Peace Be With You

He had probably lost heart more than the others during the Passion, and his absence from the reunion on Easter Sunday may have been due to a hard-headed attitude towards such wishful imagining as he would have thought Mary Magdalene’s message to be. However, this is partly conjecture.

A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture 18–21 The Passion and Resurrection

The fact is that he met the joyful announcement of the Apostles ‘We have seen the Lord’ with a most exacting demand for proof. He required every sort of experimental test, before he would believe that the Crucified was risen.

A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture 18–21 The Passion and Resurrection

And he remained in this stubbornness a full week, till Jesus appeared in the same circumstances to all the Apostles, including himself.

A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture (18–21 The Passion and Resurrection)

Again our Lord gave his peace, § i 27,

invited Thomas to apply his tests, and added:

‘Do not become an unbeliever but a believer’.

School Kids

We might not be surprised if the Apostles behaved like school children:

pointing the finger at one another,

blaming Jesus’ apparent failure on one another [you gave up… !]

At least I didn’t deny that I know him!

Instead, we find

no mention of other’s failures,

no shaming or blaming

And Jesus

Again our Lord gave his peace, § i 27, [to all]

invited Thomas to apply his tests, and added:

‘Do not become an unbeliever but a believer’.* [Encouraged Thomas]

Mark 16:9–15 (ESV-CE)

Now when he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons. She went and told those who had been with him, as they mourned and wept. But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it.

After these things he appeared in another form to two of them, as they were walking into the country. And they went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them.

Afterward he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen. And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.”

This Is the Heart of Mercy

They would not believe,

they did not believe,

and he rebuked them (he didn’t deny their failure… )

In the next breath “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” (he overcame their failure.)

He’s Doing the Same Thing with Us

Saying:

You stumbled, fell

“Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.”

2. Get over it and do the job.

And shouldn’t we treat others in the same way the Lord has treated us?

Related Media

Related Sermons