John 20
Without faith in humanity, we cannot continue our daily life. If I were to doubt everything and everyone, I couldn’t even drink water from the tap on the sink, because it is not proven safe. But we drink water from the tap without testing it each time because we believe that those in charge of providing water make sure it is safe. And in almost all cases, our faith in humanity works fine without proofs, because humanity is real. In almost all our activities, we depend on faith. Faith is a way of knowing realities that are not visible. That’s why we can say certain faith is right or wrong.
In today’s gospel, Thomas first could not accept the reality of the resurrection of Christ Jesus, because he didn’t see the risen Christ. He demanded evidence. He didn’t have faith in resurrection yet. Now, when Jesus appeared again and Thomas saw him, Thomas didn’t have to believe in the resurrection, because he now saw the reality itself. For Thomas, the resurrection of Jesus was a reality and a fact that was visible and no longer demanded any proof or evidence. Likewise, in the Creed, we simply state the resurrection of Christ as a fact, not as what we confess to believe. In the Creed, what we profess to believe is the future resurrection of the body that will happen after we die and at the judgment of the whole world.
When Thomas saw the risen Christ, he didn’t say he now believed the Lord’s resurrection. Instead, he exclaimed, “My Lord and my God!” What his eyes saw was the wounds of Christ, but what his faith saw was the transcendent lordship and divinity of Christ. That was a statement of faith in an invisible reality, not a description of an observable phenomenon. The faith of Thomas made him know the true identity of Jesus. Once again, faith is a way of knowing realities.
And this way of knowing invisible realities is a gift and a blessing. That’s why Jesus tells, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”
