Is Seeing Really Believing?

Jesus said to him, "Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed." (John 20:29)

For some time I have been noticing one of the themes of this chapter – seeing is believing. I have noted how various people resisted believing until enough overwhelming evidence was seen to bring them to finally believe that Jesus really had overcome the power of death.

Simon Peter came with John to the tomb after Mary reported the tomb was empty, only to find folded grave-clothes inside the otherwise empty tomb. For him that was not enough evidence to compel him to remember and believe the words of Jesus that He would rise again from the dead. His own depression and remorse for denying Jesus during His trial likely hung like a dark pall over his mind and heart.

And so Simon Peter also came, following him, and entered the tomb; and he saw the linen wrappings lying there.

So the disciples went away again to their own homes. (John 20:6, 10)

John, the one self-dubbed 'the disciple whom Jesus loved,' saw the very same evidence. Interestingly in this chapter he is the only one who reports that he believed upon seeing this much evidence without actually having encountered Jesus alive in person by seeing Him.

So the other disciple who had first come to the tomb then also entered, and he saw and believed.

So the disciples went away again to their own homes. (John 20:8, 10)

Mary Magdalene returns to the tomb weeping as usual and encounters two angels, dialogs with them but still fails to be aware that all these strange things going on must indicate something extraordinary has taken place. Not until Jesus Himself speaks to her in a unique way that finally rivets her attention and awakens old memories of encounters from before does she finally lunge into belief.

But Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping; and so, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying.

When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus. (John 20:11-12, 14)

Around eight disciples cowering in the upper room with doors and windows bolted and barred for fear of the authorities, are suddenly astounded nearly a day after they have been informed that the women have seen Jesus in person. As Jesus meets personally with them, having circumvented all their physical obstructions, their fear and sorrow is finally transformed into rejoicing when they see the Lord.

And when He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side. The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord. (John 20:20)

Finally, Thomas, the one we like to accuse of being a greater doubter, insisted that unless he too got to see the evidence in person like nearly everyone else had, he would refuse to believe. But let's not be too harsh with Thomas, for the record here shows that with the exception of John no one else had believed without seeing Jesus in person either.

So the other disciples were saying to him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe." (John 20:25)

I find it interesting how John makes a point of sharing the story of Thomas along with all the others who resisted or refused to believe until they personally saw Jesus for themselves. Each one of them had been given opportunity to engage in saving faith/belief without physically seeing Jesus first, yet each one except John had passed up that opportunity. I believe John relays these stories here to support the emphatic point he wants to make in the verse presented above, that true belief should not be linked to personal physical encounters or even miracles.

Paul mentions this issue later on when he said, for we walk by faith, not by sight. (2 Corinthians 5:7)

Our humanness longs for physical proof, miracles, hard evidence before we think we can believe in things not seen. Sadly nearly every disciple in these stories passed up the opportunity to demonstrate to the world the kind of faith that would be needed by all who would come after them. John shares each of their stories not only to provide evidence upon which we may base our belief, but also as warnings for us to not cling to unbelief.

But these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name. (John 20:31)

Jesus made a point of separating what to us almost seems inseparable – seeing and believing. Because you have seen Me, have you believed? There must have been sadness in the face of Jesus when He said this to Thomas. But it was not only a gentle rebuke to Thomas alone, for everyone saving John had required seeing Him in person before they were willing to believe.

Maybe that is why John makes the point of reminding us that Jesus says there is genuine blessing in believing without seeing. This was a blessing that most of them had by-passed waiting for enough evidence to convince them. John then says that all of these things were recorded so that we would not fall into the same trap of unbelief as they had.

And just what is it that we are supposed to believe? What are we to believe that will bring into our lives this blessing that Jesus promised? This is a question I have had most of my life and is one of the main reasons I have spent years immersing myself in the writings of John. What does it really mean to believe? Believe what?! has been the cry of my heart for many years. I want to know the real answer to this personally, for I have long sensed that until I enter into a much deeper kind of belief than simply acknowledging that Jesus came from heaven, lived, died and was resurrected, I will never experience the kind of transformation that seems inherent in this promised blessing that I so desperately need.

John says here that when we believe that Jesus is our Messiah (Christ in Greek) and that Jesus is also the Son of God, inherent in this very belief is life, and that happens in His name.

These two elements of belief have huge implications associated with them that need much more unpacking. But at this point I will simply say that spending quiet time alone with God for the past number of years soaking in this good news as recorded by John, my own belief has begun to awaken; my own testimony has become more confident; my own assurance has been more secure and I am starting to feel that I too have glimpsed the Christ and have begun to experience life in His name.