Thomas, called
Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other
disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” But Thomas said to them,
“Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the
nail marks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” Now a week later
his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although
the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.”
Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your
hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.” Thomas
answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you
come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen
and have believed.”
(John 20: 24-29)
Introductory Prayer: Lord, I want to spend these next few minutes in your company
reflecting on your Gospel so that I might know and love you more. I am a sinner
in need of your grace. Please do not take into account my unworthiness, but
rather look at my desire to love and serve you. You are the true source of
fulfillment and happiness in my life. Help me to seek you and your will with
all my heart, mind, soul and strength. Enlighten my mind to know your divine
will for me, inflame my heart to love it with passion, strengthen my will to
fulfill it with perfection. Reveal yourself to my soul.
Petition: Lord, make my faith strong so that it becomes a solid rock upon
which I can build my life.
1. Thomas wants
certainty
Thomas wants to be certain that Jesus has in
fact risen from the dead. He is not ready to take the others’ word for it. He
is not wrong in desiring this certainty. All of us should want to be certain
about what we affirm as our faith, and we must look for those reasons that give
us certainty. We cannot play a game of “let’s pretend that what we affirm is
true.” Every Sunday, we profess our belief that Christ is risen from the dead,
but it this affirmation is nothing more than a vague notion, then what kind of
Christians are we? Our certainty does not lie in the fact that we have seen the
Risen Lord but in our faith.
2. Our faith has a
real foundation
We can chide Thomas
for his insistence on seeing Christ himself with the nail marks in his hands
before he will believe, but his insistence on seeing Christ brings out a very
important aspect of our faith.
Our faith is founded
on the material, historical reality of Christ’s resurrection. If Christ did not
rise from the dead our faith is void. Our faith in Christ cannot be separated
from the material reality of the resurrection. In a sense we too can say with
Thomas “Unless I see the mark of the nails…” for if the marks of the nails do
not truly exist than there is no reason to be a Christian.
3. We are those who
have not seen and have believed
Jesus
was referring to us when he said, “Blessed are those who have not seen and have
believed.” He had us in mind, all of the generations of Christians who would
follow him without seeing him. Jesus says that we are blessed. It is our faith
that brings us this blessing, the faith that has been passed down from the
first apostles who did see the risen Lord. Perhaps we would like to think that
it would be much more special to have seen the risen body of Christ, but Christ
himself declares that those who are truly blessed are the ones who believe
without seeing.
Dialogue with Christ: Lord, I know that faith is a gift from you, please give me a
strong and lasting faith. I do believe that you truly rose from the dead. I
will not ask to see the nail marks or to put my hand in your side, but I know
those marks are truly there, and on the truth of their existence I rest my
faith in your resurrection. There are many people who have heard of your
resurrection and still do not believe. I know I am blessed, for it is only by
your grace that I am able to see with the eyes of faith the truth about your
life, death and resurrection. Thank you for the gift of faith.
Resolution: I will pray for those who do not believe.
No comments:
Post a Comment