Father Vassilios Argyriadis
Today's Gospel reading tells us of two appearances of the Lord to his disciples. The second ends with the phrase "blessed are those who have not seen and believed" . It is addressed to Thomas, who had insisted on seeing the hands and side of the resurrected Jesus, in order to truly believe in His Resurrection. So one can easily conclude that the phrase blesses those who will believe in Christ, without seeing anything miraculous. However, a careful reader of today's Gospel passage will find that in His first appearance to the disciples, Christ shows His hands and His side by Himself, without anyone having asked Him. So he disapproves "after eight days" of Thomas for what reason? For something He Himself had done earlier? In other words: After He had shown His wounds to the ten disciples, in order to certify that He Himself was indeed their teacher, why does He formulate the words, "blessed are those who have not seen and have believed" ? The phrase must mean something else. Perhaps we will perceive this if we look carefully at the first appearance of Christ to the disciples.
In the absence of Thomas, Christ makes His first appearance to the disciples "of closed doors" . He comes and meets them in circumstances where you wouldn't expect meetings to happen — you don't expect anyone to find you when your doors are locked. But Christ finds them. And he gives them peace: "Peace be with you... Jesus said to them again, Peace be with you" . He had promised them before the crucifixion (we also heard it in the Gospel readings of Holy Week): "Peace opium to you, peace I give to you; not as the world gives, so do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, do not be afraid" (John 14,27). A peace that banishes fear and turmoil. A peace that is not outwardly not war ( "ὐ καθὼς ὁ κόσμος" ), but an inner state of fearlessness and fortitude.
And then He shows them the wounds in His hands and side; the marks of His sacrifice, the sacrifice for the sins of the world. And the students were "happy" . And he infused them with the Holy Spirit, making them God's partners, this is what the following phrase means: "If you let go of your sins, they will be saved; if you keep them, they will be kept . " Exegetes tell us that the passive forms "afiendai" and "kekratinai" indicate God as the agent of forgiveness. But it is the disciples who will mediate this relationship of God with men. Mediators and ambassadors of God's judgment, this qualifies them to be the gift of the Holy Spirit.
All these characteristics of the first appearance of the Lord are the characteristics of the Church. When the Church is indeed the Body of Christ, then it is the place where man meets Christ, in the midst of a world that is anything but suitable for such encounters. It may be that the logic of the world is the logic of war, enmity and hatred. It may be that people's condition is one of fear and agitation, while their perception of things is a narrowly materialistic-introspective view of everything, where nothing else can fit outside the boundaries of the physical world. In short, the doors to the world may be closed. But the Church, when it is really a Church, is the place where Christ meets us, beyond all possibility or expectation. And it is the place where fear and turmoil disappear, because the peace of Christ nestles. Joy beats hearts. And above all, it is the place where the wounds of Jesus are displayed, the wounds of sacrifice for others. Or else, the Church is the place where Christians are ready to become the wounds of Jesus, to give their lives for each other and for the whole world. They become mediators of reconciliation and forgiveness for the world. They carry the judgment of God on their backs, because if they are ready to die for everyone and everything, then in the face of such a sacrifice everyone and everything is judged. They infuse the world with the breath of the Holy Spirit - "as the Father sent me, so I send you" .
And eight days passed. And Thomas did not allow himself to "see" all that was in the "church" of the disciples. Joy, peace, the breath of the Holy Spirit lived among them, but Thomas did not trust it. He wanted to see with his fleshly eyes, with his fleshly touch. This was his unbelief: he did not trust what existed inside the church, he did not trust the other eyes within us, which make us perceive in another way the presence of Christ (as peace, as joy, as strength and fearlessness), with a way more complete perhaps more substantial. He did not trust the mirroring of Christ to others. He wanted to trust only himself and from himself, only his external, gross senses. That is what makes him an "infidel", not the need for certification. Christ always attests to His presence — He did so in His first appearance to the disciples. He does this throughout the ages within the Church: through Christians, through their love and self-sacrifice, through their peace and joy, through their witness, which is the breath of the Holy Spirit.
"Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed" , so perhaps it means two things. First, it means that blessed are those who will trust the other eyes within them, those who can and do "see" Christ through the joy and peace and fearlessness and flame that His presence means. We will understand this better if we consider the other meeting of the resurrected Christ with His disciples, on the road to Emmaus. When the fleshly eyes of the two disciples are "opened" at the end, they say to each other, "but we should have understood it. Was not our heart burned within us, as he spoke to us on the road, and as the scriptures were opened to us? (Luke 24:32)". In short, "if we had trusted this other sense within us, our burning heart, then we would really know who Christ is; we would not need our fleshly eyes." And secondly, " blessed are those who have not seen and believed" perhaps means that blessed are those who will "give faith", i.e. trust the Church to show them the wounds of Jesus, the sacrifice of the Lord. Blessed are those who will trust Christians and their testimony, a testimony that embodies God's judgment, His forgiveness and settlement. That is why Christ sent His disciples into the world: to take on their backs the responsibilities of men and pay for them with the price of their own sacrifice for others. To become a martyr and testimony of Christ in the world.
And somewhere here, questions easily arise: is today's Church the place where Jesus is witnessed? Is it a place of peace, fearlessness and fortitude, sacrifice and love? Does our heart beat with the joy of His presence? Are we Christians who embody the judgment of God? Those who are ready to die for the sake of others, to renounce their own interests and take on their backs the responsibilities of the whole world? Are we, as a Church, the place where the meeting of God and man is completed, in spite of times and sufferings, beyond all possibility and expectation?...
The answers are not easy. And they probably aren't pleasant either. It seems that in the narrative of Thomas's infidelity, the reflection of an entire world is faintly visible: the world of our own inadequacy...
