Do we need to see in order to believe?

Today, we read of the famous story of the empiricist Apostle Thomas who was a typical theologian, someone who tries to make faith (Christianity) understandable in terms of our daily experience. If you look for a famous medieval theologian, it must be St. Thomas of Aquinas. Therefore, it seems that God has blessed the Thomases to be gifted theologians.

Let's  take a look at Thomas, the Apostle. The gospel of John provides us with more details about him so that we can have a more than one-dimensinal picture of this Apostle. In John, we find three passages about Thomas.
Firstly, when Jesus decided to go to Bethany to raise the dead Lazarus, he told his apostles, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awake him out of sleep."(John 11:11).
When the apostles were puzzled, he made it clear that, "Lazarus is dead;
and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him."
Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him." (John 11:14b-16).
What can we make of Thomas? Was he being sarcastic? Cynical? He couldn't be just playful. Otherwise the author wouldn't bother to record this piece of conversation. Did the author try to show that among the followers, some were still doubtful about resurrection? But surely in any community, there must be people holding views different from the official line. Thomas was made the mouthpiece of this group of people.
But there can be another interpretaton.  Perhaps Thomas was sensitive enough to feel the dangers awaiting them in the near future. He believed that Jesus was able to raise Lazarus. Then a lot of people would believe in Jesus and the Jewish authority would take actions harmful to them. So, when they went into Bethany, they were going into troubles. In this light, Thomas was a man with a clear mind. He was perceptive.

Then, in the Last Supper, Jesus told the disciples that he would return to his Father to prepare room for them.
And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
And you know the way where I am going (John 14:3-4).
Then Thomas asked Jesus a question, leading to one of the most famous line in the Bible.
Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?"
Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me (John 14:5-6).
At least, Thomas was a candid and rational man, acknowledging his igorance, in contrast to Simon Peter who earlier passionately and blindly pledged to follow Jesus wherever he went, even laying down his life for Jesus (John 13:37).

Last of all, we have the famous story of the empirist Thomas who wanted evidence for his faith in Jesus, his Master who had been crucified two days ago. Didn't he want to believe in Jesus? Of course he wanted to believe. Like the other apostles, he had given everything up in order to follow him. Two days ago, things deteriorated too quickly for him to recoup. Everybody was devastated. How he wished Jesus had not died! Before he could accept the reality that Jesus had died, his fellow disciples told him that they had seen the risen Lord. Nobody should blame Thomas, who had always been so perceptive, for being scientific (John 20:25).

Let me return to the question I post in the title. Do we need to see in order to believe? No.
If we see something, we have no choice but to acknowledge its existence. If we see Jesus today, we have no choice but to acknowledge him our Lord and God. We are "forced" to accept him as our Lord. But God doesn't want to force us to do anything. He respects our freedom of will so that we have nobody but ourselves to blame in the Last Judgment. Unfortunate for Thomas, Jesus had to force him to accept him as his Lord and God (John 20:28). That is why when we believe without being forced to believe, we are blessed (John 20:29).
Indeed, in many situations, we need to believe in order to see something. In Chinese History, there is a story around a famous piece of jade「和氏璧」. 卞和 had to pay the price with his pair of legs so that the jade buried within a piece of rock was able to see the light of the sun. This is experience and faith. Nowadays, oil drillers need experience and faith in their oil exploration. They don't see the oil to believe. They need faith to persevere so that they will see oil. Faith drops us the hints, points us the direction where to look for the things we want to look for, not the other way round. Faith will literally open your eyes to see God. Indeed, with faith we will be able to see Christ where we least expect him: the hungry, the sick, the imprisoned and the poor. Believing is seeing, not the other way round.

Dear Lord, may Your resurrection inject into us a new lease of life so that we may be able to continue building Your Kingdom on earth.
Blessed John Paul II, pray for us. Amen.