HOMILY OF WEDNESDAY 13TH WEEK OF ORDINARY TIME – YEAR B
HOMILY THEME: STOP DOUBTING
BY: Fr. Karabari Paul
Feast of St. Thomas, Apostle. John 20:24-29
‘Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.’
In the Gospel of today (John 20:24-29), when the disciples told Thomas, ‘We have seen the Lord!’, Thomas refused to believe them. He said to them, ‘Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.’ When Jesus appeared to the disciples again, this time Thomas was there too.
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Jesus invited Thomas to touch His scars and see His hands. When Thomas did this, He stopped doubting and exclaimed ‘My Lord and my God!’ Thomas has often been given a bad reputation because of his doubt, but how often do we find ourselves doubting God, too? We might believe in the resurrection, but we doubt that God will come through for us in the situation we have been praying about for years.
We can doubt His love, goodness, grace, faithfulness, and promises. We doubt Him because He does things that we don’t understand. But we are not going to understand everything in this life. This is where we need to have faith that God’s in control. The Bible says: ‘Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see’ (Hebrews 11:1). Thomas only believed when he saw Jesus with his own eyes, but Jesus said, ‘blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed’ (John 20:29).
We don’t always see God working in our lives, and it can be challenging to have faith in a God we can’t see. But Jesus says that we are blessed when we keep believing and when we keep trusting. So let us take all our doubts to Jesus, and ask Him to help us have faith in who He is and what He is doing in our lives.
We live in a world that relies on (and even demands) evidence. Physical evidence. Personal experience. A scientist might have a theory about how something works, but until it’s been tested thoroughly and physical proof is found, other scientists won’t believe it. It’s sound practice, but it means that even in the rest of life, if we can’t physically sense something for ourselves, we tend to be sceptical. When someone says they believe something without having physical evidence, we find it easy to be cynical and dismiss them. The problem is that we can fall into the habit of automatically disbelieving everything.
Sometimes, God really does ask us to just have faith in Him and trust what He is saying, without yet having physical proof. And that can be difficult. Even though Thomas had lived with Jesus for almost three years and heard His promise that He would rise again from the dead, he still doubted. Did Jesus turn His back on Thomas because of his doubts? No. He never rejects a sincere, doubting heart. Jesus showed up in person and resolved all of Thomas’ doubts. And as we read His word and seek His face, He will gently put our doubts to rest too. When we stop living in the ‘sense’ realm and learn to ‘walk by faith,’ our doubts will begin to die (2 Corinthians 5:7). GOD IS STILL ON THE THRONE. May God have mercy on us, heal our country, Nigeria, bless and protect us all through Christ our Lord Amen.
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