“Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed” John 20:29.
In our postmodern rational world, “seeing is believing”. In our Gospel today, the resurrected Jesus appears to Mary Magdalena and the Disciples at different times. “Doubting Thomas” is not there the first time that Jesus appears, but he is there the second time. Jesus invites Thomas to feel the nail holes in his hands and touch his pierced side. Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed” (John 20:29). Thomas was postmodern in his belief of the Resurrection: he needed to see it to believe it.
In my literal reading of the Gospel of John, Jesus was murdered by the religious establishment because they wanted to keep their power. But Jesus took that crime against an innocent man, and gave humanity “plans to prosper and not to harm, plans for a hope and a future” (paraphrased Jeremiah 29:11). His Resurrection changed history forever. His first words to his male disciples were, “Peace be with you.” After being violently murdered by the established powers, Jesus speaks Peace. Wow! Now that is heavenly love.
Fr. Richard Rohr explains the resurrection in a very inspiring way in his book The Universal Christ (2019, p. 147). He writes:
“The Divine Mind transforms all human suffering by identifying completely with the human predicament, and standing in full solidarity with it from beginning to end. This is the real meaning of the crucifixion. The cross is not just a singular event. It is a statement from God that reality has a cruciform pattern. Jesus was killed in a collision of cross-purposes, conflicting interests, and half-truths, caught between the demands of an empire and the religious establishment of his day. The cross was the price Jesus paid for living in a “mixed” world, which is both human and divine, simultaneously broken and yet utterly whole… In so doing, Jesus demonstrated that Reality is not meaningless and absurd, even if it isn’t always perfectly logical or consistent… Jesus agreed to carry the mystery of universal suffering. He allowed it to change him (“Resurrection”) and, it is to be hoped, us, so that we would be freed from the endless cycle of projecting our pain elsewhere or remaining trapped inside of it.”
I love this explanation of the Cross and Resurrection. It takes into account both the historical account of Jesus’s life and the theological meaning of his life. It shows that God does not cause or condone our suffering, but rather he gives us a model of how to get through suffering. Like Thomas, we can see and believe both the literally Resurrected Jesus, and the model of how all humans can resurrect from inevitable suffering in this world.
The way through is “peace” and “forgiveness,” which are the first two instructions that Jesus gives to his disciples when appearing in his resurrected form. When we seek peace and forgiveness after our own “crucifixion” moments, we are also resurrected to a new and better life. Praise be Jesus Christ forever!