We begin our meditation on John 20:24-31
Jesus died and resurrected and appeared to the apostles. He appeared to several persons in particular but also to all. The word that we read in John 20:24-31, is testimony of what the Holy Spirit draws near to us, as He did with the apostle Thomas. You, this, as he, were not with the others when the Lord appeared to them.
“If I don’t see the mark in his hands, if I don’t put my hand in his side, where the lance struck him, I will not believe.” Several days passed, there were the disciples united, Jesus appeared also to Thomas who responded: “My Lord and My God!” In that moment, Jesus called attention to him, for although he had much time with the Savior, he did not believe that Jesus would resurrect from the dead.
We are like St Thomas, we need to understand to believe. But the road that also exists is the opposite: to believe to understand. The difference between these two roads is notable. They are important to the studies of Theology on the history of Jesus Christ on the history of our salvation, all this is in order that the act of believing in God is not a superstitious belief.
Jesus has, for us, not a revivement, but a resurrection. When we don’t believe, we can run the risk of hiding ourselves behind our studies, that never will arrive to the fullness of response to what was the resurrection. When a person realizes an extraordinary work, we understand that it is a work of the human being, but the works of God we do not continue to understand. The faith appeals always to God, but our mind appears to the search that never ends. When a human being wants to understand to believe, he wants to say to God, as this, how He should act. In this way, upon seeking the truth, it is he who wants to dictate the rules; he can work in interminable searches, but never is he going to believe in the truth. It is necessary that we bow down before the great truth of the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
We want to believe that Jesus resurrected truly, we direct the will to Him. It is to believe in order to understand! Upon having faith in the resurrection we make an experience that dispenses explanations. Therefore, God opens the doors in order that each time we may understand more the mystery of the resurrection.
There exist people who find that the bible is a book only for interpretations as if it was like a body dissected in a study. No! the bible is a mode of relationship with God, it is alive! It should be understood through faith, not through speculation. The Word of God itself is going to be revealed to us in the measure that we draw near to it. It is not a historical book. Whomever draws near to it, in search of the truth, will encounter the truth. Upon seeking for it, we need to understand that it is of the faith that we share in order to comprehend it and live her teachings. This is the parting pont. A theology that is born from faith, it lights our days.
Jesus resurrected! Alleluia! It was through faith that we arrive to this truth through the intermediary of the power of Christ and of His Holy Spirit. Many of the time of Jesus will be able to stop in studies in order that afterwards they may believe in the resurrection, however, with the help of the faith, the will believe truly and this grace arrives to us.
Whomever puts his faith in the resurrection live and if he is dead, also he lives and will be saved! What should you do to be saved? Believe in the resurrection. When we put our faith in this, we with Christ resurrect. In Jesus we pass from death to live and through Easter, we celebrate this new live that comes from Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Márcio Mendes
Member of the Canção Nova Community
Transcrição e adaptação: Luana Oliveira