Word to the Wise
Sunday, April 19, 2009 - Second Sunday of Easter [Divine Mercy Sunday]
[Acts 4:32-35; 1 John 5:1-6; John 20:19-31]"Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe." Thomas answered and said to him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, "Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed."
Any reading of the post-resurrection scriptures tells us that even the closest co-workers with Jesus had trouble accepting the initial accounts of his resurrection. In typically dramatic style, the Gospel of John uses the experience of Thomas to convey the reality of slow acceptance! Thomas becomes forever, "Doubting Thomas." and by his profession of faith, he becomes a powerful reminder of what we should be professing. At the same time, we are also told that our faith, which is the fruit of God's grace working with the centuries of Christian witness, is blessed because we have believed without having the privilege of the first disciples of knowing Jesus in person/in the flesh. Our acquaintance is profound, however, as the profession of faith by Thomas (and by us) makes clear in a simple and powerful way. The second scripture of the day puts it so well: "Who indeed is the victor over the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?" AMEN
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