“Like it was, you know, so cool because I had some very important lines to, like say, you know, I said about the, you know, the two men in white that were like angels and I told Peter, that would be Barabas, you know him, he is the really tall kid in our grade and like I said that the tomb was EMPTY, and then like Peter rushed to the tomb, that is where you bury like a dead person, and he saw that it was you know, empty!”

“Yeah” said Lamar. “I know. You have told me fourteen hundred thousand times so far this week!”

“I did? Well, it felt so good to be the one who like actually SAID ABOUT the empty tomb.”

“I see” said Lamar. Now, THAT is a funny line for Lamar to say, because, you see, Lamar is blind. His eyes have never worked since he was born. Sometimes, when we say “I see.” we don’t so much mean it as “I can see with my eyes” but we mean it more like “I understand what you are telling me.”

So THAT is what Lamar meant when he said “I see.” to Running Chairs. But Running Chairs did not understand. She looked at Lamar and said “No you don’t! You can’t SEE!”

In today’s lesson, most of the disciples were gathered in a locked room. It was just after Jesus had been crucified and they were afraid that maybe THEY would be crucified also, because THEY were followers of Jesus. That is why they locked the doors. Then, suddenly, even though the doors REALLY WERE LOCKED, Jesus was standing right there with them. They could hardly understand, even though they could SEE him. Then Jesus showed them the marks that the nails made in his hands and they believed that it was Jesus, raised from the dead.

Now, a while later these same disciples saw Thomas and told him about seeing Jesus. Thomas had NOT been in that room. The disciples went on and on, but Thomas said “I won’t understand until I SEE Jesus with my own eyes, until I SEE the scars on his hands.” Thomas just could NOT wrap his brain around the idea that Jesus could be alive, because it was just a few days ago that Jesus had been crucified dead on the cross.

Now, as it turned out, the following week, when the disciples were gathered again, and this time Thomas WAS with them, and the doors were locked again, Jesus stood there with them. And Jesus said to Thomas, SEE, it is really me. Look at my hands where the nails left their mark.” NOW Thomas understood! NOW he believed.

I think it is hard for us to understand who Jesus is sometimes. After all, we can not actually SEE him. If we could see the real him we could understand better. And yet, even though be can’t SEE him, we BELIEVE! Partly because we have heard the stories passed down from ages past. The stories in the Bible are told by the very people who really DID SEE Jesus with their own eyes. And they told the stories for US so that, even though we do not see Jesus with our eyes, we can say “I understand, I believe!”

Lamar and Running Chairs were still talking. Running Chairs said “It must, like you know, be hard to UNDERSTAND when you can not, like SEE!”

Lamar said “I can’t see YOU, but I UNDERSTAND and BELIEVE that you are Running Chairs.”
“OH!” said Running Chairs. “I see!”

Jesus said “Blessed are those who have NOT seen and yet have come to understand and believe.” (place the Risen Christ) WE ARE THE BELIEVERS! THE END

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