Word of St. John of Kronstadt on St. Thomas Sunday

 The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe (John 20, 25).

Beloved! Saint Apostle Thomas, with his unbelief and with the most sincere faith in the resurrected Lord which followed it, teaches sincere faith in Jesus Christ to all those of little faith and to all unbelievers. In particular, he teaches faith to the Christians of our times, who are extremely and excessively cautious in questions of faith and are very afraid lest they believe what, as they think, does not really exist, and do not believe many of those things which do exist in reality.

To all such people, an excellent teacher and an example may be the Saint Apostle Thomas; – the Lord has intentionally allowed him to doubt so strongly in His resurrection from the dead for the very reason that He, as God, has foreseen in the future the multitude of unbelievers, who would have a need to be ascertained in His Divinity by an example of a man, who would be like them in their unbelief: and the Saint Apostle Thomas is exactly such a man. He does not believe that Jesus Christ, as God, has resurrected by the power of His own Divinity, even though all ten Apostles with one voice would say to him: we have seen the Lord, and promises to believe this only then, when he would see on Him the print of nails, when he would put his hand into the wounds from the nails and into His side.

Behold, what the unbelieving Apostle Thomas wants: he wants to put his hand into the wounds of the Lord and into His pierced side. This seems like too much. But what wouldn’t the Lord do for us?  Having suffered the cross and the death, he will suffer also the unbelief of Thomas, if only all might firmly believe that He, our Lord, has resurrected. And lo, beloved, the resurrected Life-giver condescends to the desire of the unbeliever: He intentionally appears before the Apostles when they were all together, and Thomas with them, and says to Thomas: reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said to Him: my Lord and my God! After that the Lord said unto him: you have believed when you have seen me; blessed are they that have not seen, but yet have believed ¹.

Beloved! many of us act like did Thomas. Do we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as we should, – from all our heart and constantly ? Probably, one can say that we do not believe with such a sincerity. Our life affirms that. We believe in Lord Jesus Christ when we see Him, that is, when we profit from His overt mercies toward us, when we receive from him the absolution from the burden of our sins, when on our soul we feel the blessed and light yoke of Christ; when our affairs progress well, when we are healthy and prosperous in everything. But when the passions tear apart our soul, and when on our soul we feel a heavy yoke of the sinful flesh and the devil, when the sorrows of the heart, bodily maladies, our failures at work and in affairs in general make our life burdensome, then we quite often lose the faith in the Lord – Benefactor and dare to often think that there isn’t a loving Father and Provider of all good over us, that is, God. Thus the inconstant human heart is ready each time to sincerely believe in the Lord in good circumstances, and is capable of unbelief in the circumstances which are sorrowful, adverse, whereas the truth of the Lord remains forever unchangeable. The Lord is always one and the same, whether he shows mercy to us or punishes us. The Lord Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever ². Remember the Lord, who has resurrected from the dead. He is forever unchangeable. Let us by all means care for constancy and unchangeability of our faith. Let us more often remember the Lord, who has risen from the dead. Let us remember that we also shall rise in the common resurrection of the dead and on the dread Judgment of Christ will give account of our life – and then will go either to the eternal blessedness or to eternal torment. Amen.

1) John 20, 19-29 2) Heb. 13, 8