Speaking To You

"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 20:26-29*

Thomas is lucky - he could doubt and be profoundly proven wrong. He has the benefit of actually touching Jesus - verifying with physical evidence that he did rise, and is with them again. But Jesus is speaking right to us - "blessed are those who have not seen and have believed" - because he knows we too will be like Thomas some days. Longing for physical belief - a voice in the car, an appearance in a dream, a vision during the day - and doubting that it's all real. And Jesus knows that struggle for us will make us feel less of ourselves. He knows this, because he was one of us.

And he wants us to know that, even if we doubt, we have believed, we still, deep down, believe, and we always will believe. And we're blessed because of that. No matter what storm may come.

 * Note: Given the similarities between Luke's passage this week and John's passage last week, I'll be departing from following the weekly Gospel readings a little, making sure I cover the similarities only once.