Scars, Doubt, Belief, and Faith

Scripture: Acts 2:14a, 22-32  • Psalm 16  • 1 Peter 1:3-9  • John 20:19-31

This second Sunday of the Easter season we read about witnesses to the Resurrected Jesus - Peter, the disciples, and finally "doubting" Thomas. In fairness to Thomas, he, like us, wants to see the evidence in order to believe. He said he would not believe until he could put his fingers in the mark of the nails, and his hand in Jesus' side, which was pierced. When it came right down to it, Thomas did not have to do that when he experienced the presence of the Lord.

Two of our articles this week concern the scars of Christ. See Deacon Sil Galvan's "The Wounded Healer," and Katherine K. Whitley's "Jesus of the Scars" What is the significance of the scars Jesus bore?

 Three articles are about faith. The Rev. Katherine Walker's "Fairh: More than a five letter word," Debie Thomas' "Unless I See," which also considers the scars of Christ and what they can mean to us, and Kirk Kubicek's "Shalom: Faithful to the Dream of God."

We have spent a lot of time during Lent reading, listening and discussing the presence of Christ. In the context of this week's gospel, enjoy the delightful imagined story of the disciple Thomas answering his grandson's questions about his encounter with the resurrected Christ in The Rev. Dr. Laura Mendenhall's "Dealing with Mystery."

Jesus said "Blessed are those who have not seen, but yet have come to believe." What does it take for us to believe in the risen and present Christ?