Many of us are familiar with the story of Thomas, the so-called doubting Thomas of the gospel of John.  As the story goes, when he was told that Jesus had risen from the dead, Thomas insisted that he would not believe it unless he could put his hands on Jesus' nail shredded hands and his fingers into the hole in his side left by a Roman spear after Jesus had expired.
     A few days later, Jesus appeared to the disciples and, after greeting them, invited Thomas to do what he had indicated he wanted to do.  When Thomas physically felt Jesus' hands and side, he exclaimed, "My Lord and my God."  He really believed.
     In response, Jesus remarked to Thomas that, "Because you have seen me, have you believed?  Blessed are they who have not seen, and yet believed."
     One might say that faith in Jesus was easy while he walked on Earth; people could see him, touch him, hear his words.  As we know from various accounts, however, it was not always so easy; many did not believe.  But they could not deny that Jesus was there.
     For we who are living many centuries later, faith becomes even more difficult.  Whether we believe or not, we cannot point to a physical Jesus, walking and talking on the hills and dales of the planet.
     Yet the evidence for Jesus remains, enshrined in the annals of numerous writers of the ancient world as well as in the four gospels of the New Testament.  But try as we might, we will never see Jesus standing before us.
     So we have a choice.  We can realize that we cannot see and believe the testimony of those who did; or we can realize that we cannot see and deny the testimony of those who did.  We can understand that faith only happens if we let it be what it must be, that is, assenting to, with reason and reasonable evidence, the only thing that can be true.