John 20:24-31
Jesus Appears to Thomas
24Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25So 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 it."
26A 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!" 27Then 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."
28Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!"
29Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
30Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
We sin, we doubt, we deny, we suffer, but we also have faith and belief...For me, these are a random pattern in my life that only God understands...God, who is our Father, loves us and because of this understanding forgives us, like any father would...
Jesus did not sin...He is perfectly moral...He is our absolute moral compass...We know and can see and even feel, good and bad moral actions...The bad morals that we do, are sins...Jesus took our bad morals, our sins to a cross...Sometimes we forget this...We sacrificed Him for our bad behavior...A father or mother, or maybe someone very close to you, might put up with your bad behavior, but would they suffer and die for you?...
Thomas has been with Jesus for three years...It does not seem that Thomas knows that Jesus just died for him...Instead Thomas doubts that Jesus lives...The other ten disciples have told him that Jesus has resurrected. but Thomas doubts that it happened... Earlier, in the week, Peter had denied Jesus...Peter, like Thomas denied and doubted...Peter had told Jesus, you are the Son of the Living God, but he and Thomas could not see who was around them, and understand Him...Thomas says unless he sees the nail marks and put my hand in His side, he would not believe He was resurrected and lives...It takes the resurrection to strengthen both of these disciple's faith (the resurrection probably strengthened all the disciples faith)...
We doubt and we deny...We must be thankful, that Jesus understands this...Not only does Jesus understand, He forgives us...How many of us can forgive, after we are doubted and denied?...Jesus did...
Jesus is resurrected and Thomas does get to see Him...Jesus retains His glorious suffering wounds we caused...Thomas gets to touch them...He suffered and died for our sins, not His...We are forever united to Him, because of His suffering for us...When we suffer we must remember Him and what He does for us...St. Paul tells us that now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory (Romans 8:17)...When we suffer in our lives we must remember we are united to Him in these sufferings...We are blessed when we are suffer and mourn...Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted (Matthew 5:4)...We can share and unite with Him, during these tougher times...
Thomas realized upon touching His wounds, the love Jesus has for him...He realizes that His love love is personal...He died for Thomas...After touching His resurrected teacher he realizes who is...He is Thomas' LORD and Thomas' GOD...He also died for me...He is my LORD and my GOD...
Like Thomas, it is hard to believe, when we suffer, doubt, and have days of weak faith...When we have these days, think of St. Thomas and St. Peter...They too doubted and denied Him...But they loved Him...Jesus loves a weak, but growing, sincere faith (even growing only a drip at a time, and even if that faith is only the size of a mustard seed)...
St. John wrote his gospel and writes about His miracles that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ...He is the Son of God...If we believe, then we may have eternal life in His name...We must realize that we will have doubts, and we will deny...We will sin, but He will forgive...We will suffer...But this suffering can bring us closer to Him...The cross united Him with us...His suffering is united with ours...We must stop and think and listen to the Great Master, in whatever our circumstance...Stop doubting and believe...Thomas had the advantage or privilege to be with Jesus...But Jesus gives us hope, when He tells Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen Me and believe...