Canadian-born ice-hockey player, Phil Esposito was one of a number of North American ice-hockey players who went to Moscow to play the Soviet team in the early 1970s, during the depths of the Cold War.   Assigned to a hotel room, the Americans suspected the place might be bugged.  Esposito and his teammates searched the room for hidden microphones.   Finally they rolled back the rug, and found a funny-looking round piece of metal imbedded in the floor.  They figured they had found the bug.  They dug it out of the floor.  Then they heard a crash beneath them.  They had released the anchor to the chandelier in the ceiling below.  There is a place for healthy disbelief, and a place for trust and acceptance.  The hockey-player, Phil Esposito and the apostle, Thomas had trouble moving from one to the other.

Out of the eleven disciples, Thomas was the only one who was not present when Jesus appeared to the disciples.  When Thomas showed up, imagine the disciples’ excitement at telling him that they had seen Jesus, that they had touched his nail prints and had put their own hands against his side.  Imagine Thomas’ skepticism as he responded that unless he experienced what they had experienced, he would not believe it.   For a week or so, Thomas had lived with this nagging doubt while the rest of the disciples were still being warmed by the memory of their encounter with the Risen Lord.  Then it happened!  Jesus offered Thomas the same opportunity at verification that he had previously offered the other disciples.  Upon seeing for himself the marks of the crucifixion, Thomas proclaimed in open confession “My Lord and my God!”

Thomas is a representative of us moderns.  “To see is to believe,” is the same for us too.   Visual verification is the only antidote to gullibility.  It matters not what he had been told.  It matters not the trustworthiness of those who told him.  All that matters is a truth that IS personal and tangible.   When the unbelievable became visual and when the visual was confirmed by the tangible, then belief became believable.   We have not seen Jesus in flesh, and that does not make us second-class believers or in any way diminish our faith.   On the other hand, we are commended for our faith in the Risen Lord.  Jesus said, “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”

“Beloved, everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is begotten by God, and everyone who loves the Father loves also the one begotten by him.”  (Jn 5:1)

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Next weekend's second collection is for the Parish Emergency Fund.