John 20:15-18
Marry Magdalene Grabs Jesus
15 He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).
17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
Luke 24:13-16
Jesus Not Recognized
13 Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. 14 They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. 15 As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; 16 but they were kept from recognizing him.
John 20:24-31
Jesus Appears to Thomas
24 Now Thomas (called 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 it.”
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.”
30 Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But 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.
Some days I have doubts in my faith and need help, or at the very least need some comforting in why I am thinking the way I am about my LORD...I do not know what it is like to have ock-solid faith day in and day out twenty four hours a day each and everyday...
Many people today doubt the resurrection of Jesus...Today, we are two thousand years removed from Jesus and His physical body has ascended to heaven -so doubt can come in our thinking as we think about the distant past....We ask ourselves, how can something like a resurrection really happen...During Jesus crucifixion, I would bet that many who did not see the resurrection in person doubted Jesus came back from the dead, because that would be a miracle...The people of Jesus' time knew that this was an impossibility to come back from the dead, so they probably would not believe that He did because they did not see it...This would take some kind of Grand Miracle...Even two thousand years ago, a miracle was a miracle...But there was one who was right there with Jesus and had been taught by Him for three years...He was close to Jesus and he doubted the resurrection...He would be wrong about a resurrection happening, and be wrong about THE resurrection...
When Jesus resurrected even the people who knew Him had a hard time recognizing Him...Was He a Spirit or was He a Man?...Or was He part Spirit and part Man?...Thomas proves to us that there was a man (and he was the one) who needed to physically touch the LORD to believe in Him...I am sure the other disciples and I would think that Peter would have said, "I have seen Him, the others have seen Him, why would we kid you about something so important as our Teacher coming back to life?"...Thomas was like a man from Missouri, he wanted to be showed...
Down the path of our faith, we have stronger days than others...Down this path we can grow from young, new believer to mature believer...Thomas had seen Jesus for three years, and his faith was still not quite where it needed to be...
St. Thomas helps me and my doubts...He, to me, makes Jesus and His resurrection more than a myth...He was an eyewitness of His majesty, and one who doubted in the end...Things like this (a resurrection) just do not happen, even in Thomas' time...He wanted to see Jesus and His wounds for himself...Jesus allowed this... I do not think any of the disciples were perfect believers...Peter denied Jesus three times the night of His arrest...The others were a little, if not a lot, cowardly after His immediate death (the disciples did turn strong after they saw Him resurrected -Thomas was just not there when they seen Him first)...The other disciples (before they seen Jesus resurrected) may have had similar doubts as Thomas, but we are not told about them...Nothing was written in the four gospels about them right after Jesus' death and their doubts...
These early apostles, the very founding fathers of the Christian faith, I am sure had some doubts about the resurrection...I take heart in this...St. Thomas is a very important character in the Bible (and for me)...Thomas proves that he is not the perfect disciple, just as I often prove that I am not the perfect believer of His Teacher...