The promise of Easter, the hope that we have from Christ’s resurrection is new life in Christ that is “imperishable, undefiled, and unfading.” It is this living hope that the disciple Thomas could not begin to imagine until he personally witnessed the presence of Christ Jesus along with the other disciples in the house the week after the resurrection, until he heard Jesus say, “Reach out your hand…believe.” Believe in the good news of salvation; believe in the new covenant of reconciliation that God has established in the Paschal mystery of Christ’s death and resurrection.

For Thomas, this was a completely new paradigm. There was nothing in the past to prepare him for such a revelation. For us, who fortunately are “surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,”(Heb.12:1) the story is such a part of our history that it is hard to imagine the shock, the wonder, the awe that coursed through Thomas’ mind and heart. We have had the testimony of those witnesses from Mary Magdalene at the empty tomb, to the couple on the road to Emmaus, to Jesus’ initial band of disciples, through the apostles Paul, Barnabus, Silas, Timothy, the evangelists of scripture—Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John, the early Church fathers, the saints, the theologians, the reformers, and all the faithful who have shared their experiences and revelations of the risen Christ with us. We “who have been reborn into the fellowship of Christ’s Body,” know the reality of the salvation of our souls, the truth of God’s redeeming grace bringing us to everlasting life in and with Christ Jesus. We know what it is to have Christ reach out to us to draw us into his loving presence, to lift us up when we are discouraged or sorrowful, to heal our deep-seated woundedness, to strengthen our faith when doubts assail us, to surround us with his perfect peace. We “rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy” that we are among the “blessed…who have not seen and yet have come to believe,” that we have come “into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading.” Thanks be to God! Alleluia! Alleluia!