a lifestyle, not an event

Tuesday April 25th, John 20: 26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" Poor Thomas, he gets the grief for being the doubter. It has even worked its way into our vocabulary when we refer to someone as a doubting Thomas. It’s easy to point our fingers at someone else. Then there is the question, why were the other disciples still in the house behind locked doors? Didn’t they see the risen Lord a week ago? John’s Gospel was written some seventy years after the resurrection. The early church expected Jesus to return during their lifetime. John is written to mostly second generation Christians who have to face the uncertainty in the fact that Jesus did not return. Some among them doubted. We are in the same boat. We have never seen the risen Lord in the flesh. The good news is that doubt is not a bad thing. It is the very thing that keeps our faith up and moving, keeps us searching, keeps us in prayer and dialogue. For us, the risen Lord is found in the Christian community as we care for, and are cared for, by one another. Do you have doubts like Thomas? If so, it is a good thing, it compels us to keep our faith active day after day after day. It is not a one time event, it is a lifestyle.