Let’s return for a few moments to a site just outside the walls of Jerusalem on that first Easter Sunday morning. It was the women bringing spices to anoint Jesus’ body who first noticed that the stone had been rolled away and that Jesus was not inside the tomb. Of course, they immediately ran and told the disciples who had been in hiding since Jesus’ crucifixion. Not quite sure of the women’s report, Peter and John ran to the tomb, wondering if someone had stolen His body, or maybe they were even thinking that the women had gone to the wrong tomb! When the disciples entered the tomb, they found only the linen cloths in which Jesus was wrapped, but no body. They knew that the body was not stolen, as any thief would have taken the entire body, grave clothes and all. In addition, the linens were not unwrapped, but were still in place. In the end, Peter and John, and indeed all the disciples, believed the women’s story – Jesus’ body was not stolen, but was indeed “missing.”

The disciples had about twelve more hours to contemplate where Jesus’ body had gone. On that same evening, in the upper room with the doors and windows shut for fear of the Jews, Jesus appeared to His disciples, showing them His nail-pierced hands and feet, and his side into which the spear had been plunged by the Roman soldier. They saw Jesus’ “resurrected” body and heard Him say, “Peace be with you.” Their senses of sight, touch, and hearing confirmed that Jesus had risen from the dead and had appeared to them, fully alive in His resurrected body.

But one of the disciples was missing from the room, and after hearing the full account given by the other disciples, Thomas refused to believe unless he himself could see and put his hands in the nail prints and in the wound in His side. It wasn’t until eight days later that Jesus showed up again, and this time Thomas was with the other disciples. He saw, he touched, and he heard those same words from Jesus, “Peace be with you.” With that, Thomas uttered these famous words, “My Lord and my God,” (Jn. 20:28), fully affirming Jesus’ resurrection as well as His deity.

It was then that Jesus responded to all His disciples, “You believe because you have seen Me. Blessed are those who did not see, and yet have believed” (Jn. 20:29). Jesus was affirming that although many would see Him in His resurrected body during the coming weeks before His ascension to heaven (Paul records the number at more than 500 people), there would be millions who would not see Him, but would believe in the oral and written testimony of His disciples. You and I are among that group who are asked to believe in their testimony.  

And this is the essence of faith. Faith is trusting in the historical testimony of others and being convinced of spiritual truths that we cannot see (Heb. 11:1-2). Some say, “Seeing is believing,” but Jesus says that we are truly blessed if we choose to believe without having seen Him with our physical eyes. We are not talking about being gullible, that is, believing in myths or fairy tales, but believing in credible evidence based upon the eye-witness testimony of those who were willing to die for what they witnessed. If the story was fabricated by the disciples, can you imagine that they would be willing to die for something that they knew was false? Preposterous. 

Jesus calls each of us to believe in the testimony of His disciples. He is risen and risen indeed, and is alive today. He wants to give you life, His life. Because He lives, He can give it to you. All you need to do is to ask.