Let us be edifying

Perhaps it is an "occupational disease" that we teachers can easily spot others' mistakes. However, I think it is a tendency common to all, not just among teachers. I believe that the ability of spotting problems/mistakes has a survival value for living in a hostile environment. Those organisms that fail to see problems are wiped out without leaving behind any offspring and genes. Seeing others' mistakes is evolutionary adaptive.
Moreover, the effects of making mistakes are more conspicuous than doing the right thing which has been taken for granted. When nothing unusual happens, who will notice? Pedestrians cross the road all the time safely and nobody notices. Only when an accident happens and somebody gets hurt or killed, will people start to pay attention to the design of that particular section of the road. Therefore, people are more capable of seeing the mistakes/problems of the others than giving edifying supports.

The Gospel reading today tells the famous story of doubting Thomas. Fr. Martin Ip taught me to look at the story from an angle I have never seen before.
In the past, when we read the story of Thomas, we would "despise" him for being weak in faith, forgetting that he was one of the Twelve whom Jesus chose. On the other hand, we would feel "consoled" because even a Thomas would have moments of doubt and a Peter would deny the Lord three times in critical times which would cost his life. Thus God should not punish us when at times, we lost our faith in Him. Furthermore, sometimes, we would "admire" Thomas for being an empiricist, for trying to verify his faith etc. We too should follow his "scientific" example. Still we only defend Thomas halfheartedly. Deep down our soul, we do not want to become like him.

Today, Father Martin taught us to see the honesty/sincerity in Thomas. Though the other 10 fellow apostles told him that they had seen the risen Lord, Thomas did not want to please the crowd nor to follow the herd. True to his experience, Thomas did not bend to peer pressures. He remained unconvinced unless the risen Jesus could pass his tests. Just imagine. You have given up everything to follow this Galilean carpenter together with eleven other core members. Now that the master is dead. Their group leader has denied the master. One of them has betrayed the master and killed himself because of guilt. In short, the whole group has disintegrated. Who else can you turn to? It is true that 2 witnesses were enough in Jewish custom and now there were 10 witnesses. Their testimony should be believable. Yet, they were caged animals to be hunted down by the Jewish authority at any moment. It was prudent of Thomas to draw the line between himself and this group of disillusioned fanatics. In fact, Thomas' tests were reasonable. Why? It was because the other ten simply saw Jesus and had not verified further.
When he had said this ("Peace be with you"), he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord (John 20:20).
Thomas was being objective and sober-minded. Should you find fault with his being sober-minded?

Again, when we read what Jesus said to Thomas, we tend to think that Jesus was unhappy with Thomas' attitude and wanted to reprimand him.
Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side; do not be faithless, but believing." (John 20:27)
Fr. Martin told us to rethink. Try to read it again with a positive thinking rather than with a conspiracy theory at the back of our mind. Remember. Jesus wants to build up Thomas, not to trample on him.
In fact, it would totally be out of the way for Jesus to force someone to believe in him. God respects our autonomy. He will not force us to stay in heaven if we prefer staying in hell with our friends. Therefore, when Jesus invited Thomas to perform his tests, to do exactly what he wanted to do, we have to rule out the assumption that Jesus wanted to force Thomas to believe in his resurrection. Jesus only wanted to strengthen his faith.
Now, the ball was in Thomas' court. What possibilities were open? If Thomas believed and accepted that this encounter with Jesus was true and real, he needed not to proceed with his test. But if Thomas refused to believe, he would proceed to touch the wound and even insert his hand into Jesus' side to verify. however, no matter how many tests you have done, you will not be completely convinced of the truth of something unless you are prepared to accept, to believe in the truth. Look at the Pharisees who demanded Jesus to perform yet another miracle though they had already witnessed many miracles performed by Jesus. Somewhere along the way, you must stop doubting and start believing. Paradoxically, you must somehow know the answer first before you recognize that you have found the answer. If you don't, how can you be sure that you have got it? Therefore, faith is our guide to uncover the truth. We cannot "blindly/objectively/without bias" search for the truth. Having faith does not interfere with our objectivity. Without faith, our effort will be totally wasted.

Often, it is easy to pinpoint others' shortcomings, weaknesses and mistakes. Especially teachers, we are eager to correct other people's mistakes. In doing so, we should bear in mind our mission/obligation to edify. Next time, when we really want to correct people, think how to edify them, how to build them up.

Dear Lord, I have little faith in people and in You. Strengthen my faith. Amen.