BELIEVING WITHOUT SEEING

        After His resurrection, Christ could have appeared to all the Jews; that would have been a spectacle.  But it is not God's way.  Christ did not show Himself.  "Blessed are they who believe yet do not see."  Believing without seeing is preferred to belief with seeing.  The Jews heard and saw Christ.  By His ascension, He had only around 500 disciples.  But after His resurrection the apostles converted people by the thousands; these are those who believe without seeing. 

        After the resurrection, even the apostles saw Christ once in a while compared to before when Christ was always with them.  When He appeared to the two disciples on their way to Emmaus, Christ hid His true identity.  Mary Magdalene thought He was the gardener.  All these show Christ preparing His followers to believe without seeing Him.   

        The teachings of Christ and His commands are difficult to understand.  Whenever He taught, Scriptures tells us "they did not understand."  Christ wants us first to obey His commands, even those that are seemingly impossible.  After we obey, then we shall understand.  We must first obey without seeing the reason for it; then we shall understand.  The obedience even when we do not understand is the faith Christ speaks about.