There was no rhyme or rhythm to Jesus’ resurrection appearances; it seems he just kept popping up among his friends, like he was living out the song, “I’ll be seeing you, in all the old familiar places…” And maybe there were sightings not recorded in the Gospels. John implies as much, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book.”
One that was “written in John’s book” occurred a week after his first appearance to his disciples: A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”
Would Jesus be referring to us, who have to believe without benefit of seeing Jesus in the flesh? Some people find that a hurdle too far. Why bother believing if we can’t have any proof? But what constitutes proof? In a court of law, the sworn testimony of witnesses counts as proof. That’s in part why the Gospel writers labored to set down what they knew of Jesus’ life and ministry. As John says, “But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.”
Given the testimony of so many billions of Christ-followers throughout the ages, as well as evidence of transformation readily available to us, perhaps we have enough to support our heart-belief that Jesus was indeed the divine Son of God, and that he did indeed rise from the dead. Yet so often we let other evidence, the sad record of man’s cruelty to fellow inhabitants of this world, and our shameful disregard for the just allocation of resources, count for more than the “case for the defense.” When we allow that, we close off avenues of life for ourselves and others.
John suggests that there is a pay-off for believing, even when the evidence seems stacked against us: we receive life through believing in the power in the name of Jesus Christ. The spiritual practice of faith, i.e., believing in what we cannot see, increases our capacity to experience God, and to facilitate that experience for others. We can see Jesus in people, feel him in prayer, encounter him in worship.
Where did you last encounter Jesus? Was it in some ministry or conversation? In something beautiful or deeply moving? In a question or an answer? One way we might exercise our “believing” muscles is to make a note at the end of each day one way we bumped into the Risen Christ. And when we tell each other, we all build up our faith muscles.
As that old song goes,
“I'll find you in the morning sun, and when the night is new
I'll be looking at the moon, but I'll be seeing you.”
As we truly learn to discern Jesus wherever we find him, and believe, we will find ourselves living more fully and deeply the Life he died and rose to make possible for us.
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