Dear friends in Christ,
This Sunday, our Gospel reading is about the encounter between St. Thomas the Apostle and Jesus Christ after the Resurrection. We hear this same Gospel reading every year the week after Easter Day. This is fitting, because it meets us right where we are.
We have been told about Easter, but do we really believe it? Are we able and willing to pattern our lives in the knowledge that death has been vanquished?
Near the end of St. John’s Gospel, there are a couple of asides aimed directly at the reader. It’s as if the evangelist is breaking the fourth wall and speaking to us, today, who read the Gospel. “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.”
It’s not always easy to believe. The powers and principalities work hard to convince us that maybe the Gospel of Jesus Christ isn’t true. It’s seductive to imagine that observable material reality is all there is. It’s tempting to think that we are captives to evil, might, and sin.
But we have witnesses to the contrary. The evangelists testify to what they saw. Most of the apostles were willing to give up their lives, something they would only do willingly if they knew that death was defeated. And we have 20 centuries of saints and martyrs to testify. Doubt is not in itself bad; the story of St. Thomas shows us that. He asks, and the Lord blesses him with faith.
Do you doubt? Ask, and the Lord will bless you with faith, too. “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”
Happy Easter, friends!
Scott Gunn
Executive Director
More from our ministry:
Read more Easter meditations from Scott: Easter Triumph, Easter Joy
Explore this unique gospel over the next fifty days: A Journey with John
Questions for growing strong in faith: Faith Confirmed