Today’s Scripture Readings

Gospel Reading

NRSV

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’ But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.’ A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.’ Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.’ Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

Thomas is often judged quite harshly for being a doubter and “wanting proof”. But maybe such demands reflect his understanding of the gravity and implications of the resurrected Jesus. (Thomas seems to be a very headstrong person – see how brash and brave he is in John 11:16.) He seems to know that if what the other disciples were saying to him was true, then the implications for him personally would be profound – his life would never be the same, and his brash statement “that we may die with him” would come true.

Jesus does not reprimand Thomas for his demands. Instead, he grants Thomas’s request, and Thomas responds with a statement of Jesus’ divine nature: “My Lord and my God.”

So, if not to cast aspersions on Thomas’s request, how should we consider Jesus’ statement, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe”? I think it might be related to faith being more than a response to empirical evidence demanded by doubt. Jesus and the beauty of the Gospel capture our hearts in a way that can’t be replicated by a scientific experiment. When someone falls in love, it is not a result of scientific observation. So, perhaps Jesus means that those who believe without seeing are indeed happy because they are responding to something far grander than proof – they are responding to a Person.
Perhaps this is worth pondering: What attracts you to Jesus? How does your answer compare to Thomas’ demands for proof?