Last Sunday's Gospel Reading re Doubting Thomas

[Christopher68]

I have a question regarding the Gospel reading from this past Sunday. This was the reading where Thomas said he would not believe that Jesus had risen from the dead unless he saw it for himself. Jesus later appeared to Thomas, and then stated ‘bless are those who have not seen yet still believe’.

Why didn’t Jesus make his resurrection visible to everyone?

After all, there is likely a bit of a doubting Thomas in all of us. For instance, if your neighbor (who you believed was a normal person) said he saw a flying saucer overhead, you would hesitate to believe him. Back in Jesus’ time, someone rising from the dead would have likely been just as outlandish. So why didn’t Jesus appear to everyone, or at least to more people?

Similarly, most of Jesus’ known teachings occurred during a three year period, from age 30 to 33. Why just three years? Couldn’t he have done a lot more during a lifetime of teaching? Last year at my church I attended the series of classes for parents in preparation for my children receiving the Sacraments, and the teacher did not have an answer to this question when I asked it.

Any comments to help me gain a better understanding of this would be greatly appreciated. Or if this has been covered in another thread, can you please provide a link? Thanks!

 

[Gabbione]

Hello Chris!

I am a great admirer of St. Thomas; he is my confirmation Saint. I chose him exactly for the reason that he was so human … he had doubts!

Remember the story of out Savior’s appearances. First, the women knew He as risen (they had an encounter with a angel), then Peter & John. Then he appeared to several more. Nobody recognized Him in His risen form until He did something that they recognized that only He would do or say. It was only then that they recognized a man whom they had intimately known for 3 years. Thomas was never mentioned as being there during the various appearances of the Lord to his disciples. They too never understood what Jesus meant when he spoke of his Passion, death, and resurrection. IT was not until they had encountered Him that they knew and understood!

John’s Gospel makes the point that Thomas was finally present at a gathering when Jesus appeared. When Thomas saw, he immediately believed and uttered the words we use to this day, i.e. “My Lord and my God!” [John 20:28] In my mind, thomas was no different from all the rest of the disciples; they simply never understood until Jesus revealed the full nature of the Old Testament, the full nature of His 3 year ministry, and what was to come. Remember, this is why He sent the Holy Spirit.

Because I was raised Catholic and know the whole story, it is easy for me to not understand the enormity of Jesus did and how absolutely frame-breaking it was. Remember, other than Lazarus, not one single human being in history had ever been raised from the dead. Moreover, Jesus conquered death in a way unique to only him. Lazarus most certainly died at some later point. Jesus died once, rose from the dead, and came to see his disciples again and again. He was as real physically as anyone alive at that time - he ate with them and they felt his body so that they would know He was not a ghost [Luke 24:37]. These disciples were not different than Thomas … the believed because they had seen.

I think that God set Thomas aside for a very specific reason. He serves as a type for all of those who have doubts, and that is everyone one of us! Thomas overcame all his doubts because he saw. How much more for those of us who doubt and yet still believe? Every time I don’t understand, have doubts, I say a quick prayer to St. Thomas and ask his help in overcoming my unbelief. He never fails me.

Good question.

 

[Christopher68]

Hello Chris!

I am a great admirer of St. Thomas; he is my confirmation Saint. I chose him exactly for the reason that he was so human … he had doubts!

Remember the story of out Savior’s appearances. First, the women knew He as risen (they had an encounter with a angel), then Peter & John. Then he appeared to several more. Nobody recognized Him in His risen form until He did something that they recognized that only He would do or say. It was only then that they recognized a man whom they had intimately known for 3 years. Thomas was never mentioned as being there during the various appearances of the Lord to his disciples. They too never understood what Jesus meant when he spoke of his Passion, death, and resurrection. IT was not until they had encountered Him that they knew and understood!

John’s Gospel makes the point that Thomas was finally present at a gathering when Jesus appeared. When Thomas saw, he immediately believed and uttered the words we use to this day, i.e. “My Lord and my God!” [John 20:28] In my mind, thomas was no different from all the rest of the disciples; they simply never understood until Jesus revealed the full nature of the Old Testament, the full nature of His 3 year ministry, and what was to come. Remember, this is why He sent the Holy Spirit.

Because I was raised Catholic and know the whole story, it is easy for me to not understand the enormity of Jesus did and how absolutely frame-breaking it was. Remember, other than Lazarus, not one single human being in history had ever been raised from the dead. Moreover, Jesus conquered death in a way unique to only him. Lazarus most certainly died at some later point. Jesus died once, rose from the dead, and came to see his disciples again and again. He was as real physically as anyone alive at that time - he ate with them and they felt his body so that they would know He was not a ghost [Luke 24:37]. These disciples were not different than Thomas … the believed because they had seen.

I think that God set Thomas aside for a very specific reason. He serves as a type for all of those who have doubts, and that is everyone one of us! Thomas overcame all his doubts because he saw. How much more for those of us who doubt and yet still believe? Every time I don’t understand, have doubts, I say a quick prayer to St. Thomas and ask his help in overcoming my unbelief. He never fails me.

Good question.

Thanks very much for your reply. I appreciate your comments about Thomas - he was indeed very human. As an aside, I chose Richard as my confirmation saint, as Richard is my father’s name.

 

[llblarosa]

In 1 Corintians 15:6, Paul tells us that Jesus was seen by more than 500 witnesses.

Blessings,

Lisa

 

[Joe_5859]

Similarly, most of Jesus’ known teachings occurred during a three year period, from age 30 to 33. Why just three years? Couldn’t he have done a lot more during a lifetime of teaching? Last year at my church I attended the series of classes for parents in preparation for my children receiving the Sacraments, and the teacher did not have an answer to this question when I asked it.

For now, I’ll skip over the first question and respond to the second.

Imagine if Jesus’s public ministry had lasted 6 years, then people would ask, “Why not 12 years?” If it was 12 years, then why not 24? If it was 24, why not 48? Etc.

The thing we need to keep in mind is that Jesus bridged the infinite gap between God and Man through his saving work on earth. In that sense, there isn’t anything “more” that He needed to do. He did it all already.

 

[Christopher68]

For now, I’ll skip over the first question and respond to the second.

Imagine if Jesus’s public ministry had lasted 6 years, then people would ask, “Why not 12 years?” If it was 12 years, then why not 24? If it was 24, why not 48? Etc.

The thing we need to keep in mind is that Jesus bridged the infinite gap between God and Man through his saving work on earth. In that sense, there isn’t anything “more” that He needed to do. He did it all already.

Thanks for your reply. Your last paragraph does indeed make sense, and for the most part satisfies my curiosity on that question.

I suppose part of my reason for asking the question is related to the vagueness surrounding Jesus’ activities from the age of 13 to 30. What did he do during this time period if he wasn’t preaching, performing miracles, etc.? So I suppose my question is not so much asking why Jesus limited his preaching to 3 years and died at 33 instead of 43 or 53 or 63. But rather, why did he wait until 30 to begin his known ministry work? And what did he do for the 17 years prior? I realize this is not a critical ‘faith’ related question, but it’s something that I have always wondered about.

 

[llblarosa]

I heard a priest speak on this on audiosancto.org. He says that Jesus was modelling for us an entire life, and in his shall-we-say-less-than-mature years, he lived in obedience to his Mother and Father learning and growing under them, much as any human would do. About 30 seems logical to me (not that this matters, of course).

God Bless,

Lisa

 

[Joe_5859]

Thanks for your reply. Your last paragraph does indeed make sense, and for the most part satisfies my curiosity on that question.

I suppose part of my reason for asking the question is related to the vagueness surrounding Jesus’ activities from the age of 13 to 30. What did he do during this time period if he wasn’t preaching, performing miracles, etc.? So I suppose my question is not so much asking why Jesus limited his preaching to 3 years and died at 33 instead of 43 or 53 or 63. But rather, why did he wait until 30 to begin his known ministry work? And what did he do for the 17 years prior? I realize this is not a critical ‘faith’ related question, but it’s something that I have always wondered about.

That is a good question. The simple truth is that we don’t really have a concrete answer. It’s the “hidden life of Jesus” about which there has been much speculation (and many books written!). I am greatly curious about that myself.

 

[NotWorthy]

Thanks for your reply. Your last paragraph does indeed make sense, and for the most part satisfies my curiosity on that question.

I suppose part of my reason for asking the question is related to the vagueness surrounding Jesus’ activities from the age of 13 to 30. What did he do during this time period if he wasn’t preaching, performing miracles, etc.? So I suppose my question is not so much asking why Jesus limited his preaching to 3 years and died at 33 instead of 43 or 53 or 63. But rather, why did he wait until 30 to begin his known ministry work? And what did he do for the 17 years prior? I realize this is not a critical ‘faith’ related question, but it’s something that I have always wondered about.

In ancient Judaism, one couldn’t become a rabbi until you were 30. Jesus couldn’t preach and teach in the Temple until he was “of age”.

 

[Nita]

…

Because I was raised Catholic and know the whole story, it is easy for me to not understand the enormity of Jesus did and how absolutely frame-breaking it was. Remember, other than Lazarus, not one single human being in history had ever been raised from the dead. Moreover, Jesus conquered death in a way unique to only him. Lazarus most certainly died at some later point. Jesus died once, rose from the dead, and came to see his disciples again and again. He was as real physically as anyone alive at that time - he ate with them and they felt his body so that they would know He was not a ghost [Luke 24:37]. These disciples were not different than Thomas … the believed because they had seen.

…

Hi Gabbione, Just a small correction (re underlined portion of your good post). There were a few previous incidents of the dead being raised. Here are four that come to my mind.
Two in the Old Testament that I can think of: 2 Kings 4:18-37; 2 Kings 13:20-21
Two in the New Testament: Luke 7:11-17; Mt. 9:18-26

 

[Joe_Kelley]

Hi Gabbione, Just a small correction (re underlined portion of your good post). There were a few previous incidents of the dead being raised. Here are four that come to my mind.
Two in the Old Testament that I can think of: 2 Kings 4:18-37; 2 Kings 13:20-21
Two in the New Testament: Luke 7:11-17; Mt. 9:18-26

But none of them raised themselves. Only Jesus was raised by His own power. This may have been why Thomas doubted. Raising was possible, but raising by His own power was possible only if He was God. Thus Thomas’s response: “My Lord and My God.”

Just my speculation. I don’t know of any official teaching on this.

 

[Nita]

But none of them raised themselves. Only Jesus was raised by His own power. This may have been why Thomas doubted. Raising was possible, but raising by His own power was possible only if He was God. Thus Thomas’s response: “My Lord and My God.”

Just my speculation. I don’t know of any official teaching on this.

And none of them would have had the ability to just appear in a closed room, and yet have a body that could be touched and felt; that could eat… (in other words, not a ghost).

 

[Gabbione]

Hi Nita!

Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa! Right you are. Thanks for catching my grievous error.

As for the length of Jesus’ ministry, NOTWORTHY is quite correct in stating that 30 years of age was, as I understand it, the age at which one could be(come) a rabbi. This is one of the reasons that Luke 2:41-52 gives us a foreshadowing of what Jesus would do as an adult. Briefly, this passage recounts how, Jesus, at the age of 12, was “lost” in Jerusalem after the Passover feast for 3 days. In verse 46ff-47 it states that all these educated men (Rabbis) were “… amazed at his understanding and answers” (RSV-CE). Jesus needed only 3 years because The Law was so inadequate. Jesus came to fulfill The Law and all the prophecies … it only took Him 3 years!

However, the establishment of the Kingdom of God is taking MUCH longer! It has been almost 2,000 years since He went to be with His Father in Heaven and He sent the Holy Spirit to help us carry on His work. Now the ball is squarely in our court; He can only work through us. That is a very humbling realization, at least for me. God has a plan for all humanity and I, you, all of us, as individual members of The Body of Christ, The Church, figure prominently in His plan.

Peace be with you all!