Seeing is believing

We've just heard the story of Jesus appearing to the disciples: how confused these disciples must have felt!  Jesus had died, they knew it, yet that morning Mary had told them that she had seen Jesus alive and well when she had visited the tomb.  What were they to make of it?  Who could believe such a thing?

In all four Gospel accounts of Jesus’ resurrection we read of the disciples seeing and not seeing, believing and not believing, joy and amazement, fear and terror, and all the time rushing and running.  But now, all movement stops and a frightened group of disciples are huddled in a room together, the door locked for fear of being arrested.  Then, in a way they couldn’t explain, Jesus comes and stands among them.  ‘Peace be with you’ he says and then shows them the marks on his hands and his side that had been made by the nails and spear.  Jesus was alive and he was willing to prove it.

Think about how these disciples felt!  How would you have felt?  Is seeing believing?

Mark records in his Gospel that the disciples hadn’t believed Mary when Jesus had sent her back to tell the others.  In Luke we hear that they thought ‘the women’s words seemed nonsense’ - although Peter had wondered to himself what had happened.  In John’s Gospel a disciple (probably John) believed when he saw the folded grave clothes.  Must we see to believe?

Just over a week ago I stood for some time at a lakeside watching the ducks and was delighted to see a pair of Grebes (bit like a tufted duck).  As I watched, one of them dived under the surface and seemed to disappear.  I could see the ripples remaining on the water, but no duck!  I watched and waited and watched and waited…The other duck did not seem to be in the least concerned, but by now I was frantically looking up and down the lake, convinced that he or she had drowned and I was feeling very anxious.  Of course, the duck did eventually re-emerge, half a lake away, several minutes later.  But I needed to see the pair back together again before I could believe the duck was safe. 

Thomas obviously thought that seeing was believing!  He wasn’t going to believe until he himself had seen Jesus and touched him to make sure he was real!  Is seeing believing?

Let’s do a little experiment! I need 3 volunteers.  Here you can see three bags, they are lovely bags, full of really good things.  Now, do you believe that there is something really yummy in this bag?

[volunteers displayed different reactions - one believed Gill, two needed to look first...]

Did you believe or did you need to see first?

Poor Thomas, or ‘Doubting Thomas’ as many call him.  Someone once said that if you keep quiet about your doubts, you rarely find answers!  Its far better to doubt out loud than not believe in silence!  That’s what Thomas did!  He doubted out loud!

I like Thomas and his honesty.  He needed to see and touch in order to believe and wasn’t frightened to say so.  And Jesus didn’t turn Thomas away, but welcomed his searching. However, Jesus said ‘Blessed are those who believe without seeing’.  This wasn’t a telling off for Thomas, but a promise to reassure us today.  Jesus wants to be with us - at all times.

And he is! Even now he is with us in the form of the Holy Spirit - as real to us today as he was to Thomas   But he needs us to believe in him.  Jesus makes himself ‘known’ – he called to Mary in the garden, he came through a locked room to speak peace to his friends.  He showed the wounds on his hands and side, walked with two disciples on a road and cooked breakfast for his friends on a beach

Jesus continues to invite us all to enjoy his company and has given us the Holy Spirit to help us know him and live with him forever.  But like Thomas we must want to ‘see’ Jesus and believe in him for ourselves, then we too can call him ‘My Lord and My God’.

Amen.