Daily Manna, Year Two · Day 295 · October 22
The Second Week
“Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”
It is the same room, with the same doors shut, eight days later. The other disciples have seen Jesus alive, and Thomas has not. For a whole week they have lived side by side like that, with one man still waiting to see what the rest had seen.
What Thomas asks for is what the others were given without asking. On that first evening Jesus "stood in the midst," and "he shewed unto them his hands and his side." Mary Magdalene had already told them she had seen the Lord, yet they too were shown His wounds. Thomas puts his terms in words that have followed him ever since: "Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe." Eight days later, after greeting them all with peace, Jesus turns to Thomas, and the first words He speaks to him are Thomas's own conditions read back: "Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side." Thomas is given the very evidence he asked for, and he answers, "My LORD and my God."
Then comes the line that reaches past everyone standing in that room: "blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." John records it for people who will never be given what Thomas was given, and he says so two verses later: "these are written, that ye might believe." Peter says the same to churches that had never seen Jesus: "Whom having not seen, ye love." Paul makes it the normal shape of the whole Christian life: "For we walk by faith, not by sight."
So hear the blessing in the direction it was aimed, down the years toward readers like you. Perhaps you are reading this alone, on a morning when nothing special has happened, and you are going on with Jesus anyway. Then this word from the risen Lord is meant for you: "blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." It comes from the same voice that said "Peace be unto you" to men who had run away from Him, and that made room again for the one who came late and named his terms. He blesses you too.
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year one reading for day 295 is Grace and Glory Given (Psalm 84:11).