong faith to attract the Jews to Christianity.
Therefore, it was necessary for Our Lord after His resurrection to strengthen the faith of His disciples first. Especially because the stand of His disciples was shaken during His crucifixion. Some escaped, others became afraid and hid in the attic, and some ignored and denied Him.
The stand of Our Lord with His disciples was very noble. Christ did not criticize His disciples for their weaknesses, but instead He wanted to strengthen them. He did not criticize them but wanted to remove the suspicion that was in their hearts so that they can go with strong faith preaching the whole world.
It was, therefore, necessary for Our Lord to appear to His disciples many times. With regards to the appearance of Our Lord to His disciples, I have an important comment which is:
We do not know exactly how many times Our Lord appeared to His disciples after His resurrection.
The eleven recorded appearances of Our Lord after His resurrection in the Holy Gospel were just examples and not the exact number of appearances. The confirmation for this is given in the Holy Bible. It is said, “to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.” (Acts 1:3)
The appearance of Our Lord to His disciples and others after His resurrection is expressed in the rite of the Holy Liturgy during the forty days after resurrection. This is through the three times procession inside the altar and three times in the nave of the church.
+The procession inside the altar symbolizes the appearance of Our Lord to His disciples. The procession in the nave of the church symbolizes the appearance of the Lord to the general people.
+During the procession one of the deacons raises the Holy cross with the Holy resurrection flag, the other deacons with candles to resemble the light of resurrection, the father priest offering incense to the resurrection icon and the deacons singing hymns and praises of resurrection in a joyful tune.
Our Lord appeared to His disciples a number of times and did not leave them until He was certain of their firmness in the faith. He Himself was helping them to strengthen their faith. The Holy Bible says, “Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, Peace to you. But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit. And He said to them, Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have. When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. But while they still did not believe for joy, and marveled, He said to them, Have you any food here? So they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb. And He took it and ate in their presence.” (Luke 24: 36-43)
Here we notice an astonishing thing. Our Lord resurrected with a glorified body with a meaning not submitting to the law of earth gravity and materialism. However, in the cases with which He proved His Human Nature, it was nothing but exceptional cases in order that the disciples believe that His Body had risen and with confidence spread the faith. He showed them facts that do not go with a glorified body, examples, “Handle Me”, “showing his flesh and bones”, and “asking for food and ate with them”.
St Peter the Sedmenty (from a city called Sedment) said that “Christ during His incarnation was trying to confirm to the people His Divinity through many signs and miracles. But, after His resurrection, he tried to confirm His complete Human nature with spirit and body.”
During Our Lord’s appearances to His disciples after resurrection:
He sent them to serve and preach and said to them, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” (John 20:21)
He instituted the sacrament of priesthood. It is the sacrament that serves the church sacraments. “He breathed on them, and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit.” (John 20:22).
He gave them the power of the Holy Order by saying, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” (John 20:23)
Because of His Love to His disciples, he appeared especially to Thomas to remove from his heart the doubt and make him believe. During His appearance at this time, the Holy Bible says, “Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace to you! Then He said to Thomas, Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing. And Thomas answered and said to Him, My Lord and my God! Jesus said to him, Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20: 26-29)
He wanted to confirm the truth of His resurrection by all means in order to remove from their hearts the fear and the doubt for strengthening their faith.
He wanted to give them the rules of faith in all details so that they are able in explaining it to the people. An example for that, “And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 28: 18, 19) How can Baptism be? What is the way of Baptism? How can a person be baptized? How can the water be sanctified and the person requiring baptism be immersed? All these facts they received from Our Lord during the forty days after His resurrection.
He left them so that they can ordain priests. During the forty days He was explaining to them how to ordain priest, and gave them all the details of the doctrine, church rites, and the rules of faith.
He was curing their weak and depressed personalities as He did with Peter the apostle. St Peter was very depressed; in Good Friday he went out and wept bitterly after his three denials to Our Lord. After the resurrection Our Lord gave him a special sympathy a number of times.
One time in the saying of the angel to the women when they came to the empty tomb, “You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him. But go, tell His disciples--and Peter--that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, as He said to you.” (Mark 16: 6, 7)
Another time when Our Lord asked him, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these? He said to Him, Yes, Lord; You know that I love You. He said to him, Feed My lambs.” (John 21:15) Our Lord then repeated the same question two more times and St Peter repeated in each time his love towards the Lord. Our Lord rewarded him by saying, “feed my lambs, tend my sheep, feed my sheep”. As if the Lord is taking from the heart of Peter the answer that cancels his previous three denials. The reason for this is that Peter thought that he lost his apostolic mission when he denied Our Lord. As if Our Lord says to him, you are still loved, still remaining at your level, and still one of my disciples and apostles.
Likewise Our Lord was curing His disciples one by one and returns back their confidence, their faith, and strengthens and encourages them.
May the blessing of the resurrection be with us and gives us the power in our life, service, patience, and endurance in waiting for the Kingdom of Heaven that was prepared by Our Lord for us and opened through His cross, death and resurrection. For Him is the Eternal Glory for ever, Amen.
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