A Rwandese asserts that two people can be friends, if one of them is humble: Ibihanga
bibiri ntibitekwa mu nkono imwe. Friendship is fragile, since many things can work
against it, such as breakdown of contact, forgetfulness or disregard. Both friends can
maintain friendship but humility is needed: a humble friend can reach out to keep the
friendship from slipping away.
In our relationship with God, we are humble ones, humbling ourselves before God, for
instance, in prayer. Actually God is the humble One, continually making overtures
towards us, as we slip away.
Jesus is the Son of God yet repeatedly, He reaches for us. The whole meaning of the
Incarnation, according to the Letter to the Philippians, is Jesus’ humble coming for us,
“He humbled Himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness” (Phil
2:7). At the Last Supper, Jesus explained His suffering and death in terms of friendship:
“Greater love than this no one has than to lay down his life for His friends” (Jn 15:13).
Jesus even washed His disciples’ feet (Jn 13:13-17). Paul tells the Corinthians, “God
was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself” (2 Cor 5:19)
The Gospel today shows us Jesus’ humility even after the Resurrection. When Jesus
was arrested, His friends ran away. Peter even denied that he knew Him. As the Risen
Jesus enters the upper room on the evening of Easter, He announces, “Peace.”
Jesus doesn’t scold the disciples. He understood that we are weak and our self-love is
stronger than our love for Him or others.
Jesus’ actions in that upper room illustrate that there is another way for humans to be
friends with God and friends with each other. Jesus gives the best of gifts, He breathes
the Holy Spirit on them. He explains the purpose of this gift: to reconcile others to God.
God wants us to be friends with Him and each other.
St. Thomas Aquinas believes that the very fact that Jesus came in the evening and not
in the morning was to assure that the disciples would be together:
“This too is not without its mystery: for Christ came when they were united
together, and the Holy Spirit descended on them when they were united together,
because Christ and the Holy Spirit are present only to those who are united in
charity: ‘For where two or three are gathered in My name, there am I in the midst
of them’ (Mt 18:20)” (Commentary on the Gospel of John, 2529).
The apostle Thomas was not with them. “Thomas, one of the Twelve, was not with them
when Jesus came” (Jn 20:24). St. Thomas Aquinas points out that the apostle’s
absence illustrates the importance of community for Christians, “He had missed the
comfort of seeing the Lord, the conferring of peace and the breath giving the Holy Spirit.
This teaches us not to become separated from one’s companions, [as the Letter to the

Hebrews asserts] ‘not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some’ (Heb 10:25)”
(Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on the Gospel of John, 2547).
When the disciples announce to Thomas that they have seen Jesus, Thomas insists
that he will only believe that Jesus is alive if he can touch Jesus’ wounded hands and
side (Jn 20:23). Thomas Aquinas asserts that Thomas’ absence provides an opportunity
for the Risen Jesus to further manifest Himself. Aquinas recalls St. Gregory opinion that
Thomas’ absence was not by accident but by God’s will (Commentary on John, 2547).
Thomas explains: “It was in the plans of the divine pity that by feeling the wounds in the
flesh of his Teacher, the doubting disciple should heal in us the wounds of disbelief”
(Commentary on John, 2547).
Thomas believes that Thomas’ absence and his doubts provided Jesus with an ultimate
teachable moment: “Here we have the strongest signs of God’s profound pity. First, in
this: that He loves the human race so much that He sometimes allows tribulations to
afflict His elect, so that from these some good can accrue to the human race. This was
the reason he allowed the apostles, the prophets and the holy martyrs to be afflicted”
(Commentary on John, 2547).
Paul affirmed: “If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are
comforted it is for your comfort which you experience when you patiently endure the
same sufferings that we suffer” (2 Cor 1:6).
Aquinas recalls Gregory’s assertion that the disbelief of Thomas was of more benefit to
our faith than the faith of the disciples who did believe (Commentary on John, 2547).
Aquinas considers Thomas’s demands “unreasonable.” He insisted not only on seeing
Jesus’ wounds but on touching them before he would believe, “although he would be
seeing something greater, that is, the entire person risen and restored” (Commentary on
John, 2550).
Aquinas maintains that Thomas’ unreasonableness was “arranged by God for our
benefit and progress.” Why? Because Thomas’ obstinacy made the reality of Jesus’
risen body more evident: “It is certain that Christ, who arose as a complete person,
could have healed the marks of His wounds; but He kept them for our benefit”
(Commentary on John, 2550).
Jesus’ consideration for Thomas gives us, according to Aquinas, a “second sign of
God’s pity, which is that He quickly comes to help His elect even though they fall.
Indeed, the elect fall at times, just like the reprobate. But there is a difference: the
reprobate are crushed, but the Lord quickly puts His hand under the elect so they can
rise up” (Commentary on John, 2555).

Psalm 37:23-24 states: “Those, whose way the Lord approves, may stumble, but they
never fall, for the Lord holds their hand.” Psalm 94:18 declares: “When I say, ‘My foot is
slipping,’ Your love, Lord, holds me up.’”
Aquinas comments: “And so our Lord quickly puts His hand under the fallen Thomas so
that when Thomas said, Unless I see … I will not believe, our Lord rescues him, saying,
Put your finger here” (Commentary on John, 2555).
Aquinas notes that Thomas had laid down his own conditions for believing: he must see
and touch Jesus’ wounds. Jesus responded exactly: “So our Lord, helping him by the
presence of His divinity, rescued him by meeting these conditions” (Commentary on
John, 2556).
Aquinas raises the question: “How then can there be wounds in the body of Christ?”
Augustine affirms that the wounded side convicts unbelievers: “Look at the side you
have pierced. It was opened for your sake, and you refused to enter” (On the Creed, 2,
8).
Even the martyrs’ wounds will remain on their heavenly bodies, according to Augustine,
not as disfigurements but as beauty: “These wounds in their body will not be a
deformity, but a dignity. And although on their bodies, they will radiate not a bodily but a
spiritual beauty” (City of God, 22:19).
Could Jesus’ body be touched if it was incorruptible? Jesus declared: “Handle me, and
see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see that I have” (Lk 24:39). Thomas
comments: “Our Lord showed that He was incorruptible and touchable to demonstrate
that His body after His resurrection was of the same nature as before, and what had
been corruptible had now put on incorruption (1 Cor 15:53). It was the same in nature,
but with a different glory: for what had been heavy and lowly arose in glory and subtlety,
as the effect of spiritual power” (Commentary on John, 2559).
Jesus’ wounds were an affirmation that His risen body was the same body that hung on
the Cross, as Thomas affirms: “Our Lord continued, saying, see My hands, which hung
on the cross, and put out your hand, and place it in My side, which was pierced by the
spear, and realize that I am the same person who had hung upon the cross”
(Commentary on John, 2560).
Thomas proposes a “mystical interpretation”: “A finger signifies knowledge, and a hand
signifies our works. Thus when Thomas is told to put his finger and hand into the
wounds of Christ, we are being told to use our knowledge and works for the service of
Christ” (Commentary on John, 2560).
According to Aquinas, Thomas became a theologian: “Thomas quickly became a good
theologian by professing a true faith. He professed the humanity of Christ when he said,
‘My Lord,’ for he had called Christ this before the passion: ‘You call me Teacher and
Lord’ (Jn 13:13). And he professed the divinity of Christ when he said, and ‘my God.’

Before this, the only one who had called Christ God was Peter: ‘You are the Christ, the
Son of the living God’ (Mt 16:16) (Commentary on John, 2562). The First Letter of John
announces: “This is the true God and eternal life” (1 Jn 5:20).
Jesus reproaches Thomas for being slow to believe until he has seen Jesus, while he
praises those who believe without seeing (Jn 20:29). Aquinas proclaims that Thomas
actually believed even more than he saw: “Thomas saw one thing and believed another.
He saw the man and the wounds, and from these he believed in the divinity of the one
who had arisen” (Commentary on John, 2564).
Denis Vincent Wiseman, O.P.