Eight Days Later
Eight days later the disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked; but suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them. “Peace be with you,” he said. 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!” “My Lord and my God!” Thomas exclaimed. 29 Then Jesus told him, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.” John 20:19-31 (NLT)
Although there are very few things which can be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt, this is a case where Thomas got exactly the irrefutable proof he needed. When he touched Jesus, he was touching a material body, not a ghost. At that point, having dealt for a week with whether the whole thing was true or not, Thomas doubted no longer . . . .he not only believed, he proclaimed Jesus the Lord of his life.
Jesus’ rejoinder is important, however. We live in the post-ascension era. We do not get to see Jesus physically. We must believe. Yet we believe with solid, even overwhelming evidence that Jesus was “crucified dead and buried. The third day he rose again from the dead” (apostles’ creed). I think believing is choice and is within our control. It makes no sense to believe in something unsupportable. However to believe in that to which the evidence overwhelmingly points is intelligent and reasonable. And, if true, then demands far more than intellectual assent. It demands the belief on which a life is built.
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