John 20: 24-31                                                            Easter 2011

²⁴ Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. ²⁵ So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”

But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.”

²⁶ A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” ²⁷ Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

²⁸ Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

²⁹ Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

³⁰ Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. ³¹ But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Seeing is believing so the saying goes.  But sometimes that is not so.  People may see a lot of things and still not believe.  The people of Israel saw God shake the land of Egypt with ten devastating plagues.  They saw the Red Sea part before their eyes, a pillar of fire and cloud.  They saw fire and smoke come upon Mount Sinai and the ground shake beneath their feet.  But six weeks later when Moses came down the mountain what did he find?  A golden calf they had made to worship.  All that seeing did not translate into believing in the Lord.

Think of Jesus.  People saw Jesus perform countless miracles yet some still demanded:  Give us a sign.

Shortly before his death, the agnostic British philosopher Bertrand Russell was asked:  If when you die, you discover there really is a God, what will you say to him? Sir, why did you not give me better evidence.

Years ago the godless French philosopher Voltaire said:  Even if a miracle should be done in the open before a thousand witnesses, I would rather mistrust my senses…” Then there are the so called scholars today, some even in the church, that call the miracles of Jesus a myth.  For some people all the miracles in the world will not result in their believing even though the accounts of Jesus’ resurrection have passed every historical test,

But we’re not here to shake our heads at others.  We’re here to rejoice in a very special blessing God has given us.  It comes across here.  What did Thomas see in Jesus?  What you and I also see this blessed Easter morning – our risen Lord and God.

It’s easy for us who have celebrated so many Easters to be critical of Jesus’ disciples this first Easter.  I imagine they would look back with disappointment as they remembered how faithless they had been.  Jesus had told them what was going to happen.  He would suffer, die and then rise again.

Yet that first Easter evening they are a mess of emotions.  They huddle in a locked room fearing that they will be next on the list of suspects.  Jesus appears in their midst.  Peace be with you he says.  He shows them his nail scarred hands, his glorified wounds.  He once again pronounces a peace this world cannot give.  Eirene in the Greek, like the name Irene.  Shalom in the Hebrew.  It’s that peace which passes all understanding, peace won by his cross and guaranteed by his empty tomb.

We sinners have peace with God!  We can’t see it or hold it in our hands.  We only begin to taste it here in this world where so much is wrong out there and in my own heart.  Peace be with you, the risen Lord says to his followers. What will it be like to know that peace in all its fullness?  What will it be like to know that peace forever?

But one of the apostles was not there.   ²⁴ Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. ²⁵ So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.” We’re not told why Thomas was not there.  Maybe he just had to be somewhere else.  But maybe he went off to brood by himself because he thought all his hopes in Jesus were now shipwrecked.

Well one thing is sure.  Thomas missed out that first Easter evening.  You see the worst thing you can do when doubt or grief darken your life is to go off alone.  The worst thing you can do is cut yourself off from the family of believers.  The best thing, even when you don’t feel like it, is to go where believers gather around the gospel.  It’s to go where Christ comes to us in his Word and Sacrament and says to us Peace be with you.  The best thing is to go where the voices of those around you can lift you up and outside of yourself.  If we are not here, we miss out like Thomas did that day.

This incident has caused some to label Thomas, Doubting Thomas.  It may very well be unfair.  If you heard your best friend cussing in a moment of weakness, would you write Cussing Kathy on her tombstone?   In another place, Thomas calls on the other disciples to go with him and die with Jesus.  That hardly sounds like doubt.

But there’s no denying it. When Thomas heard the excited report that Jesus alive, he did more than doubt.  He flatly refused to believe unless his demands were met.  Unless I see, unless I touch.  It was kind of arrogant for Thomas to insist that Jesus jump though his self-chosen hoops before he believed.

But hold on.  Yes, Thomas did doubt.  But so did the others when they heard the women.  They doubted —and so do we.  Ever since Satan slithered into a Garden long ago, he’s been injecting doubt into our hearts like a hypodermic needle.  Did God really say.  Can you really be sure? When it comes down to it we are really not much different than these doubting apostles.

That’s what makes their testimony so compelling.  They are not gullible men, easily fooled or easily convinced.  Easter is not just about their wishful thinking or dreaming.  When they testify that Jesus has physically risen, that Jesus lives, they speak as men brought out of the darkness of doubt into a bright, new certainty.

One week later they are all together again.  This time Thomas is with them.  Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” ²⁷ Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” ²⁸ Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Thomas had no business demanding, but Jesus gives him the proof nevertheless.  Thomas is overwhelmed.  What does he now see in Jesus? His God and his Lord.

²⁹ Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”   Jesus is talking about you and me.  We might wish that Jesus would come and show himself to us or to that Uncle Charlie who refuses to believe.  But here Jesus wants you to know how blessed you and countless others are to believe without seeing him.

That’s Christian faith.  Not seeing is believing but believing is seeing.  Seeing not with these eyes but with the eyes of faith.   That’s what Jesus is getting at here.  Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.

There are lots of things we have not seen.  We were not there to see the creation of the world.  We did not see Christ feed five thousand people or walk on a stormy sea.  We did not see him brutally die and then stand before us showing himself to be alive.  And there’s much more we could have seen.  ³⁰ Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. ³¹ But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. Did you hear that?  These are written that you may believe.

We do believe.  By the grace of God we believe and now with Thomas, we can see blessed things.  Think about it.  God tells us that the blood of Jesus has erased every foolish, ugly thing we’ve ever done.  Who can see that?  In Christ, we walk by faith not by sight. The Bible tells us that the Gospel changes hearts, that the word and water of baptism wash away sin.  The Bible tells us that under the bread and wine of Jesus’ supper, he gives his true body and blood to assure us that we are forgiven.   Who can see these things?  Faith is being certain of what we do not see.

Then think about this.  We plant the seed of the gospel into the hearts of our children, our friends, a city or nation.  Who can see the real results, today, tomorrow or a lifetime from now? But in Christ, We walk by faith, not by sight.

We also believe with Job and Paul when trouble and heartache comes into our lives.  We believe that God is good and loving even when we don’t understand what he allows or sends our way.   We believe that our Redeemer lives and so shall we even when death is all around us.  And whether we are young and friendless or old and all alone, we know there is One who says to us:  I am with you always.

But who can see him?  With Thomas, we see Him by faith.  Christ is risen!  My Lord and my God.  Believe this and you will believe the rest.

Of course, we would love to see these things with our own eyes.  But the fact that we don’t doesn’t make them any less real.   You don’t see the air you breathe.  You don’t see the love of your mother.  Yet you know they are there for you.

And the things we do see.  What do we find?  Think of an especially beautiful day where everything was just right.  Or think of a wedding which was so wonderful to attend.  Maybe your son or daughter.  Those moments are so fleeting.  We want to hold on to them but we can’t seem to and before long they are a distant memory.

But then we sing the hymns of Easter.  They point our sometimes tired hearts to a place where countless souls arrayed in white wave palm branches in triumph.  Some of them we know, a mother, a husband or wife, a child who died too young, loved ones who have gone before us and left an empty place in our hearts.

Someone gives you the right to look forward to seeing them again .   The one who had been there and left there for us.  The one who returned there and will one day take us there.  You say, you have not seen Him.  You have not seen his hands and side.  Neither did Job.  Yet he believed when it seemed that all was lost.  I know that my Redeemer lives…I myself will see him with my own eyes.