“Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.’ ”
This reminds me of the expression “Put my finger on it.” It is proof Thomas seeks (“Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”) By saying “Put your finger here and see my hands, . . .” Jesus establishes facts to bring Thomas’s unbelieving into belief.
God, help me understand how the isolation of the disciples behind locked doors did not prevent Jesus from standing in their midst. Help me understand how to overcome the times that I doubt Jesus, when no amount of proof is enough. Thomas, though, does come to believe. He was not with the disciples when Jesus first appeared but sees Jesus when he appears a second time behind locked doors. Having seen the proof, Thomas comes to believe in the Risen Christ, exclaiming, “My Lord and my God!”
Jesus said to Thomas, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me?” Jesus give Thomas proof; it is proof Thomas wants. The Gospel reading says that Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples. Why? The evangelist Saint John says, “But these are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.” Jesus, together with the first who believed in him want, for those who come to follow him, what Jesus had to die to produce: forgiveness of sins, the Resurrection of the Body, and life everlasting.
Today, Divine Mercy Sunday, I want to bring my unbelief to Jesus through my actions throughout the day, through prayer, and in receiving the Eucharist. I will forget myself and fall into unbelief, I will fall short, and I will fail to show mercy. No matter. When I return, Jesus is there, and his grace is enough to transform my unbelief: “Blessed are those who have not seen and believed.”