Scripture Scribbles: April 27, 2025

the Gospel

John 20:19-31

On the evening of that first day of the week,

when the doors were locked, where the disciples were,

for fear of the Jews,

Jesus came and stood in their midst

and said to them, “Peace be with you.”

When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side.

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.”

And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them,

“Receive the Holy Spirit.

Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them,

and whose sins you retain are retained.”

Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve,

was not with them when Jesus came.

So the other disciples said to 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 into the nailmarks

and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

Now a week later his disciples were again inside

and Thomas was with them.

Jesus came, although the doors were locked,

and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.”

Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands,

and bring your hand and put it into my side,

and do not be unbelieving, but believe.”

Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me?

Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples

that are not written in this book.

But these are written that you may come to believe

that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,

and that through this belief you may have life in his name.

the scribble

Jesus did not love Thomas any less just because Thomas didn’t believe at first that Christ came back to life. Thomas stuck to “to see is to believe” in this Biblical account, lest he becomes disappointed if what his comrades claimed wasn’t true after all. He wanted reassurance. He wanted evidence.

Shortly after this incident, the Lord gave his doubting apostle the proof that he was seeking for. But after doing so, Jesus neither gave Thomas a lecture nor an earful. Instead, Jesus said, “blessed are those who have not seen and have believed”. For many people, this is a lot to ask: believing without seeing. This is perhaps the reason why deep believers, those who follow without all necessary proof, are so blessed. Because, at a certain point, they let go of these things: science and logic. Faith and reason coexist and work together. It is good to seek rational proof for our belief. And yet, to have a deep level of faith, we need to look beyond science and logic. Jesus goes beyond science and logic, as He Himself is logic.

Realistically, when it comes to divinities, there’s no science and logic that is comprehensible to the human mind. And God alone is capable of miracles, like the one that happened three days after Jesus’s death.

Going back to Thomas. He alone can answer why he wanted proof of Jesus’ resurrection that day. But this we know and are certain of: Didymus loved Christ so much. So much that maybe he was grieving much more than the others were. Perhaps for this apostle, everything was too much to process. Too much and too soon. It was one mystery after another. Those close to Jesus, including the apostles, shifted from mourning to rejoicing, real quick. “Real quick” is sometimes hard, because our brains need time to adjust properly.

Just recently, we experienced something real quick too. This time, it’s a shift from rejoicing to mourning. We just had a solemn, meaningful, and blessed Holy Week. We were still exulting because it was Easter last Sunday. However, the next day, right after Easter Sunday, to our immense shock and deep sorrow, we received news that our beloved Pope Francis has passed away. I couldn’t stop my tears even if I wanted to and I didn’t want to. We are grieving now, like Thomas did. This pain is the kind that grips and pierces our hearts when losing a family member.

Yes, we really are a family because we’re all God’s children. However, losing His Holiness is another level entirely. Knowing that we won’t see him alive again and won’t hear his tender yet firm voice again, leaves an unfillable void, an emptiness in me that no words could ever describe. How has his passing impacted your lives? Do we share the same sentiments? Then Thomas must have felt this for Jesus Christ, too.

Someday, our hope that Pope Francis is already blissfully in heaven praying for us and celebrating eternal life with the Almighty will give us comfort. But not real quick. Not yet for me, because I need time to process and heal, just like the others.

Please join us in praying for the repose of the soul of the Holy Father.
Please also join us in lifting up the Church in this transition period—and for our next Pope!

Today’s devotion was written by Edwina Yu