Let’s shift the focus on this Gospel slightly from the usual Thomas’ doubt to Jesus’ wounds. Clearly, Thomas was skeptical, but how does Jesus respond? Not with Mandatory Written Assent to the Doctrine of the Resurrection. Not with sly scolding. But with a “touch my wounds,” implying “touch yours too.”
Touch the wounds? Some of us hesitate to admit we even have them, but probing seems too intimate. Unless you know your own, Jesus might ask, how will you soothe another’s? How will you recognize—beneath the belligerent teenager, the contentious colleague, the arrogant pastor, or the cranky spouse—the hurting child? Will you intuit how many people in prison were victims before they became perpetrators?
Interestingly, there’s no record that Thomas actually touched the wounds. Maybe all he needed was for Jesus to see and accept him completely, his need for tangible proof, his shaky “outsider” status. We don’t know Thomas’ backstory—did a feeling of being “stranger and sojourner” prompt his arrogant demand?
The Adverse Childhood Experiences scale shows how childhood trauma leaves long-lasting scars. Adult behavior that seems bizarre may have been triggered by abuse or abandonment long ago. Even those lucky enough to have avoided early disaster understand Jesus’ question to Mary in the garden, “Why do you weep?” At some level, we all weep. Compassion for ourselves precedes reverence for the heartbreak many carry beneath the surface.
When we see ourselves and everyone else as limping and bandaged, that’s a step toward “the household of God” described in Ephesians. We are built together into God’s dwelling place through Christ Jesus, who is unafraid to show his wounds.
Kathy Coffey, “Showing Our Wounds” from the July 3,2024 issue of Give Us This Day, www.giveusthisday.org (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2024). Used with permission.
Kathy Coffey 
Kathy I so agree ! I am dealing with personal mistakes I have made with raising my children and the results of bad advice towards parenting! Such as if children do not do as directed you spank them you go through a whole routine of “mommie loves you but” this was trauma for my children. I can not forgive myself . My son was oppositional defiant since very young . He survived 15 years of serious drug issues. Traumatizing all of us. He survived , he is still consuming alcohol even with two toddlers 1 and 3. He has partnered with a woman who was abused as a child ! The cycle again. He is 33. Thank you for being sympathetic. I. M an artist and retired art educator ! This helps deal with the pain! Cecilia
WOW! What great “Holy Spirit” inspired insights! This really has me thinking. Why Thomas as the one who was not there? Why was he not there? What if instead of Thomas it was one of the other apostle. Would they have had the same “doubts” as Thomas? He wanted to see Jesus’s wounds but maybe he also wanted Jesus to see his wounds, whatever they were. Maybe his wounds caused him to be absent when Jesus appeared. Maybe Thomas was thinking “Hey, Jesus, I have wounds too and I want you to touch mine.”