(Audio)
Jesus came, although the doors were locked,
and stood in their midst and said, "Peace be with you."
Jesus wants to reveal himself to us. He knows that we're afraid. He knows that we face challenges that are unique, which we feel no one else can understand. We feel apart and alone and scared. We experience our lack of faith as condemnation, as evidence that Jesus cares more about others than ourselves. If he loved us, we imagine, why wouldn't we have received revelation in the same way so many others seem to have received it? Yet there is always a reason for everything Jesus does. It is always better than any alternative we could imagine.
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."
Jesus comes to us, specifically addresses our doubts and hang-ups, and in doing so creates an even deeper and more profound faith in us than would have otherwise been. He allows us to experience doubt just so he himself can answer those doubts. He allows us to feel hunger so that he himself can fill us.
Jesus' revelation to us takes us from a place of isolation and brings us into the community of the household of God. We are now brothers and sisters of Jesus, united in the Spirit, sharing in the faith that the LORD is risen, crying out together "My Lord and my God!"
You are no longer strangers and sojourners,
but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones
and members of the household of God,
built upon the foundation of the Apostles and prophets,
with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone.
We wanted to see and believe. But look at the blessings piled up and overflowing for us who have not seen but believed! Thomas gave testimony to assure us. We in turn must be the evidence for others.
Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.
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