Is seeing all there is to believing? When it comes to our faith, we rely a great deal on the witness of a community. Matt Stewart, SJ, reflects on doubting Thomas in this week’s One-Minute Homily. Based on the readings for Sunday, April 11, 2021.
Seeing is believing, right? Or is it?
I’m Father Matt Stewart, and this is my one-minute homily.
Today, Thomas says that unless he can see the risen Jesus and touch his wounds, he won’t believe. I can empathize with Thomas. It would be much easier to have certainty if the risen Jesus would appear so I could see him, and touch his wounds.
Seeing and touching bring certainty. But throughout John’s Gospel it is not by seeing that people are primarily brought to faith, but by the witness of faithful people, handed on from generation to generation.
I can see and touch on my own, without the help of anyone else. But the kind of belief that Jesus calls “blessed” requires encountering people of faith, and placing our trust in their experiences, and then taking a leap of faith of our own alongside them.
And as we live out these lives of faith together, we may not be able to touch the physical body of Jesus, but we can certainly see and touch the Body of Christ.