What I’m Thinking: Doubting Thomas

What if we thought about “doubting” Thomas as more like ourselves: seeking the reassurance of Christ’s power and presence?

Here’s a transcript:

I’m thinking that this coming Sunday is the second in the Easter season. Easter, and the power of resurrection, is too great for one single Sunday through the year, so it gets, in fact, an entire season.

On this second Sunday of Easter, we always get the same story: and that’s the story that we usually remember as the one of “Doubting Thomas,” the one who, on the afternoon of Easter, wasn’t there to see the risen Christ, and tells his friends, “I will not believe until I can put my finger in the marks of the wounds in his hands, and put my hand into the wound in his side.”

I’ve never ever actually understood why he’d want to do that in particular, but I certainly do understand this desire to make the Resurrection something that is tangible, something I can grasp, something I can touch, something I can see, something I can hold on to.

The interesting thing is, is that John goes on to say that blessed are those who do not see and yet believe. And that, to a degree, is the situation we find ourselves in as Christians, and have for the last several centuries.

Except for one thing:

We, each of us, as followers of Jesus, I think, have found some reason, something within us or outside us, that connects in such a way that we have an experience of grace. And so we follow, perhaps without seeing, but still with some kind of lifeline to which we cling.

We’re much more like Thomas than we might believe: and bless us that we are.

Bless us that we are.

That’s what I’m thinking; I’m curious to hear about what you’re thinking. Send me an email, or leave your thoughts in the comment section below. I’d love to hear from you!