I. The meeting renewed. I think that Dr. Vaughan has somewhere suggested, that although we have no record of the circumstance, it is possible that Christ, when with the disciples on the first occasion, expressed His will that henceforth the Sabbath should be transferred from the seventh to the first day. They seem to have met in a special manner on the first day in this second instance; a fact not easy to account for, except on the theory of a special law of Christ to that effect, given by word of lip or by motion of His secret Spirit.
II. The absentee returned. Thomas, as a true man, could not remain an absentee. Everything in grace, like everything in nature, will sooner or later go to its own company, and so did Thomas.
III. How the unbelief was dealt with. It is the affliction of a true disciple, and so the Saviour dealt with it. Unbelief has many varieties, and sometimes seems to proceed on different lines; but although at first the difference between these lines is great, they all converge to one point, and, if not arrested, work on to one fearful finality. The unbelief of Thomas was temperamental. There is an infinite difference between the unbelief which says a thing is not true, because it wishes it not to be true, and the unbelief which says a thing is not true, but would give all the world to be sure that it is true between the unbelief of Thomas and the unbelief of Pilate; between the vibration of a tower and its fall. Jesus owns the difference. Full of sympathy, He stooped to heal the sickness and set right the error of a disciple, whose unbelief rose in its cry out of a broken heart.
IV. Jesus, in dealing with the unbelief of Thomas, revealed His forgiving love. Infirmity given way to and persisted in deepens into sin; and thus was sin developed out of the infirmity of this disciple. With patient pity, Christ sought the poor wanderer, and with unspeakable tenderness brought him back.
V. The confession made. "And Thomas answered and said unto Him, my Lord and my God." Touch was not thought of now. Christ was fully revealed. The grace of the offer was a revelation, the tone of the voice was a revelation; the forgiveness was a revelation, it was like Jesus, and like no one else; the result was instant surrender. Love has sharp sight and quick responsiveness; in the new light, yet mingled with a sense of mystery, he recognised the Lord of his heart; with wonder, with tender and exquisite ecstasy, and with adoring prostration of soul, he cried, "My Lord and my God."
C. Stanford, From Calvary to Olivet,p 221.