Jonah Albrecht

Sunday April 27th, 2025

Easter 1 Quasimodogeniti

John 20:19-31

We Stand on the Evidence Faith Sees

To those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ both theirs and ours. Amen.

On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending 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, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.” 24 Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to 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.” 26 Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although 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, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” 28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” 30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

INJ Whose appearing in His resurrection removes doubt even in our hearts today, DFR:

Hiroo Onoda is one of the most famous soldiers who fought for the Japanese during World War 2. It wasn’t necessarily his acts of valor that gained him fame, but the fact that he was one of the last soldiers to officially surrender after the war. Onoda was sent to the Lubang Island in the Philippines to engage in guerilla warfare and prevent the Allies from establishing a foothold on the island. Onoda, along with a small company were ordered, “Under no circumstances are you to surrender or take your own life.” Though the group was unsuccessful in impeding the Allied advance, they followed their orders to the extreme. Even when the war ended, family members and military leaders dropped pamphlets telling them to come home, but Onoda and his group decided it was propaganda. By 1974, Onoda was the only soldier left, but the only way he would give up the fight would be if his commander, Major Yoshimi Taniguchi came and told Onoda face-to-face to surrender. 29 years after the end of the war, Onoda returned home to his family and was granted a full pardon for his actions while on the island.

It seems crazy that someone would hold out for that long despite all the evidence proving the war was over. But it shows how a strong conviction can really root someone in in their belief, no matter how farfetched it may be. Onoda isn’t the only one who was blinded to the truth. We do the same thing when believe what we see right before our eyes. We believe what we hear, what we can touch. If I can’t confirm it, I won’t believe it.

That is the same mindset that Thomas has in our text this morning. He hadn’t seen Jesus risen with his own eyes, and even the reliable testimony of his fellow disciples was not enough for him to believe. But Jesus comes to Thomas to confirm the truth of His bodily resurrection. It wiped away any doubt that had crept into Thomas’ heart about his Lord and Savior God. We often face similar doubts and go through periods of unfaithfulness with God. And though we cannot physically see and touch our Savior, our faith does see and touch Him. God still removes doubt that creeps into our own hearts through our Savior’s resurrection. That is our theme this morning as we consider the words of John: We Stand on the Evidence Faith Sees.

We aren’t sure why Thomas was not present with the other disciples when Jesus appeared to them the first time. But he certainly missed a lot. The disciples hid themselves away in a locked room for fear of the Jews. Since Jesus was out of the way, they thought the Pharisees would now want to remove any connections to Him whatsoever, including the disciples as they were known associates. Now they weren’t hiding because they thought Jesus was still dead. By this time, the disciples had received the testimony of the women, of Peter who had seen Jesus, and of the Emmaus Disciples. All but Thomas believed He had risen.

John skips a lot of details and gives us the bare facts of this encounter, but Luke tells us of the terror that came upon the disciples when Jesus all of a sudden appeared before them. Why the terror? Because they did not fully comprehend their glorified Lord. During Jesus’ ministry, they knew Him during His humiliation, where He did not make full use of His power as God – He limited Himself. After His resurrection He assumed full authority and power. He was not limited by the physics of this world or the limitations of our bodies. It wasn’t the identity of Jesus that brought fear, but His form. They thought it was a spirit, or a ghost. So great was this fear, that Jesus’ greeting, “Peace be with you” fell on deaf ears.

When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.

Jesus’ appearances after His resurrection were meant to dispel any fear or confusion. Showing His hands and His side was irrefutable proof that this was the real Jesus standing before them. Imagine the guilt that must have set in for betraying their Lord on Good Friday, and when He appears before them, how quickly that guilt would rise to the surface. Their desertion was something they could not find forgiveness for and it burned like an open sore. But if their guilt was like an open sore, then Jesus’ hands and side were the balm that brough healing. His scars were the proof that He had won forgiveness for their sin and they need not fear, but rejoice in the joy of His resurrection.

Just like that, all fear, doubt, and guilt had melted away and the disciples were better prepared to receive Jesus’ blessing: “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”

You can see now, why it was so necessary for all the disciples to see their risen Lord. They were the recipients of an important mission – to bring the Peace of God to the ends of the earth. How effective would their ministry be if they were uncertain about their own guilt being absolved, or what exactly Jesus’ resurrection looked like? It would be flimsy and unreliable. Jesus made sure they could stand on solid ground as eye witnesses of His glory and first-hand recipients of His forgiveness.

In a way, Thomas is the disciple most like you and me. He didn’t see Jesus when all the other disciples did. All he had to go on was an eye-witness testimony by a group of people he knew he could trust. But that wasn’t enough. And for one reason, we can be thankful for Thomas’ need for a greater proof. It tells us Christians who have not seen our Lord, that the disciples were not grasping at some phantom when they believed in the resurrection. They believed what they saw. But that is where the benefit of Thomas’ doubting ends. In truth, it was dangerous for Thomas!

Thomas’ demand to touch His Savior’s wounds was unnecessary. He should have clung strongly to one of Jesus’ own predictions about His fate. Thomas’ greatest fault was letting his human reason reign over what his faith was so clearly showing him to be true and certain.

To doubt the bodily resurrection of Jesus was to be on a path to faithlessness. Though we can say that Thomas did not lose his faith completely, he was on a slippery slope. Thus, Jesus repeats the events from the previous week. This time, however, for Thomas’ sake.

Jesus called Thomas to be an Apostle – one who would build the foundation that God’s church stands upon, that is to say, one who would provide the evidence of Jesus’ death and resurrection for those who cannot physically see the Lord, yet believe. So, Jesus comes to Thomas on his own terms – inviting him to do exactly what he demanded. Just like his fellow disciples, the evidence Jesus provided immediately wiped away any doubt that rested in Thomas’ heart. With clear and strong conviction, Thomas confesses, “My Lord and my God.”

Now this is usually the time that I would ask you to put yourselves in Thomas’ shoes. But today, I’m sure many of you don’t have to do that because you live it. Maybe you haven’t found yourself doubting that Jesus bodily rose from the dead, but doubts still creep into our lives more often than we’d like to admit. There is a reason for that.

We are a people who live by what we see and experience. And you know just as well as anyone else what kind of tragedies you see every day and what kind of experiences you go through. Maybe you saw that in Washington state alone, there were 2000 abortions in 2024; or that the murder rate in 2022 for our state was 5 for every 100,000 people. For every kind act of humanity, there are two or three acts hitting the news that disregard humanity all-together. For every week that you get through cool, calm, and collected, there are two weeks that feels like hell is bearing down on you. Evil is all around us, in our own lives and the lives of others and it whelms us like a flood.

And our rational minds come to what conclusion? Is God really watching over me? Is He really good? Are all things working together for my good? If we always see what is evil and tragic in our lives, it is the natural conclusion that God isn’t there, or if He is, He isn’t doing anything about it at all. That is when doubts take root. That is when what we see with our eyes blinds the eyes of our faith. And despite all the evidence God has given us to the contrary, we can’t believe – we need something that our eyes can see, some sort of proof that God is there, that He cares. “God, give me a sign that you are listening.” “Lord, show an act of Your power that evil these evil doers will recognize You and stop what they are doing.”

But instead of raining down hell-fire from the heavens, Jesus says “See My hands and My side.” Rather than your eyes consuming the evil around you, let the eyes of your faith show you what God has already done about it. See that God has given you a sign that He loves you; that He is listening; He has given a sign to the world that He is here and He cares. That sign is the nail-prints in the hands of our Savior and the hole in His side that He received on the cross for you.

It’s pretty amazing, isn’t it? How much the Lord cared about you when He appeared to the disciples? Whether you realized it or not, this account in John’s Gospel is really meant for you.  John says so in verses 30 and 31:

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

These things that have been recorded, not just John’s Gospel, but the entire Bible are written so that you may believe in Jesus for eternal life. Scripture is like a roadmap. God provides sign after sign to show you how He has never once forsaken His people; He has never once forgotten the downtrodden or the weak; His loving covenant of peace has never once been broken as He says in Isaiah 54:10, “For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,” says the LORD, who has compassion on you.”

God has given you all these signs even beginning with Genesis, but no sign is as great as your Savior Jesus. God’s answer for all the evil in the world, whether it is what you see or what you experience, is His Son. God is just and no evil deed will go unpunished. But your evil has been taken away from you. He sent Jesus to pay for our sin, our evil. Jesus died on the cross so that the wickedness of your heart would be washed clean. Jesus rose from the dead so that He could clothe you in His robes of righteousness. God has shown you His grace so that the wickedness of this world would not destroy you, or overwhelm you, but that you might serve as Thomas and the other disciples served. No, you aren’t an eye-witness to your Savior. But you are a witness that stands on the evidence faith sees. Go forward in your life with confidence in the words of your Savior:  “Do not disbelieve, but believe.” Amen.