John 20:19-31
Second Sunday of Easter - 23 April 2017
Rev. John Derme
The saying goes, “Seeing is believing.” There’s a lot of truth to that saying, isn’t there? Sometimes a dose of skepticism is healthy, like when a guy tells you, “I caught the biggest fish you’d ever see!” “Do you have a picture? I’ll believe it when I see it.” But when we see something with our own two eyes that we would never have otherwise believed, our doubts are removed. If we see it, we’ll believe it.
Jesus’ disciple Thomas said, “I’ll believe it when I see it.” His friends had just told him a story that sounded too good to be true. On Easter Sunday evening they had been gathered in a room with the doors barred. Somehow, though, a man came in and stood among them. It was no intruder; it was Jesus! He showed them his hands and side. They had seen it with their own eyes. They doubted no longer that he had risen from the dead!
Thomas was the only apostle who hadn’t been there that night. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday had been a difficult few days, and perhaps he preferred to deal with his grief by himself. When they found him, the others were eager to share the exciting news with him: “We have seen the Lord!” But Thomas had sunk too far into sadness to be cheered up by this fantastic news. He must have thought that it was a fantasy. “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.”
This is the moment for which Thomas is notorious. Nobody remembers anything else about him, because he doubted that Jesus rose from the dead. Even people who aren’t Christians and don’t go to church know what it means to be a “doubting Thomas,” and they know that it’s not a good thing. People don’t brag about being doubting Thomases. They say, “Don’t be a doubting Thomas!”
And yet, isn’t that exactly what many people are, because – like Thomas – so many refuse to believe that Jesus rose from the dead? If you ask random people whether they believe that Jesus actually, bodily rose from the dead, my guess is that you would get some people who would say, “Yes,” some who would say, “No,” and some who would wonder whether you were born in the dark ages for even asking them such a question. We live in an era when many Christian denominations have stopped teaching that Jesus actually rose from the dead, because, well, who’s going to believe it? Yes, the Bible says he rose from the dead, but it still doesn’t make any sense, because nobody who is alive today has ever seen anyone rise from the dead. People might say, “If I saw someone who rose from the dead, I would believe that it’s possible that Jesus rose from the dead. And if he would appear to me, then I would believe that he’s alive. But unless I see him with my own two eyes, I’ll never believe that such a thing could happen!”
“I’m going to have to see it to believe it.” Have you ever been tempted to take this attitude toward Jesus’ resurrection? Maybe you’ve never actually said those words out loud, but if you’re anything like me, the thought has entered your mind. “Those disciples were sure lucky to have Jesus appear to them. They didn’t have to doubt, because they saw Jesus after he rose. Why doesn’t he appear to me? If I would see him, I know I wouldn’t doubt anymore. If I would see him, I would believe!” On top of those doubts that come from the sinful nature within, the world treats us like we are uneducated buffoons for believing in such a thing.
The devil would love to use the pressure from the world to lead us to question whether it is worth it for us to teach that Jesus actually rose from the dead. He would love to use the uncertainty within us to lead us to doubt this truth for ourselves. He would love to build on our doubts and make us ashamed of the truth before others until we reject Jesus’ resurrection altogether. And if we don’t believe that Jesus rose from the dead, then we must think that he is still dead. And if he is still dead, then he is not our Savior. And if he is not our Savior, then we are still lost and condemned in our sins. That is exactly what the devil would like us to believe.
Is it a danger for any of us to reject Jesus’ resurrection from the dead? I’ve believed in his resurrection ever since I can remember! But if I think that my faith is so strong that I could never lose it, the countless other Christians whom the devil has convinced to give up this truth serve as a warning to me. Thomas, Jesus’ own apostle, whom Jesus had told that he would die and rise again, whose closest friends told him that they had seen Jesus alive, serves as a warning to me. Let us be careful to keep the truth of Jesus’ resurrection alive in our hearts.
But Jesus does not leave us to face the devil’s temptations alone. He didn’t leave Thomas to face them alone, either.
A week later, the disciples were again gathered in the house with the doors locked, and this time Thomas was with them. Just like he had done the Sunday before, Jesus appeared among them. As soon as he had greeted them he turned to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
Thomas had been so bold as to not only doubt the promises that Jesus had spoken to him before he died, but also to lay out terms under which he would change his mind: “I’m going to have to see him, even touch him, otherwise I won’t believe in him.” Jesus would have been completely fair in saying, “Then I guess you’re not going to believe, and I guess you’ll end up in hell.” But Jesus’ love for Thomas was too great to let that happen. Even though Thomas didn’t deserve it, Jesus came and gave to Thomas exactly what he asked. Although his doubts had almost completely overwhelmed him, Jesus now overwhelmed his doubts. His words strengthened Thomas so that he could confess, “My Lord and my God!”
Jesus did what it took to bring Thomas back to faith in his resurrection. In this way he showed his love for Thomas, which is the same pursuing love that he has for you and for all people. But doesn’t it still seem a little unfair that Thomas got to have his doubts removed by seeing Jesus, and we haven’t? I want to see him too! That’s not what Jesus said. In fact, Jesus told Thomas that we are blessed in a way that he wasn’t. That night, he spoke a blessing on us that he didn’t give to Thomas. “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” That includes you and me!
But seeing is believing, right? So why wouldn’t Jesus remove our doubts by appearing to us? Instead, Jesus came up with a better way to remove your doubts and strengthen your faith. He does appear to you, though you have not seen him yet. At the end of the lesson, the evangelist John explains, “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.” Jesus comes to strengthen your faith through the words of the Bible.
Jesus had a special purpose in appearing to Thomas. Thomas was one of his chosen apostles, one of the men he was personally sending out into the world to do his work of building the Christian church in its early years. One of the requirements to be an apostle was to be an eyewitness of the risen Jesus. As strange as it sounds, Jesus has a special purpose in not appearing to you. Could he appear to you if he wanted? I suppose that he could. But in his wisdom he has decided that it would be better for you if he didn’t.
Is it that, if he appeared to you, it would probably be so unbelievable that you would think you were dreaming or seeing things? Is it that his appearance would only be a one-time event, after which you would be left with nothing? Is it that his appearance to you would be an amazing event for you, but you wouldn’t be able to share it with others? I can’t say exactly why Jesus does things his way, because he hasn’t explained it all to me. But I can say for sure that because he is God, Jesus’ wisdom is perfect. And since he loved you enough to suffer and die for the sins that you have committed – including the times that you doubted him, because you haven’t seen him – you can know that whatever he decides is what’s best for you. He wants nothing more than to strengthen in faith the people for whom he died so that he can bring you and me to heaven with him.
Jesus doesn’t come so that you can see him with your eyes. He comes so that you can hear him with your ears. He comes to you in his gospel message, which tells you all that he has done to save you. He comes to you in his Word and in the sacraments and he speaks to you about the forgiveness he won for you and the eternal home in heaven that he is preparing for you. And, unlike a one-time appearance, he comes to you every time you read the Bible and listen to his Word and receive Holy Communion. He comes again and again to erase the doubts that arise and to build up your trust in him. And better than an appearance to you, he has given you his gospel so that you can share it with others and they may receive the trust in him that you have. You don’t see him, but because he works in you through his Word, you believe in him.
Even though you don’t get to see Jesus with your eyes right now, you do see him, in a sense, through the eyes of faith. Because he has worked in you to believe in him, you see all that he has done for you – that he died on Good Friday for you and rose again Easter Sunday for you, that he has paid for your sins of doubting him and forgiven you for everything else, as well. Through the faith that he has worked in you, you see that he is planning to raise you from the dead in the same way that he rose and bring you into a new heavens and a new earth where he will live with you. You don’t get to see him with your own two eyes right now, but on the Last Day, you will. Job said it in the Old Testament, and it is our confession today: “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!”
The saying goes, “Seeing is believing.” There’s a lot of truth to that saying, but not with us and Jesus. He has come to us and created and strengthened our faith through hearing his gospel. And because we believe, we will see him. With Jesus, seeing is not believing. Believing is seeing!