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“Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”
Is there room for skeptics … those with questions, perhaps even doubts … is there room for skeptics in the Church today? Thomas enters into a community of faith, but openly voices his doubts. Let’s face it: Thomas often gets a bad rap in the Church. Though his story is one of the few in the three-year cycle of the Revised Common Lectionary that never changes … we always read about his encounter with the resurrected Jesus on the Sunday after Easter … it is often cast in negative or pejorative terms. He’s most famously known as “Doubting Thomas” … the cynic … the skeptic … the holdout. His reluctance to accept the testimony of his fellow disciples, his insistence on physical proof, his late arrival to the joyous belief of his peers … these are often described as spiritual flaws. As signs of stubbornness, or of a weak faith.
“Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”
Is there room for skeptics … those with questions, perhaps even doubts … is there room for skeptics in the Church today? Thomas enters into a community of faith, but openly voices his doubts. Let’s face it: Thomas often gets a bad rap in the Church. Though his story is one of the few in the three-year cycle of the Revised Common Lectionary that never changes … we always read about his encounter with the resurrected Jesus on the Sunday after Easter … it is often cast in negative or pejorative terms. He’s most famously known as “Doubting Thomas” … the cynic … the skeptic … the holdout. His reluctance to accept the testimony of his fellow disciples, his insistence on physical proof, his late arrival to the joyous belief of his peers … these are often described as spiritual flaws. As signs of stubbornness, or of a weak faith.
