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disbelief. The imperfect ἔλεγον imply that they “kept saying on
him”. In the first incident no reason is given for his showing his
hands and side. The claim of the other disciples and the absence
of Thomas made Thomas to demand both visual and physical
proof before he believes. Unless he can see both the nail prints
and put his finger into them, he will certainly not believe.
This may have been because he was so shocked by
the crucifixion that he did not find it was easy to think of its
consequences as being invalid.
The second possible reason of his disbelief lies, not
on the message of Jesus’ appearance, but the messengers. The
inconsistency in the words and deed of his fellow disciples
prevents him from believing their experiences. The youth may
say today the same “you say the experience of shalom in Christ
but how can I?
The days between when St. Thomas was told about the
Shalom experience by the disciples and the personal appearance
of Jesus were very significant for Thomas. The questions of,
What to believe? How far the experience of the community
was reliable and relevant? What was the reason of his exclusion
in community experience? These are relevant questions to the
youth of today.

Shalom: A Joint Experience

Eight days later Jesus repeats these same words, “peace
(Shalom) be with you” to St. Thomas who demanded evidence
of the resurrection for himself (Jn. 20:26). After the greeting,
with some rather unexpected words, Jesus invites Thomas to
carry out the tests he himself had nominated, to put his finger
into the nail-prints and his hand into the side. Jesus concludes
by urging Thomas to cease being an unbeliever but become a
believer.

Once he saw Jesus, Thomas did not need to apply any of
these tests. We can perhaps take the view that Thomas' disbelief

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Lenten Meditations Re - Imaging People