Fr. Johnny Go SJ: First of all, to see is not to believe. This disciple saw virtually nothing, so seeing is not a necessary condition for believing. Yet today so many of us demand concrete proof as a condition for believing. Here we’re told, that’s not how one believes. That’s not how faith operates at all. Secondly, to know is not to believe either. The disciple did not believe because he understood the Scripture and had knowledge about the resurrection. We are told very explicitly that he and Peter didn’t. Again today we have a great appetite for knowledge before believing. But here we see that knowing isn’t the same as believing. In fact, we are told quite the opposite: We believe precisely because we don’t know or understand enough. If we knew or understood, that wouldn’t be faith. That would be–you guessed it!–to know and understand. Finally, believing involves reasoning and deciding. Biblical scholars tell us that the detail about the burial cloths being folded properly is significant because it indicates that the body of Jesus wasn’t stolen. If the body had been stolen, the robbers would have taken the burial cloths with them because they would have been in a hurry and also because the burial cloths could have been sold. So the disciple did some reasoning here before believing. But note: His reasoning wasn’t fool-proof. It didn’t warrant a conclusion that was 100% certain, so it required the disciple to make a choice, to decide whether or not he would believe.
Posted on: Sat, 19 Apr 2014 22:32:00 +0000