John 20:19-29
19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
24 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Jesus appears to His Disciples after His death, and Thomas is not there with the other Disciples...Thomas does not believe that Jesus has returned from His death...Thomas is a skeptic, a doubter...Thomas cannot get in his head that Jesus can overcome anything, including death...So he does not believe...He surely does not believe at this time that Jesus is really the Son of God, because with God all things are possible...Only in the supernatural are things like this possible...So Thomas' disbelief is shared by many...
It is easy to side with Thomas and believe as he believed...I mean, how many people do actually return from their death, after suffering so much before their death (and on a cross)?...
Thomas wants to know what happened and he will only believe when he has seen the wounds in Jesus' hands and the wound in His side...Thomas the realist and doubter becomes Thomas the believer...When Thomas touches the hands of Jesus and touches His side that had been speared when Jesus was on the cross, Thomas then realizes that God is as near to him as He can be...Somehow Jesus is alive again...The touching of Jesus’ glorious’ wounds make him believe...Thomas’ questions of What Happened have been answered in the deepest part of his soul...I would think that many of his other questions have also been answered...And realizing what he has felt and what he has seen looking at Jesus alive and beside him, Thomas says “My LORD and my God.”...
Thomas now believes in the Great Mystery, the Divine, and the Supernatural...