But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.John 20: 24
The Gospels do not
represent an official recording of minutes of incidents. They were mostly
written as
after thoughts, when the writers came to realize that the Lord may
not return in their lifetimes and when wrong teachings began to creep in
regarding the teachings of the Lord. Yet, as they are inspired by the
Holy Spirit, they provide great glimpses of the truth. So we have to be
careful when we make inferences using only certain sections of the
Scriptures. We need to consider the entire context, consider the intent the
authors may have wished to convey, consider the human limitations of the
authors, the limitations of language,limitations of translations; and weigh
in the facts by looking through the lenses of the prevailing traditions at
the time. We can only
attempt to stitch together a vague image of the entire
truth using these in our study (and pray that we do not fall, as many great
have). Taking any verse out of context, is dangerous as seen in the errors of
the various groups we see around us today, (unfortunately as also seen from
some very respectable quarters recently)
Regarding Thomas's position
among the apostles too, we need to study the Scriptures, the responses to the
situation from Thomas himself and the others around him; all together.
Did
Thomas's position fall as a prominent apostle after that first Sunday of
Resurrection because he was absent? Did anything he or those around him said
or did after this incident even remotely suggest that Thomas was now in a
secondary level? Far from it, we see Thomas rising to a new level of respect
and awe among the Apostles soon after this incident (as we will look into
shortly).
But let us spend a moment to further study this
curious absence
that is being spoken about so much.
v 19 does
not tell us how many of
the 'apostles' were present together on the first Sunday of resurrection. It
just mentions "the disciples".
So who all were present on that first Sunday?
Luke 6:13 suggests a larger company as "disciples", and among them twelve as
"apostles". So why do we restrict "the disciples" to the 'eleven' (or as some
mischievously suggest - 'ten')???
The identity of all the actors involved
are not always very clear - yet the big picture is what is important and that
should be the take away for us. (In this context, see Luke 24:13 - the walk
to Emmaus - "two of them" suggests the ones involved
might have been two of the
eleven, but v33 shows they were
different from the eleven, but possibly very
close to them.)
St. Luke 24:9 suggest that the small company of people to
whom the women told the first news of resurrection was more than the
apostles. "eleven, and the rest".
Isn't it possible that these others also
stayed on for prayer with the rest and were present when Jesus appeared on
that first Sunday? Also see Luke 24:33
As per the Lord's instruction,
Mary Magdalene would have come to the disciples and told them that she had
seen the Lord, the same day.
Did Mary go away after that or was she present?
Were other women present? Luke 24: 9,10 suggest that there were other women
too and that they conveyed this news to the "eleven" (so including Thomas).
Did they go away after conveying the news or did they stay with them in
prayer for the evening and in fear of the Jews?
From Acts 1:22 we know
that the criteria for selection of Matthais as an apostle in place of the
traitor was that, he was together with the rest and a '
witness' to the Lord's
resurrection. This suggests that Matthais was present in
several meetings of
the apostles with the Risen Lord . So isn't it possible that
Matthais was
present on that first Sunday? It was the day when the news about the
disappearance of the body of Jesus was fast spreading among the Jews and
the chief priests and all of Jerusalem and beyond, and confusion and fear was
in the air everywhere.
Would it not be natural for all those who had followed
Christ to be close together in each other's company?
Now also consider
- was Peter present on that first Sunday? We honestly do not know. Not from
what the Gospel writer St.John has told us. Were any of the lesser known names
like Bartholomew or Philip present? We can only assume they were. Also since it
can be assumed as per tradition, that they may have gathered in the (Upper)
Room belonging to Mark, was Gospel writer Mark (or his family?)
present there? We do not know.
The plain truth is - in 20:24 John
brought up the absence of Thomas,
not to associate any secondary status to
Thomas or to even suggest that the rest of the eleven were present (maybe
they were, maybe they were not, John does not worry about making that
explicit),
but the author's intention probably was to unfold the brilliant
image of the interaction of the Lord with Thomas as seen in the later verses
where Thomas's amazing character is further revealed. Sadly, as many other
Scriptural passages, this verse has also been hijacked by those with vested
interests to suit their own agenda. But truth does not stay hidden beneath
propoganda for ever.
So as we see, the Gospel writer
does not specify who
were present on that first Sunday. He did not have any doubt about any of the
apostles being
"less" or "more" ordained that Sunday. As I suggested earlier(*),
the entire company of apostles were blessed, given gifts, together. Even if
more than the eleven were present on that Sunday, or even if
any of the
eleven were absent - the tradition
of the Early Church
reveals their status
as the apostles and the first Fathers of the Church (with all the requisite
gifts needed - like ordination, authority to forgive, baptize, teach etc),
and
that witness of the Holy Tradition is a great witness indeed. This status
of the eleven is amply displayed in Acts 1:20
by Peter just before choosing
Matthais (only Judas Iscariot's seat needed replacement,
not Thomas's or
anyone else's). Also as seen later Paul was a blessed Apostle with the same
status as the twelve, and he came into the scene much much later.
Thus
while we know Thomas was absent on that first Sunday of Resurrection, we
do not really know who were present on that day. Nevertheless, it does not
really matter. Praise the Lord.
Character of Thomas :
Authority doubted
(*) Read the earlier parts for a context to these.
Source :
ICON
his own Savior, despite all the words of the
Savior, despite all the teachings about his death and rising again, despite
the hundreds of miracles He had done in front of him.
