When at the Last Supper Jesus tells the Apostles he is going away, and suggests to them that they know the way to the place where he is going, Thomas says ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going, so how can we know the way’ (John 14:5). Jesus responds, ‘I am the way, the truth and the life’ (John 14:6). Thomas joins Peter and the others when after Jesus’ death Peter suggests that he is going fishing (John 21:2). Thomas is absent when Jesus appears to the Apostles on Easter Sunday evening(John 20:19-31). We don’t know why. Maybe he just went for a walk. He may have been filled with hurt, or anger, or fear, or guilt, feelings he had difficulty sharing with the others. Maybe he thought his feelings were unique to him, that no one could identify with them. It may be that only when Jesus showed him his wounds that Thomas was, in turn, able to accept his own wounds – his hurt, or anger, or fear or guilt, or whatever. There’s a grace there for us. We live in a world when it is important to be perfect. When we are invited to ‘follow your dreams’ when everything should be great. And it isn’t always great. Jesus accepted his scars. Thomas learnt to. We ought to risk it. Like Thomas, we weren’t present when the risen Jesus appeared to the Apostles on Easter Sunday. Like Thomas, we didn’t hear the words ‘Peace be with you’. We didn’t see the holes in Jesus’ hands and side. That’s why you and I are blessed, according to Jesus – we haven’t seen Jesus, as Thomas did, the following Sunday. Yet, we believe. And the Lord says, ‘Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe’.