"Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you."
John 20:21

We see Jesus speak these words to the disciples after His resurrection. It is the first time they have seen Him since He was crucified on the cross and laid to rest in the tomb three days prior. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord, but Thomas, one of the Twelve Disciples was not there. So they told him, they saw Jesus. Due to Thomas' skeptic nature he said, "Unless I see the nail marks in His hands and put my fingers where the nails were, and put my hand into side, I will not believe."

I like Thomas need to see before I believe. No matter the issue I tend to rely on facts, not faith. Despite Thomas' best friends telling him what they had seen and experienced, he did not believe it, because it was not his experience. I think too many times myself and others I speak with discredit one another's experiences because they did not witness it firsthand; whether it be issues concerning race, gender, or religion it becomes extremely difficult to empathize with another person when it did not happen to you. Instead of creating an environment of calmness we have one of conflict.

Luckily the story does not end here and we see in the text that Jesus returns a week later. Though the door was locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" Then He said to Thomas, "Put your fingers here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe." Thomas at that moment realizes that everything his friends had said was true. Thomas knew that his Lord had risen from the dead and was alive.

Unfortunately most of us including myself need an out of body experience to see what we did not see originally. When I was younger I was taught to be color blind. I was told that we are all one in Christ Jesus; which I affirm to this day. However this is only true in the Kingdom of God, and not here within our western society. I am a white male from a middle class family and have experienced great privilege. In being color blind I assumed that everyone had the same experiences I have had and because of that I made light of other people's hurts and pain. My goal was freedom from disturbance, but I just added to the noise.

Jesus responds to Thomas, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." Jesus not only said those words to Thomas, but to me and all those who have read the scriptures. I truly believe it is only by the Holy Spirit that we can understand these things and have peace. We see earlier in text that Jesus breathed on the disciples and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone's sin, their sin are forgiven." The first thing Jesus says to his friends is, "Peace be with you!" It is of the most importance that everything Jesus does starts with peace.

I believe that it is only through dialogue can we start to understand and accept one another. So with that I ask for forgiveness from my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ as well as those who may not know the way of Jesus. I apologize for not believing you and criticizing your experience. I pray that I can sit in a position of listening and start to hear where God is sending me in this journey of peace making and bridge building.

In God's love,

- TC