Mystery of the cave

Jesus, teach me that some wild stories can be true -- like your coming back to life on Easter! Amen.

After Jesus died, the Apostles stayed in a room to talk about it. They locked the door, but, suddenly, Jesus came in anyway! "Peace be with you," He said, and gave them the power to forgive sins. One Apostle, Thomas, wasn't there -- and didn't believe the others saw Jesus. Later, Jesus came back when Thomas was there. "Peace be with you -- and, Thomas, believe in me," He said. So Thomas did!

Lots of times, when a kid tells a story to an adult, the adult doesn't believe it. You can swear, "It's true! Someone in my class already has a car, and he's only 12!" But your parents just roll their eyes.

What's even more frustrating is that you often can't prove your story until your parents hear it for themselves: Your classmate's parents really are keeping a car for him to drive when he turns 16!

If that's frustrating for you, then Jesus' Apostles must have been going out of their minds with frustration. In this week's Gospel (John 20:19-31), Jesus has come back to life -- but one Apostle, Thomas, doesn't see it and won't believe it.

Sometimes, adults don't believe kids just because they ARE kids. Your parents might think you want to impress them so much that you believed your classmate has a car without seeing any proof, so they automatically doubt you.

That could be where Thomas was at: He knew the other Apostles wanted Jesus to be alive again, so he thought maybe they were saying it in the hope it might turn out to be true!

Just because a story is wild doesn't make it a lie. In the Gospel, Jesus really was alive -- which Thomas found out for himself when Jesus appeared in front of him.

Strange things do happen in the world: A kid can get a car he isn't even old enough to drive, and the Son of God can even come back to life on the first Easter!