Thomas does gets a pretty bad rap with this gospel. In fact, we call Thomas “doubting Thomas” And we call one another “doubting Thomas” As when we doubt something. But I want to redeem Thomas because if it wasn’t for Thomas we would really miss some beautiful lines that Jesus gave us to reflect on.  

Even before this gospel account of Jesus coming to visit with his disciples after the resurrection from the dead, we have Jesus and Thomas engaged in a dialogue and Jesus tells Thomas, “Thomas, follow me. I’m the way and the truth and the life. Follow me. I’m going to leave you, but then I’ll come back to you.” And Thomas says, “where are you going? Where are we supposed to follow you?” And Thomas says, because he was curious, Jesus says to Thomas, “just follow me. I am the way and the truth and the life. Follow me.”  

Thanks be to Thomas’s question, we have that beautiful invitation to follow Jesus who’s the way, the truth, and the life. And then in today’s gospel Because of Thomas’s disbelief, inability to believe That Jesus rose from the dead, we have Jesus’ beautiful proclamation. Look, follow me. Always follow me. And blessed are those who believe and have not seen, and that’s us. We believe and we’ve not seen Jesus Walking among us, certainly in the eucharist, but not walking among us.  

I want to redeem Thomas. He really allows us to meditate on those beautiful words that Jesus has for Thomas when Thomas is curious. Not only do we have questions of belief, we also hear Jesus sending his disciples out, appearing to them after the resurrection, appearing to them and sending them out and encouraging them to be his word of mercy to all those that they encounter. And so they were. They went from where they were to all the known ends of the earth at the time, and they shared Jesus’ mercy to all those that they encounter, forgiving sins, bringing people a merciful love of Jesus that they were looking for, a merciful encounter.  

Friends, today as we celebrate divine mercy, let us remember both of those things. That first of all, we believe in Jesus, Son of God, and that we’re called to be his mercy to the world around us. That’s what our baptismal mandate, that’s what the great commissioning asks us to do to believe and bring mercy to the world in need of mercy.