That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life – the life was made manifest, and we saw it, and testify to it, and proclaim to you…
Thus begins the first letter of John – the same John who wrote the Gospel in which we read about the doubting Thomas. Can you hear echoes of Thomas’ challenge in the opening of the letter?
“Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and place my finger in the mark of the nails, and place my hand in His side, I will not believe.”
A week later Jesus appears to Thomas and satisfies his need to touch and see. If the story ended there it would be just another incident in the Gospels of little relevance to us. But Jesus doesn’t let the story end there, as he says to Thomas and to us:
“Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.” We are those who have not seen and yet believe!
John continues in his first letter:
… that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you may have fellowship with us; and our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing this that your joy may be complete.
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him is no darkness at all.
We touch Jesus through each other. The legacy of the light that Jesus brought into the world lives on through us when we walk in the light instead of the darkness.
In 1945, a sealed jar was discovered in Egypt near the town of Nag Hammadi. Inside were 12 leather-bound papyrus codices containing 52 books in the Coptic language. These are the famous Gnostic books, of which the most famous is the so-called Gospel of Thomas (full text in English translation here). Whether this was actually written by the disciple Thomas or by someone else claiming to be him is not very important. What is important that this so-called Gospel of Thomas contains 114 sayings of Jesus, without any narrative super-structure, nothing about crucifixion or resurrection – just a series of sayings and bits of dialogue. Some are similar to the sayings we have in our four Gospels, others are totally unique.
In contrast to the doubting Thomas who wanted bodily, physical proof of the resurrection, the Gospel named after him talks only about spiritual resurrection. Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas speaks in language of light and darkness: “There is light within a person of light, and it shines on the whole world.” (Saying 24)
“I am the light over all things. I am all.
From me all things have come and all things have reached me.
Split a piece of wood. I am there.
Lift up the stone and you will find me there.” (Saying 77)
In other words, we are blessed not to have seen and touched the resurrected Jesus – because we can see him everywhere. We see his traces, his presence in every moment of our lives, in everything we see and touch!
Isn’t this also true of us? Isn’t this especially true of mothers? Today is Mother’s Day, and we remember our mothers, whether they are still with us or have gone on to eternal life. My mother lives on in my memories, but also in the things that I associate with her. Someone gave me young dandelions the other day, picked in her garden, and as I ate those dandelions they brought back memories of my mother in Montréal going into the fields every spring to pick young dandelion greens. The memory of those dandelion greens is more precious than a thousand other pleasures in life. My mother-in-law lives on, not only in her children, but also in the all the grandchildren, who have somehow inherited all the goodness and brightness of spirit that I remember in her.
That’s the glory of mothers, and that is also how faith and knowledge of Christ continues down through the ages. Just as our mothers come alive in everything that we associate with our mothers, so also Jesus lives on. Blessed are we how have not seen him and yet believe. Blessed are you, every one of you, who are light and who bring the light of Christ to anyone who will believe because of you!
Ancient Answers 