Day: December 21, 2023

Sermons

Sermon for the Feast of St. Thomas

My Lord and My God

And is it true? And is it true,
This most tremendous tale of all,
Seen in a stained-glass window’s hue,
A Baby in an ox’s stall?
The Maker of the stars and sea
Become a Child on earth for me?

And is it true? For if it is,
No loving fingers tying strings
Around those tissued fripperies,
The sweet and silly Christmas things,
Bath salts and inexpensive scent
And hideous tie so kindly meant,

No love that in a family dwells,
No carolling in frosty air,
Nor all the steeple-shaking bells
Can with this single Truth compare –
That God was man in Palestine
And lives today in Bread and Wine.

These are the last three verses from John Betjeman’s poem, “Christmas”.

Thomas is the Advent Saint who brings us to the mystery of Christmas. John Betjeman’s poem captures perfectly the underlying impulse of Thomas’ so-called doubting; it is really a kind of questioning and, as such, in pursuit of understanding. A Resurrection story, it recalls the appearance of Christ to the disciples who were huddled in fear behind closed doors on the evening of Easter Day. Thomas was not present with them. When he hears their report that “ we have seen the Lord,” he famously says, “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.”

The Feast of St. Thomas falls just before the festival of Christ’s Nativity. The Resurrection and the Nativity are completely intertwined and it is the same question, a question about the reality of Christ’s embrace of our humanity, soul and body, that belongs to the radical truth of the Incarnation. Thomas’ question helps us to think about its radical meaning. The birth and passion of Christ reveal to us both the nature of God and a fuller view of our humanity. In a way, Thomas’ question is about the reality of Christ’s humanity and in turn his divinity.

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Prayers and liturgy

Saint Thomas the Apostle

The collect for today, the Feast of Saint Thomas the Apostle, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

ALMIGHTY and everliving God, who for the more confirmation of the faith didst suffer thy holy Apostle Thomas to be doubtful in thy Son’s resurrection: Grant us so perfectly, and without all doubt, to believe in thy Son Jesus Christ, that our faith in thy sight may never be reproved. Hear us, O Lord, through the same Jesus Christ, to whom, with thee and the Holy Spirit, be all honour and glory, now and for evermore. Amen.

The Epistle: Ephesians 2:19-22
The Gospel: St. John 20:24-29

Mattia Preti, Doubting ThomasSt. Thomas’s name is believed to come from an Aramaic word meaning twin, but it is not known whose twin he was. He is included in all the lists of the twelve apostles, but he is mentioned most often in St. John’s Gospel, where he is called “Didymus” (“twin” in Greek) three times (11:16; 20:24; 21:2).

St. Thomas appears to have been an impulsive man. He says he is prepared to go with Jesus to the tomb of Lazarus even if it means death (John 11:16). At the Last Supper, however, he confesses his ignorance about where Jesus is going and the way there (John 14:5). In response, Christ said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

After the resurrection, Thomas was unwilling to believe his fellow disciples that Jesus had risen from the dead (John 20:24). He would not believe, he declared, unless he actually touched the wounds. Eight days later, Jesus gave “Doubting Thomas” the evidence he had asked for, whereupon Thomas confessed him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus then pronounces a blessing on all who have not seen and yet believe.

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