Jesus watches us

Have you ever heard someone say, "She has eyes in the back of her head"? That's a silly way of saying that your mom or your teacher can tell when you're being bad, even if they're not looking at you.

Jesus must have "eyes in the back of His head," too. Even after He dies and rises from the dead, we find out in this week's Gospel (John 20:19-31) that He always sees what we're doing!

After Jesus died, the Apostles hid in a locked room so they wouldn't be arrested, too. Suddenly, Jesus appeared! "Peace be with you. Receive the Holy Spirit," He said. He gave them the power to forgive sins and disappeared. Thomas wasn't there. "I don't believe it happened," he said. Then Jesus came back. "My Lord and my God!" Thomas said. Jesus answered, "You believe in me because you see me. Blessed are those who haven't seen me, but believe in me anyway."

Jesus knows where we are and what we're doing ALL the time. When the Apostles hid, the lock on the door didn't stop Him. Like you, He knew they were "getting into trouble": They were so sad and scared that they weren't thinking about following Him.

When people have "eyes in the back of their head," they might yell at you for doing something bad, even if they didn't see you do it. Jesus' friends got in trouble like that: He said they could forgive people's sins, so they'd better go do that instead of hiding!

Sometimes, the eyes in the back of someone's head are wrong. You might get yelled at when you didn't do anything! Thomas had a different problem: He DIDN'T believe Jesus had visited because he wasn't there to see it.

It can be good to have "eyes in the back of your head," to believe in things you can't see. Thomas learned to believe in Jesus whether or not he could see Him. Just like the Apostles, Jesus' eyes are always watching us!

PRAYER FOR THE WEEK: Jesus, help me remember you're always watching and listening to me! Amen.

(04-08-99)