In the evening of the day Jesus was resurrected, his disciples met together in a room with the doors shut tightly. Suddenly, Jesus was standing in their midst. The Apostles were startled and perhaps a little frightened, for they thought they were seeing a spirit.
To ease their alarm, Jesus spoke to them saying, “Peace be unto you.” And then to help them know that it was really he, Jesus showed them the mark of the soldier’s spear in his side and the nail prints in his hands and feet where he had hung on the cross.
“Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.
“And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost.”
One of the Apostles, Thomas, also called Didymus, was not present when Jesus appeared to the others. When he was told of the Savior’s visit, he would not believe the other Apostles. However, eight days later Thomas was meeting with the disciples behind closed doors when, without warning, Jesus again appeared before them in the room. And again he calmed their fears by saying, “Peace be unto you.”
Then, knowing of Thomas’s doubts, Jesus said to him, “Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.”
Thomas, realizing that all he had been told was true, answered, “My Lord and My God.”
Then the Savior explained to Thomas the difference between belief and a true faith:
“Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”