Human understanding can only develop when some connection---some bond exists among people. Empathy is strengthened by love, and relationships are enhanced when a common connection is recognized. An orchestra conductor will tell you that it is easy to tell if a musician loves the music being played by the beauty of the musician’s performance. A teacher will tell you that you can tell when a teacher loves the subject being taught by the enthusiastic response of his/her students. An artist will tell you that successful art is only accomplished when the artist is in love with the focus of his/her talent. Love gives us new eyes to see clearly. It strengthens understanding, secures faith, and draws us together as the people of God.
The early followers of Jesus encountered him and not only remembered him, but also experienced him. He became more than a beautiful story fondly remembered, but a living presence in their lives. They followed him in his dying and in his rising and then lived life differently. The Jesus of history became the Jesus of their lives---lives nurtured and strengthened by his love that cemented their faith.
Those first believers clung to a memory of someone whom they had known and lost, and whose faith and love radically changed their lives. Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection radically changed their worldview and became the focal point of their lives, the cause of their joy, and the foundation of their faith. Today we encounter the same Jesus breathing the Spirit upon us and experience a dramatic change in our worldview. As St. Augustine reminded us: “We are Easter people and alleluia is our song.” Karl Rahner explained that our Easter alleluia is “not only for what was, but also for what is and will forever be.”
Our gospel today retells the encounter between Jesus and Thomas and leaves us with the same challenge, “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” We too must move beyond the current world of what is, into the realm of faith that doesn’t see yet believes. It is this faith that makes possible the experience of resurrection, and it is this faith that sees beyond the finality of death and accepts the possibility of a greater and fuller everlasting life. This is our greatest leap of faith possible only through our belief in Jesus’ love for us.
Over seventy years ago Dietrich Bonhoeffer reminded us of the power of faith: “If only a few people really believed and acted on the experience of Jesus’ resurrection, we, and the world, would be greatly and forever changed. To live in the light of resurrection---this is what Easter means.” Living in that light reminds us that it is not at all unreasonable for those who live in doubt and uncertainty to ask to see our faith-credentials. If we have polished our Jesus-image to a high shine and are living it, those in doubt and darkness will beat a path to our door.
The primary work of Easter, as spiritual writer Alice Camille tells it is: “to tell what we know, to give witness to what we have seen, and to be the Body of Christ visibly and irrefutably.” When that time arrives for us, we get caught up in what Pope Francis calls “Jesus’ ever expanding forgiving love,” and we echo the words of Thomas, “My Lord and my God,” because our love relationship with him has drastically improved our vision of our God and our world.