Posted by The WORD in other words (2009) by Randolf C. Flores, SVD — Divine Word Seminary, Tagaytay City
Sunday in the Octave of Easter
Right after we buried our confrere, the slain SVD missionary Fr. Fransiskus Madhu, SVD (murdered April 1, 2007 in Mabongtot, Lubuagan, Kalinga), I asked Fr. Gerry Gudmalin, SVD, parish priest of the Lubuagan mission, what will be their next move. Fr. Gerry spoke confidently of remaining in Lubuagan like the other SVD missionaries in the Kalinga mission, even in the face of violence and death.
“Let us also go, that we may die with him” (Jn 11,16). This is what Thomas says as he addresses his fellow disciples. It is the eve of Jesus’s passion. News of the illness of Lazarus, a close friend of Jesus, reaches the master and his disciples. But Jesus waits for two days on the other side of the Jordan River, as if to give Lazarus the dignity of dying and being raised again. Jesus is determined to go to Bethany near Jerusalem. His disciples are afraid of the consequences. The last time he was there, he was almost stoned to death (Jn 10,31). So the disciples restrain him: “Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again” (Jn 11,18)? But Thomas persuades his fellow disciples to go with their master and die with him. They heed Thomas.
Experts on the Gospel of John think that Thomas’s reaction is unequivocal (he means what he says), unlike Peter who makes an empty promise to Jesus to remain faithful until death (Jn 13,36-38). While Peter talks to Jesus alone, Thomas speaks loud enough for his fellow disciples to hear. It is for this reason that Thomas will stand out among the disciples to encounter the risen Lord after his resurrection.
Today’s interpretation of this Sunday gospel text gives us the origin of the English expression “doubting Thomas” (synonym for “cynic, disbeliever, doubter”). Indeed, Thomas is a late believer of the Resurrection of Jesus, but never too late to formulate the most profound and radical confession of the Gospel of John: ho kurios mou kai ho theos mou (“My Lord and my God,” Jn 20,28).
The disciple who has not remained faithful to Jesus when he faced violent death needs to make a kind of an oath of allegiance to the master after the Resurrection. This is what Peter does when meets the Risen Lord at the Lake of Tiberias (21,1-17). Thomas does not need such a renewal of vows. He had been faithful to his master.
Thomas is a kind of a model disciple, one who sincerely seeks to understand the message of Jesus (see 14:5) and at the same time commits himself to the person of Jesus. Without fear, he announces in public his readiness to share the violent death of the Master and so accompanies his master on way to Jerusalem.
The violent death of Fr. Madhu is a powerful example of the fidelity shown to us by Thomas. Fr, Madhu was shot while preparing to celebrate Palm Sunday Mass. The stampita (little card) distributed before the mass bore the text from the Fourth Gospel: “I appointed you to go and bear fruit” (15,16). This passage belongs to the farewell discourses of Jesus where the Johannine theme of martyrdom, or at least witness until death, is best articulated. Jesus announces that his own disciples will experience hatred of the world (15:18-25). As the Holy Spirit will bear witness in or through them, they will also bear witness (Greek martureite vv. 26-27). They will be expelled from the synagogues and be killed (16:1-4). In an earlier text, Jesus compares himself to a grain of wheat falling to the ground to give life to a new plant. (12:24). Likewise, the followers of Jesus will share this destiny.
Thomas expressed clearly his fidelity to Jesus in his willingness to share his master’s violent destiny. Fr. Fransiskus Madhu, SVD missionary, shared this destiny not “in word but in deed” (cf. 1 John 3,18). The Church Father, Tertullian (ca. 155–230 A.D.) once wrote, “Sanguinis martyrum, semen christianorum” (Blood of martyrs, seed of Christians).
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