Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.’”
NL Daily Devotion for Sunday, April 12, 2026
by Dr. Kimberly Leetch, Clergy Stuff
Main Idea: Whether by hearing or seeing, those who believe are blessed by Jesus.
Can we stop calling this the story of “doubting Thomas” please? The moniker implies that people who believed without seeing are somehow more blessed than people who believe because they’ve seen or had “proof.” But truly, how many of us would have believed without seeing? Very few, I imagine.
Let’s look at the entire story. The disciples were gathered and hiding from the Jews when Jesus appeared to them. The disciples present all saw Jesus with their own eyes. They felt his breath and heard his voice. Thomas was not with them.
A week later they were again gathered, this time with Thomas. Jesus appeared again. Thomas saw Jesus. He was invited to touch Jesus and he heard his voice. The experienced Jesus with the same evidence as the other disciples. But because he hadn’t believed their story, he has forever been labeled “doubting.”
Jesus then lifted up the people (everyone else for all time who wasn’t them) who would believe without seeing. It’s not a condemnation of those who believed because they saw with their own eyes. It’s an invitation to spread the word, even knowing that others will have a hard time believing without seeing. But making others believe is not the job of these disciples. Their job was to proclaim it to whoever would hear, and leave the believing bit up to God. The entire exchange was not about belittling the disciples, but about empowering them (all of them) to proclaim boldly, even knowing they would be discounted.
Although we don’t have the luxury of witnessing Jesus’ risen body, that doesn’t mean that some believers haven’t “seen” him. Even today there are a special few that have seen Jesus in ways most of us may not ever get to do. There are some who are so attuned to God’s presence that they can spot God’s hand on a thing when others cannot. Sometimes we lift up these special people. More often than we ought we dismiss them as nuts. Jesus didn’t discriminate. He empowered and encouraged anybody who believed regardless of how they came to believe. What a gift it would be to your community to hear the stories of how people came to believe, and to believe them!
