The disciples who had accompanied the Master from Galilee went back to their own land filled with that belief.  Things had somewhat changed there.  The condemnation of the Nazarene without any proof of guilt had vastly angered the Galileans.  His glorious death had terrified them.  No, this countryman of theirs was no ordinary man!  They would now make up to His disciples for their ill-conduct towards Him.  So His adherents were well received in Galilee, and resumed the occupations that they had abandoned two years before.  John had brought His mother home, and gone with her to the quiet house at Nazareth.  The others tried to accustom themselves to the work-a-day world, but they could do nothing but think of the Master, and wherever two or three of them were gathered together He was with them in spirit.  One day they were together in a cottage by the lake.  They spoke of His being the Son of God, and some who had looked into the Scriptures brought forward proofs:  the prophecies which had come to pass in Him, the psalms He had fulfilled, the miracles He had worked, and the fact that many had seen Him after His death.

Suddenly Thomas said:  “I don’t much hold with all that.  Other things have been prophesied; the Prophets, too, worked miracles, and rose after death.  What good is it to me if He is not with us in the flesh?”

They were much alarmed.  They shook with terror.  Not on account of the Master, but of their brother.  But Thomas continued:  “Why don’t you name the greatest sign, the true sign of His divinity?  Why don’t you speak of His Word about divine sonship, about loving your enemy, about redemption?  Listen to what I am saying:  it is what we have all experienced, and still experience every hour.  He freed us from worldly desires.  He taught us love and joy.  He assured us of eternal life with the Heavenly Father.  He did that through His Word.  He died for that Word and will live in that Word.  To me, my brothers, that Divine Word is proof of His being the Son of God.  I need no other.”

“Children!” said John.  He was indeed the youngest of them, but he said, “Children!  Do not talk in such a way.  Faith is the knowledge of the heart.  Are we not happy in our hearts that we found the Father so near us, so true to us, so eternally on our side, that nothing evil can befall us in the future?  These bodies of ours will perish, but He is the resurrection, and he who believes in Him never dies.  He loved the children of men so dearly that He gave them His own Son, so that every one who believes in Him may live for ever.  Therefore we are happy, because we are in God, and God is in us.”

Thus His favourite disciple spoke in wondrous enthusiasm.  They then began to understand, and to apprehend the immeasurable significance of Him who had lived in human form among them.