Sermon: St. Thomas – 2022

21 December 2022

Text: John 20:24-29

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

Sometimes nicknames stick for a long time.  St. Thomas the Apostle and Martyr has a nickname: “Doubting Thomas” that has even become part of the English language.  And this nickname comes from one sentence that he uttered in frustration.  And yet, his entire life and ministry was not that of a doubter, but rather that of a believer! 

St. Thomas went on to make his way all the way to India, where he established churches that exist to this day.  Thomas was also martyred for the faith, being put to death by a spear.  This is quite the life and ministry for a man known as “Doubting Thomas.”

But Thomas’s life is not only an inspiration to us, dear friends.  Thomas’s story is also the triumph of faith and the confession of who Jesus is.  For to the Christian of every vocation, whether one is an apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher, or for any other member of the body of Christ: father, mother, son, daughter, one who doubts, one who struggles, one who is in pain, one who mourns, one with regrets, one who bears the cross and follows Jesus as best as he can – Thomas is the bearer and proclaimer of hope to you!

On the evening of the first Easter, the risen Lord Jesus appeared in the flesh to the disciples whom Jesus would soon make apostles, that is, ones sent with Good News to preach to the world.  They were all present except for Thomas.  He missed it.  And when he returned, his friends and colleagues, all of whom had been sad and confused, excitedly told him that they had seen the Lord!  Thomas, still dejected and confounded, lashed out at them, “Unless I see in His hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into His side, I will never believe.”

We all think and say harsh things in our worst moments.  Maybe we mean them, maybe we don’t.  But in this fallen world, we are all tempted to “false belief, despair, and other great shame and vice.”  Perhaps Thomas’s condition was not merely doubt, but despair.  Hope had fled him.  And in his condition, not even the testimony and preaching of the Lord’s chosen had immediate effect.

But, dear friends, the Word of God works.  We have His promise.  Maybe it takes time.  Preachers and hearers need to trust the Holy Spirit and be patient.  For the Lord did not give up on Thomas.  Planted seeds take time to sprout and grow and bear fruit.

A week passed, and the very next Sunday, the “disciples were inside again,” and this time, “Thomas was with them.”  And “although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”

Dear friends, this is the “peace of God which surpasses all understanding” as St. Paul wrote to the Philippians.  This is the perfect Shalom that Jesus brings: a restoration of communion between Creator and creatures, an end to enmity between Creator and creation.  It is the kingdom that Jesus brings by means of His blood, by means of His Word, by means of His sacrifice, by means of the proclamation of this Good News.  Jesus isn’t merely telling us about something that happened, dear friends, rather Jesus is coming to you right here and right now, giving you forgiveness, life, and salvation, giving you faith and overcoming your doubt, giving you hope that dispels despair, coming to you in a way similar to the way He came to Thomas – in a tangible way that you can look at, in His body and blood.  And the Word that is preached to you is supernatural and powerful.  You are being transformed even as Thomas was, dear friends.  It is happening to us here and now.

Jesus, the Word Made Flesh, overcomes Thomas’s doubt by throwing Thomas’s own words back at him, and doing so in His flesh.  Jesus invites Thomas to indeed put his hands into His wounds – the wounds by which we are saved and redeemed, recreated, and endowed with faith.  “Do not disbelieve, but believe,” invites our Lord.

And the most magnificent and sublime words of all in this passage, dear friends, is St. Thomas’s confession of faith.  For he takes our Lord up on His invitation.  When confronted with the body and blood of Jesus, when confronted with His Word, when confronted with risen Lord in the flesh where he stands, St. Thomas can do nothing other than to confess, “My Lord and my God!”

This confession is what separates Christians from all others in the world: from the skeptic who doubts that Jesus lived at all, from those who believe Jesus lived, but was evil, from those who believe that Jesus was merely a prophet, from those who believe Jesus was a moral teacher, but not God.  No, indeed, St. Thomas’s confession is our confession, dear friends.  For we have been forever changed by the Word and by His flesh and blood that we experience in space and time and in our senses.  Our doubt is replaced by belief, by the faith that comes by hearing, even as Jesus comes to us in another form than as He appeared to St. Thomas.

For our Lord says to Thomas, “Have you believed because you have seen me?  Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”  Dear brothers and sisters, that blessing that you have just heard from Jesus applies to you.  “Blessed are you.” 

We do not see Jesus as Thomas did, dear friends, but we see Jesus with the eyes of faith, as our Lord Himself says: “This is My body” and “This is My blood.”  Jesus said to you, I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”  And Jesus says to all of us, again and again, “I forgive you all your sins” in that same blessed name of the Most Holy Trinity.

Faithful Thomas confessed Jesus as his Lord and his God.  He became a bearer of the Word – the Word Made Flesh – whom he preached across Asia.  St. Thomas is a picture of every Christian, especially those who are burdened by sorrow and despair.  And the preaching of Believing Thomas is the same preaching we hear today, dear friends: the preaching of the risen Lord by whose wounds we are saved and called out of the world into the kingdom.

Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.