20:24 Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them
when Jesus came. 25 The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen
the Lord.”
So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails,
and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I
will not believe.”
It is often said that seeing is
believing. It reminds me of a story a friend of mine told me. He, his wife, and
another couple were vacationing together at a resort. One evening as he and his
wife were passing by the pool they both saw the husband of the other couple in
the pool with another woman. Just as they were wondering what he was doing the
two started kissing quite passionately. My friend said he was sick to his
stomach. He and his wife quickly went inside and discussed how they were going
to break this news to their friend. A few moments later they were at her door.
After a knock or two the door opened and there he was, completely dry and
dressed. The same man who was in the pool kissing another woman was also in his
room with his wife. My friend and his wife both saw with their own eyes and
were both sure but were both wrong.
We have another expression too:
Don't believe anything you hear and only half of what you see.
Thomas as a skeptic by nature we
assume. It could also be that he was trying to protect himself from disappointment.
Either way he was not buying the tale that Jesus was alive and had talked to
the others. He had to see Him for himself. In our culture such cautious
independence is seen as wise. Is it?
If you have ever had someone you
love doubt you based on circumstantial evidence you know how painful that is.
When you have a relationship with someone you expect to be able to believe them
and that they will believe you. However we are all flawed and the best of us
are sometimes not much better than the worst of us. This being the case
skepticism is understandable. I mean the same men telling Thomas they had seen
Jesus were the same men who told Jesus they had His back no matter what.
So how do we navigate the tension
between trusting our spouse or our parents or our best friends and trusting the
evidence that suggests they might be lying? Thomas navigated by sticking to the
old adage "I'll believe it when I see it."
Tomorrow we'll find out how that
went and what it might mean for us.
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