I wonder what we would do if all the things we have thought and said and believed about God are contradicted by the things we actually experience in life? Could the disciples still be able to believe that Jesus was indeed the Messiah? Perhaps the only way that this could happen would be through a new beginning.
It was in the midst of such uncertainty, questioning, and
hopelessness that Jesus came to them, walked along with them, stood beside
them, and opened up for them the possibility of renewal. Thomas was not looking for second hand faith
or blind faith. Blind faith does not inspire us to probe the depth of our soul
to experience God’s presence in our lives. Blind faith appeals to our preconceived
bias and ideologies content to except the way things are without questioning.
Like Thomas we, too, want a deeper experience
of God. Like Thomas, we need to change our perception about what is real. Thomas
surrendered his bias and opened his heart and knew the presence of the risen
Christ, dispelling all doubt.
And so the story continues beyond even the resurrection
in Luke 24: 35-48. The story goes on not because the disciples found within
themselves a will to press on into the future. The story goes on because the
resurrected Jesus came and sought his doubting, questioning, failing, and
hopeless followers. Therein lies our hope. God comes to us in Jesus in
surprising ways when we least expect it.
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