Imagine, if you will, how you would react if the dear friend you thought dead suddenly appeared in front of you. In all likelihood, you would throw yourself at him and hang on to him, possibly to reassure yourself that it was really he, alive, and not a ghost or a figment of your imagination. With Mary Magdalene, Christ perhaps was fending off her enthusiastic embrace, saying to her in effect, “Let go, please. I’m still here. I haven’t yet ascended to the Father, so you’ll still see me for a while yet.” With Thomas, he was offering proof that he was alive, and was not a ghost or figment of Thomas’s imagination. He was saying, “Prove to yourself that I really am here, Thomas, by touching your hands to the wounds I sustained on the cross.” In other words, Jesus was responding individually to different expressions of doubt.
