Missing Out

Where was Thomas?

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe." A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe." Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe." 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 come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name. - John 20:19-31

For some reason, Thomas didn't get the invitation to the first meeting when Jesus popped in, and that must have made him a bit annoyed.

His reaction was typical.  

Since he missed out on the encounter, he had to rationalize it away.  He must have thought there would be no second chance, so why not claim to be more suspicious, less gullible than the rest.

If I was here, he is saying, I would have wanted to probe his wounds to be sure I wasn't seeing a ghost.

When I look at it that way, I can understand his reaction.

Like many of us who hear a fantastic tale from someone we know, there could be a bit of envy that takes over our reasoning.

I wish I had been there.  But, if I was, we may add, this is how I would make sure I was not being duped.

In other words, you could have been duped, but I wouldn't have been.

Bingo!

Thomas was jealous of his mates.  He wanted to have experienced what they did, and he thought he had missed his chance.

Surprise!

Would Jesus have not returned if Thomas hadn't set the conditions he did?  Maybe.  We will never know.

But John's telling of this story should remind us of our own envy when we miss out, and maybe we will be a little more open to the possibility what we are being told is true.

More to come...