Second Sunday after Pascha. Thomas Sunday; The Holy Virgins and Martyrs Agapia, Irene and Chionia (284-305).
Acts 5:12-20; John 20:19-31.
Read John 20:19-31
Christ is risen! Truly, He is risen!
There is no more explicit statement that God is talking to you than today’s gospel reading. Yes, as the Apostle Paul writes to Timothy, “All scripture is inspired by God and profitable.” By illumination of the Holy Spirit, we can receive something for our own lives even though we may not be the primary audience of a particular writing. But this one is different. This one is explicitly addressed to “you.”
These signs, among the many that could have been written, “are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.”
Jesus’s proof to doubting Thomas ends with this statement: “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.” No doubt we all experience times when seeing would help our belief. It isn’t always easy to believe without some kind of seeing. As they say, seeing is believing.
So, how can you believe without seeing? What is the connection between these signs Jesus did that can lead you to believe, and you being blessed by believing without seeing them?
“These are written that you may believe.” The connection to the living Word of God is the written word of God. If believing without seeing is difficult, prayerfully turn to the scriptures. “For the word of God is living and active (Hebrews 4:12). Prayerfully reading the scriptures will help you to see with the eyes of faith and be among the blessed “who have not seen and yet believe.”