Rev. Steven S. Billings
Easter 2
Sermon
3-30-2008
St. John 20:19-31
19 When therefore it was evening, on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst, and said to them, "Peace be with you." 20 And when He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side. The disciples therefore rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus therefore said to them again, "Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you." 22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 "If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained." 24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 The other disciples therefore were saying to him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I shall see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe." 26 And after eight days again His disciples were inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst, and said, "Peace be with you." 27 Then He said to Thomas, "Reach here your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand, and put it into My side; and be not unbelieving, but believing." 28 Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!" 29 Jesus said to him, "Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed." 30 Many other signs therefore Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.
Jesus has your believing in mind this morning. He has your believing, your repenting and your being forgiven in mind. And for all of that, He has His ministers in place for you and gives them Gifts - that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and so believing - with His Words in your ears and His Flesh and Blood on your lips - believing like that, you may have life in His Name.
You see, believing always goes hand-in-hand with Jesus' Word and Body. You may remember from last week that the angels had proclaimed Christ's resurrection to the women. Then, the Lord Himself appeared to them in the flesh. They clasped His feet and worshiped Him.
The same was true with the apostles. The women told them what Jesus said: He was risen, as He had promised. And then, as if the preaching always leads to Jesus' Body, to more comfort, Jesus Himself appeared to them in the flesh and said: "Peace be with you." Then He showed them His hands and His side.
Believing and Jesus - Believing and Christ's Words, Christ's Flesh and Blood, Christ's Wounds, Christ's Body - these always go together.
Dear Christian, you whose ears are filled with Jesus' speaking "Peace" to you this morning . . . you whose heads are drenched with everything God gave you in Holy Baptism . . . whose mouths will soon be fed with Jesus' Flesh and Blood for your salvation . . . believing rests in JESUS, not in you! It rests in His Gifts - what He delivers into the sinful hands and sinful mouths of sinful men whom HE sends out as He Himself was sent. Believing apart from that is not believing. At least not the kind that saves.
To illustrate that for us this morning, we're told that Thomas - for whatever reason - didn't come to church that Easter! All the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews - except for Judas, whose lack of repentance and faith left him hanging from a rope, and Thomas - who seemed to have some other place to be that day.
By the way, the Ten weren't gathered because they were such great believers. They were just us - coming to church for all the wrong reasons! They were worried that maybe God didn't have everything under control. They were afraid of men way more than they were afraid of God. And so they huddled. They hid. And Thomas wasn't even there!
Which is too bad for Thomas! Because He wasn't around when Faith itself came and stood among them, saying: "Peace be with you!"
Believing and repenting and forgiveness and salvation all show up in Jesus Christ, Who has words to speak and scars to show! And poor Thomas wasn't there. No wonder he gets labeled a "doubter!" Faith doesn't exist apart from Jesus!
Whatever reason he had for being absent when the Service of the Lord began, let's learn once and for all that life apart from Jesus and His Gifts is a life sunk deep in doubt, despair and disbelief. Oh, we do well, brothers and sisters, to keep ourselves from the Satanic suggestion that we can believe just fine when we're running away from God's Word and Sacraments; when we're keeping Jesus' words from our ears and His wounds from our mouths!
And make no mistake: Jesus is here - today! - for sinners like you and me. Now THERE'S something your faith can sink its teeth into! Christ is RISEN! And He is preaching peace and life, forgiveness and salvation, into your ears this morning. Beloved, because of that, you have eternal life!
Why didn't poor Thomas believe? Because he wasn't with the other disciples when Jesus was there. Even when they told him, "We've seen Him, Thomas! He is risen! Your sins are forgiven!" Still, Thomas wouldn't believe. He revealed what is in the heart of every sinner when he said: "I will not believe!" Unless he could see for himself; unless God would conform to his demands and expectations; unless God could fit into his version of religion, Thomas would not believe.
Now, I don't think most of us are willing to be that honest. We say, "Oh, I believe!" But do we hold the preaching of God's Word sacred and gladly hear and learn it? Christ has given us His authority to forgive the sins of repentant sinners, and to withhold forgiveness from those who do not repent. But do we crave such forgiveness? Do we accept absolution from the pastor as from God Himself? Really? We insist that we believe, but how easily do we separate ourselves from Jesus' Body and Blood, all the while clinging to the sinful things we enjoy? How many of us have the integrity of Thomas to bare our naked doubt?
I don't know what the other disciples said to Thomas that week. Jesus had just given them the Office of the Keys - the responsibility to forgive or retain sins. Did they hold his sins against him for as long as he continued in his unbelief? I don't know. But whatever they said or did, we do one thing: "A week later, His disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them!"
Thank God for that! Being gathered together with his fellow believers, Thomas came face-to-face with his salvation. The preaching of the Ten was true! Jesus told him so when He said, "Stop doubting and believe!" Believe what? Believe what the others had told him. For what they had said was only what the Lord had given them to say. And so, confirmed in that, Thomas was admitted to the Savior's Body: "Put your finger here; see My hands. Reach out your hand and put it in My side."
And THAT, dear Christian, is true believing. All in Jesus. For sinners imprisoned in their doubt and fear, He preaches Peace and gives us Flesh and Blood for our faith! This sets us free. The Body pierced for our transgressions, the Blood poured out for our forgiveness - these, the Lord still delivers into the hands of sinful men for DISTRIBUTION. To be handed out, delivered into the ears and mouths of sinful men, like Thomas . . . and like you and me.
So how does Thomas respond? "My Lord and My God!" To which Jesus says,"Because you have seen Me, you believe; blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe." Notice He doesn't say, "Blessed are those who have not HEARD." But, "blessed are those who have not SEEN." By hearing, Christ comes to you with His forgiveness in the Words He gives His Ministers to speak. By eating and drinking, Christ gives us His Body and His Blood in bread and wine. Sinners aren't lost because they do such wicked things. They're lost because they will not have the speaking, the preaching, and the Body and Blood of Jesus!
So, like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk. Crave the Gospel purely preached and the Sacraments administered according to their institution. Christ isn't dead anymore. He is risen! And He didn't drop His Body off somewhere to drift magically into your heart. He is where His Body is, to save you! Where His words direct you to His wounds; where they tell you: "Peace be with you! Take and eat, this is My Body. Take and drink, this is My Blood! Stop doubting and believe!"
And if you struggle to believe? Come, confess with Thomas! There are words you need to hear, and someone God has put in place to speak them! If you've strayed away and fallen into sin? Thank God for the servants God has sent not only to hear your confession, but also to announce that Christ holds nothing against you now. Jesus died. Jesus rose. Jesus still sends out His disciples. And we proclaim to you that all your sins are forgiven.
And if you want to stay away from Jesus and the Gifts He gives? If you want to go on living like there isn't any God Who sees? Behaving as if Christ were six feet under, so it's no concern to Him the way you live? If you think your sins aren't that bad, that they can't !@#$ you? If you really don't care whether the Lord forgives you or not? Then listen very carefully to what I have to say: Your sins are not forgiven! They are still yours to deal with, and you will have to live with them for all eternity.
Like Thomas, we need to hear words like that a whole lot more than we're usually willing. Why? Because Christ wants to spoil our day? No! Because He wants to show us just what sort of prison we've locked ourselves into! Darkness! Despair! Unbelief! He wants to give us true repentance! He wants to wrap us up in the only thing that gives true forgiveness and faith; He wants to surround us with Himself - in the Words He speaks to us, in the Water poured upon our heads in His Name, and in His Flesh and Blood set before us each and every Lord's Day. Here is where the risen Christ stands among us today.
Blessed are you who hear and believe what Jesus says about that. His Word and Body are your salvation, your life, and your peace with God and one another. Blessed are you, dear Christians, to find your believing in all of that. And when you don't, hear and believe the words your shepherds are sent to proclaim: Your sins are forgiven! In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
