John 20:19-31 on April 12th, 2026
Above is audio of the sermon pulled from the video and amplified.
Below is transcript pulled from the video and formatted by artificial intelligence. There may be inconsistencies or errors.
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In this fairly famous story of resurrection appearances, Thomas isn't there the first time. Everyone else was locked in the room, fearful for their lives, afraid of being arrested and suffering the same fate as Jesus. And Thomas was missing. Was he dealing with his grief alone? Did he want a different place with other family or friends? Or was he planning for what comes next? Now that this whole Messiah thing didn't work out. And while it doesn't really do us all that much good, to speculate, for whatever reason, Thomas was missing when Jesus shows up.
Jesus shows up in the midst of people's fears and brings peace. Jesus shows up despite doubts and is present. Jesus shows up and offers his wounds because despite them, he is alive. Jesus shows up and sends them out with the gift of the Holy Spirit. The disciples find Thomas and tell him the good news. We have seen the Lord. To which Thomas says, unless I see, I will not believe.
Oh, Thomas, you doubter, you sceptic, you bad disciple. Why don't you believe? Now I'm going to lay my cards out on the table right out of the gate. I think Thomas gets a bad rap. We call him doubting Thomas, but I'm not so sure that's fair. We don't call them denying Peter or deserting disciples now, do we? And while we don't know exactly where Thomas was, when Jesus first appeared, we do know what those other disciples were doing. They were hiding away in a locked room. They weren't exactly strutting around town in the glow of the news that Mary Magdalene had delivered to them earlier in the day. They were fearful. They were afraid. Thomas, in his doubt, is only asking for what the others had already received.
When Jesus met those security cat disciples, he immediately showed them his wounds, as if he knew from the get-go, just how difficult it would be for them to believe. Yes, the one standing before them is the same one who was crucified so brutally just a few days earlier. Thomas asks for no extraordinary proof to remove his extraordinary doubt, but only requests with the others had already been given. Maybe he should be reasonable, Thomas. But one week later, Thomas gets what he asked for. And interestingly, Jesus doesn't ask questions. Jesus just shows him what he needs. Thomas's proof is right there in flesh and bone. Everything that he thought was true about death and defeat is gone, the risen Christ is standing there right in front of him.
And it is here that Thomas makes the great confession of John's gospel, of the whole New Testament even. My Lord and my God. And because the gospel of John always has something more going on, the confession here is important. It's not, you are the Lord, the one true God. It's not a statement about Jesus. It's not a confession like a creed. It is a statement about relationship. My Lord and my God. For John, it's not just important that you know who Jesus is. It's important that you know who Jesus is for you. That this Jesus isn't just the word made flesh, the light of the world, the only begotten Son. Jesus is all of this for you on your behalf. And Thomas names that relationship clearly. My Lord and my God.
And then we have Jesus's reply. Have you believed because you've seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe. And while it sounds like Jesus is scoffing a bit at Thomas, now deciding that the story of resurrection is true, I don't think that Jesus is dismissing Thomas at all. And instead, I think he is speaking to us, to you and to me. We are blessed because somehow we have come to believe. And how did that happen? Well, Jesus does that for us. What does for us what he did for the disciples. Jesus shows up in our midst, gives us peace, and sends the Holy Spirit into us.
It reminds me of something that Martin Luther wrote. In short, he says, I believe that I cannot believe. Page 1162 in that read, E.L.W. if you want to look it up. In his small catechism, he acknowledges that we, on our own, by our own understanding, by our own strength, cannot believe in Jesus Christ or come to him. We just can't do it. Instead, it is God who acts. It is the Holy Spirit who comes shaping and being involved in our lives. Luther elaborates, of course, but his point is that God comes to us in our half-hearted belief and our unbelief to call us again to see Jesus, to bring faith, to make us holy.
Jesus finds where we are, wherever we are and says, see, things are different. Touch, believe. And so now Jesus shows up in water and word and bread and wine. Each time we touch water, we hear it poured. We are reminded of how we are named and claimed. Love to death and back. We taste and see, we hold in our hands, Jesus' presence. Jesus shows up to defeat us, to forgive us, to call us again to faith. And more than that, we are blessed because the Holy Spirit has worked in our lives to help us see the grace of God in Jesus Christ. We are blessed because we had mentors, parents, grandparents, pastors, youth directors, friends, someone, someone who shared a message and an example of God's love with us. And we are blessed because in big ways and in little ways, God has proven that love for us, that while we still were broken and sinful, Christ died and was raised for us.
Jesus blesses us. Jesus is present among us. Jesus bestows on us the Holy Spirit. And Jesus sends us out. Jesus sends us as the Father sent him. That means that we are also blessed because we get to carry out Jesus' mission through the things that he would do. We feed, we help, we welcome, we serve, we expand God's table. We show up in the midst of people's fears and we bring peace. We show up despite others' doubts and be present. We show up and we offer our wounds, our stories. Because we know that despite our wounds and our stories, we are alive, we have life, we are Easter people. We are blessed with a risen Christ who gives us what we need to believe, wherever we are, whatever is going on. Thomas needed to see and to touch and Jesus gave him exactly what he needed. And the same is true for you. In water, in bread, in wine, and this community, Jesus still shows up and says, see and somehow by the grace of God, we too can confess my Lord and my God. Amen.