GIFTED: The Light of Faith

Thomas gets a bad rap. Commonly referred to as “Doubting Thomas,” he claims that he needs to see and touch Jesus before he would be willing to believe that Jesus is alive. But how different are we from Thomas? After all, it’s pretty hard to believe that Jesus is alive sometimes. We haven’t seen him, so how can we know?

The answer is simple, and yet difficult: through faith. Thomas learns this in our Gospel reading from John 20. When Jesus eventually appears to Thomas, he says, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe” (verse 27). What does Thomas do? Instead of touching Jesus’s wounds, Thomas says in verse 28, “My Lord and my God!” He is given faith from Jesus – he doesn’t need to touch him for confirmation anymore.

But we’re different from Thomas, we say. We probably won’t see him in the flesh until the Last Day. We’re not so different: we also need to have faith, and Jesus gives it to us. “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (verses 30-31). We have been given everything we need to have faith, and our faith is an incredible gift and a testimony from the one who sent us. Now the question is, what do we do with it?

Our lives have been written that others may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. We too are a witness to Christ. We too are here for a purpose. We have the light of the Living God inside of us; now it’s time for us to share it.