The Incredulity of St. Thomas (1601) by Caravaggio (1571-1610)
"Because you have seen Me, Thomas, you have believed."--Jn 20:29
Yesterday we heard the episode related by John the Theologian of that octave of Pascha, the week after Christ's Resurrection. When He rose, He appeared to many: to Mary Magdalane, to the other myrrhbearing women, to His apostles in the closed room, to His disciples on the Road to Emmaus. Yet to one in particular He did not appear in that first week: Thomas, called Twin (Didymos). Why Thomas was not with the rest of the Eleven in the upper room is unknown. All we know is the fact that he was not there. Because he was not there, He did not see the Lord's theophany that morning, and it was such a glorious happening that Thomas could not believe the news of it. Maybe he was a pessimist who was reluctant to believe such news; perhaps he was, as he is often presented now, a man who needed evidence. Regardless of his underlying thought, we know his declaration: "If not I see in His hands the place of the nail, and place my finger into the place of the nail, and place my hand into His side, not will I believe." It is such a direct statement that he even wished to touch the rib of Christ, if one translates it such, for it is the same word for that of which Eve was made. Thomas wanted to touch the rib of Him through Whom all things came to be, the rib revealed by Longinus' lance.
