N.T. Wright, one of my favorite New Testament writers, shares a parable from the Easter Oratorio. He writes that Thomas, like any good historian, wants to see and touch. He wants to remain in the protective realm of what he understands to be true and possible. So Jesus meets his request and presents himself to his sight and invites him to touch. But Thomas does not take Jesus up on his offer (which completetely goes against the image above) and comes to a place where he transends the type of knowing in which he is accustom and passes into a higher and richer one. So in the parable below, the image of the Red Sea is used to portray the doubt that Thomas faced and his transendent acceptance of what God can really do.The sea is too deep
The heaven's too high
I cannot swim
I cannot fly;
I must stay here
I must stay here
Here where I know
How I can know
Here where I know
What I can know.
Jesus then reappears and invites Thomas to see and touch. Suddenly the new, giddying possibility appears before him:
The sea has parted. Pharaoh's hosts-
Despair, and doubt, and fear, and pride-
No longer frighten us. We must
Cross over to the other side.
The heaven bows down. With wounded hands
Our exiled God, our Lord of shame
Before us, living, breathing, stands;
The Word is near, and calls our name.
New knowing for the doubting mind,
New seeing out of blindness grows;
New trusting may the sceptic find
New hope through that which faith now knows.
And with that, Thomas takes a deep breath and brings history and faith together in a rush. "My Lord," he says, "and my God."
