This last section of John, which really isn’t a section but just an arbitrary group of chapters based on the reading pattern I have chosen, really illuminates the length to which Jesus went to demonstrate who He was.  John, probably more than the other gospel writers, really connects Jesus’ identity with Jesus’ actions leading up to and after the crucifixion and resurrection.  John is trying to emphasize that the disciples didn’t get it, but that Jesus was very explicit in demonstrating who He was.  It is with humility that John writes this...being one of the disciples himself.  Further, the fact that John was the so called ‘beloved one’ and that he didn’t really get it or really buy into who Jesus was until He returned further makes the point.  You know, I can’t blame these guys though...I have never seen a guy hung on a cross and then had him come back and join me for dinner a few days later, so that would be difficult to accept and anticipate regardless of what that person did to convince me that it was going to happen.  Thomas’ reaction that we see today is really most everyone’s reaction at some level, the reaction of “I’ll believe it when I see it”.

And I guess that’s the big take away from all of this for me today...it is the reminder that hindsight is 20/20, and that with regard to the resurrection, I can’t experience it, read about it, or learn about it without this hindsight.  It is easy to see the pieces coming together from where I sit.  But in my own life, on a day-to-day basis, I need to understand that these disciples were in Jesus’ midst and they didn’t get it; I am not in Jesus’ midst, though I do have the Holy Spirit as a substitute, and I can easily miss what God has for me.  I MUST learn to humble myself, to seek out and listen to God’s guidance, and I must be attentive to what He is telling me in the world around me, or I will miss whatever He has for me as well.  I can look back on my life now and easily see times when God was moving and I didn’t see it...and I must learn to trust that God continues in that way in my life now.  A big part of our spiritual journey is learning to live WITH God in the moment vs. always looking back and realizing that He was actually there and that I didn’t realize it.  It is hard...it is weird in some ways, because God is the only friend I have that I can’t see or touch...but that is the way it is for now.