Jesus is willing to meet us where we are. He comes to us in our need to reveal himself.
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."
We should be as ready as we can to come to faith in Jesus. If we receive the grace of believing without seeing then praise God. But many of us need something more direct. We need more than to simply hear of the resurrection from others. We need to touch it for ourselves. It is clearly more important to Jesus that we believe than that we do so having not seen. Every time Jesus has to do something more direct and personal it is a testimony that can be passed on to others who have not seen. The point is that we should be content with whatever way God chooses to give us the grace of faith. We should receive it as much as possible. But he isn't asking us to lie about it or fake it. He wants us to truly believe. He wants us to be able to say from the depths of our spirits, "My Lord and my God!"
Belief is step one. It is the necessary precursor to all else Jesus wants to do for us, in us, and through us.
And the victory that conquers the world is our faith.
Who indeed is the victor over the world
but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
Maybe we don't feel victorious just precisely because our faith in the resurrection needs to be strengthened. We need, perhaps, another encounter with the risen one. Maybe this is what the whole Church needs.
The community of believers was of one heart and mind,
and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own,
but they had everything in common.
With great power the apostles bore witness
to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus,
and great favor was accorded them all.
Isn't it possible that the reason our Church isn't living in the victory of Christ is because the individual members don't really know the power of the resurrection? We tacitly accept it on hearsay. We pretend to have a level of faith which we haven't yet attained. This is pride and it does no service to anyone to maintain the illusion.
Look at Paul who does know the risen Jesus. Yet even Paul strives to know him more. He is still to striving to "know him and the power of his resurrection" (see Philippians 3:10). He knows that this is necessary for him to follow the path Jesus places before him. He knows that only by this faith can even he live victoriously.
The joyful shout of victory
in the tents of the just
Let us be thankful every time we believe without seeing. Let us ask the LORD for greater faith and more experience of his resurrection power. If the next stage of our faith requires a more direct encounter with Jesus we don't need to feel bad. Let us humbly come to him knowing for sure that he wants to meet us in order to give us that encounter. He doesn't not ration his gift of the Spirit, nor, indeed of the fruit of faith that the Spirit brings.
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