In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, Amen.
Christ is risen!
John’s Gospel, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, is beautiful: it is quite different in structure and style than the other three because, it seems, the Beloved Disciple is deliberately picking out many of the words and actions of the Lord not included by the other evangelists. The Apostle John is putting forward testimony—trial testimony—to show,
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:1
And,
the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
1:14
And, as we have heard today,
these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing, you may have life in his name.
The Theologian does this through narrating seven Signs showing Jesus to be the Christ—changing water into wine at the wedding of Cana (2:1–11), healing the nobleman’s son (4:46–54), healing the paralytic by the pool of Bethesda (5:1–15), feeding the five thousand (6:1–14), walking on the water (6:16–21), healing the man born blind (9:1–12) and the raising of Lazarus from the dead (11:1–43). On none of these occasions do we know how the Sign was brought about—though it would be complete hubris on my part to believe I could even attempt to understand the exact detail—but that the Sign took place: and believing this testimony, we are pointed to Christ.
And the eighth Sign of St John’s Gospel, the Resurrection itself, likewise has no explanation how, but it was necessary that the disciples experience it, experience the risen Christ, that we may be shown the divinity of Christ. They had heard the report of the women disciples, whose “words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not believe them.” (Luke 24:11) And Thomas maintains for us this necessity of tangible evidence,
Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and place my finger in the mark of the nails, and place my hand in his side, I will not believe.
Because, for Thomas, he knew the implications of the Resurrection. If this is true then everything changes, if this is true then the trajectory of his life will be completely altered, if this is true then death has been defeated.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we have been given the testimony of the Apostle John, the Signs in his Gospel pointing us towards Christ. Thomas, too, had seen the Signs. But he wanted an experience of the living God in order to confirm his beliefs, and we should too. We should not rely on the testimony of others but be as the people of Sychar,
Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.
John 4:42
Christ is risen!
To our incarnate, crucified and risen God and Saviour Jesus Christ be all glory, honour and worship, together with his unoriginate Father and the All-holy, Good and Life-giving Spirit. Amen.
In those days, many signs and wonders were done among the people by the hands of the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon’s Portico. None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high honor. And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women, so that they even carried out the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and pallets, that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of them. The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed. But the high priest rose up and all who were with him, that is, the party of the Sadducees, and filled with jealousy they arrested the apostles and put them in the common prison. But at night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out and said, “Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life.”
— Acts 5:12–20
On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being shut where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent Me, even so I send you.” And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and place my finger in the mark of the nails, and place my hand in His side, I will not believe.” Eight days later, His disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. The doors were shut, but Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then He said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see My hands; and put out your hand, and place it in My side; do not be faithless, but believing.” Thomas answered Him, “My Lord and My God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen Me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.” Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing, you may have life in His name.
— John 20:19–31