Like the other disciples, he did leave Jesus and hide when the soldiers came to arrest Jesus. But I think we should be careful to read the story of Thomas with the whole scope of his character in view, and not just isolate the wholeness of his character down to one moment. And in fact that moment may be less of a reflection of his lack of faith and more of a view into his understanding that dead people generally stay dead, but that he is also a man who is deeply grieved and hurt by the death of his friend.
The church in Acts is still in Jerusalem following the resurrection of Jesus. This is before the persecution by the Jewish authorities that begins with the execution of Stephen, which occurs in Acts 7. The church is still in its infancy, they have barely begun to grapple with the theological implications of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. But one part of the kingdom of God is intuitive for the new church, they are united in their desire to live out the message of the Gospel. Acts tells us that the new church was “of one heart and soul.” They were united in their belief of the risen savior. They were united in their passion of living the gospel, proclaiming their testimony of the risen savior with great power. And they were even united in their daily living. They gave all they had to this new christian community, to the point that no one claimed private ownership of anything. Instead, everything was held in common and was used to care for the poor. Their understanding of the resurrection of Jesus drove them to radical desire to care for the poor.
What I find interesting about the lectionary for this weekend is that the first reading, this account from Acts stops at v. 35 and does not include the last two verses of the chapter. In the last two verses, this mission of caring for the poor goes from a community ideal to concrete action. We are told about a Levite, a man named Joseph, who sold a field and brought the money and gave it to the disciples for their ministry to the poor, for the ministry of this community. I don’t want to assume the motivation of the compilers of the lectionary, but it is almost like we are comfortable with a call to care for the poor, as long as it stays at some sort of esoteric ideal, but radical action by a known person disrupts that status quo of comfort. It is uncomfortable when we are confronted by an account of someone doing something that we speak about in vague generalities.
But I digress, the theme that I want to focus on primarily is the theme of unity in the church. We see that the fledgling church is deeply united in their ministry, in their heart, and in their theology, even if they have not really wrestled with the recent developments. In the second reading we see a vision of a church that is a few years removed from that early church. The church has moved out from Jerusalem following the persecution that began, and has spread to different cities and different, primarily gentile, cultures.