The Insight of Doubting Thomas

I don’t wish to commend Thomas for his doubt of the risen Lord, but there is one profound insight we can take from him, and that is that Christ should not be separated from suffering.  We should not expect to recognize him without nail holes and a pierced side.  Even the 11 apostles who believed recognized him from his wounds.  So too in our daily lives; it is often where we suffer the most that Christ is most manifest.  Perhaps this is why his glorified body kept its wounds, to remind us that Christ, the Christian life, and suffering cannot be separated.

John 20: 19-25
Now when it was late the same day, the first of the week, and the doors were shut, where the disciples were gathered together, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst and said to them: Peace be to you. And when he had said this, he shewed them his hands and his side. The disciples therefore were glad, when they saw the Lord. He said therefore to them again: Peace be to you. As the Father hath sent me, I also send you. When he had said this, he breathed on them; and he said to them: Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them: and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained. Now Thomas, one of the twelve, who is called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him: We have seen the Lord. But he said to them: Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails and put my finger into the place of the nails and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.

~ by The Accountant on March 29, 2008.