[AI translation] This is a story about a man who could not believe the great Easter message, who was persuaded by the witnesses of the resurrection, but who could not believe them - and yet finally comes to full assurance. The great joy of Easter is in this, that a man of doubting nature, a stubbornly unbelieving soul like Thomas, can come to the fullness of faith, to the astonished, joyful confession of faith that: My Lord, and my God!So human is this doubting, even unbelief, of Thomas, so natural is the effort with which he would like to believe if he could find some real support for his faith, that it is almost as if we were talking here not of the same old Thomas, but of one of us. It is as if he were sitting here, or these Thomases who are seeking certainty were sitting here among us; and if it were to happen to them as it happened to that Thomas, the Lord would call them, and He would say to them, 'Be no longer an unbeliever, but a believer. In the hope that this will now happen, let us see why Thomas doubted, what he doubted, and how he came to certainty.
1) Why did Thomas, alone, still doubt, when the other ten disciples had long since become convinced of the happy reality of the resurrection? The Word's answer to this why is incredibly simple! It is because "Thomas was not with them when Jesus came." It is recorded in the passage that is read that on the evening of the resurrection the disciples were sitting together in one of their houses, with the doors closed, when suddenly Jesus appeared among them, stood in the middle, and said to them, "Peace be with you! It was a happy, great experience, and Thomas was left out of it! He must have had something else more urgent to do at the same time, or he was tired. Whatever the reason, the point is that he was not there in the fellowship of the disciples, in the assembly of the other brothers, and therefore he did not share in the happy experience!
There is a very serious warning in this. Namely, that whoever loses his relationship with the community of believers, loses his relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ! What God said to the very first man in paradise, that it is not good for man to be alone, is also true in faith, and especially so! It is not possible to live the Christian life alone, far from the community of other believers, to be assured of the living reality of Christ, to meet Him personally, to share in His blessings! No Robinson Christianity! It is not for nothing that Jesus said that where two or three are gathered together in His name, there He Himself will appear among them. He promised the reality of His personal presence, not to the individual, but to a believing community of two or more. Later on, we always read in the Bible that Jesus never poured out His Holy Spirit on the individual, but always on the community of believers. No one should be surprised that he is stumbling, doubting, uncertain and has little faith if he is spiritually alone! Nor will he grow stronger, more certain, until he has prayerful companions, spiritual brothers and sisters, a community of interwoven discipleship. Jesus did not go to the private home of Thomas to show himself to him, but the other way round: Thomas had to go among the other disciples, to the place where two or three were gathered together in the name of Jesus, and where, precisely for this reason, the promise of the appearing of Christ to such a gathering, to such a community, was expected.
If you want to meet the living Jesus, do not expect Him to come to you in some extraordinary miracle, in a night vision, or in some poignant, great experience, but you go to the place where the reality of His presence was promised: the community of believing disciples! Don't try to fight the battle yourself with your doubts, don't remain alone with your flickering faith, whether you are already a believer or still an unbeliever! Neither with your faith nor with your unbelief should you shut yourself up in solitude! He who struggles alone is much easier for Satan to deal with. We are built and strengthened by each other's faith. Believe me, it is not in vain that we invite you to Bible study, to prayer meetings, to meetings of brotherly hearts, because it is in such places that the Lord usually appears. It is imperative that you step out of your spiritual solitude and open yourself to believing souls! If you seek, if you do not miss the occasions where the living Jesus Christ is wont to visit, where others have already met Him, then the happy miracle of His appearing to you will surely come.
2) But it is also good to clarify what Thomas doubted. That Christ is risen. If only it were so, if only it were true, he thought to himself, but it is impossible! It cannot be true! He couldn't make sense of what he had heard from the others. "Unless I see the places of the nails in his hands," he said, "and put my finger in the place of the nails, I will not believe it. As if to say: It is not enough for me that you say you have seen the Risen One, I want to be convinced of Him myself! There is a much greater thing here than to believe in him on the basis of mere hearsay! I need absolute certainty! Somehow Thomas sensed that everything depended on the reality of the resurrection: all those three last years he spent with Jesus, what he heard from Him, what he knew to be beautiful, true, eternal, everything-everything depended on whether Jesus had really risen or not! For if this news is not true, then everything else he has ever heard about God, His kingdom, forgiveness of sins, and eternal life is all uncertain, all doubtful! It may be a fabrication, a self-deception, a delusive dream, a beautiful lie! Thomas almost felt what the Apostle Paul described: but if Christ has not been raised, your faith is in vain, you are still in your sins!
I can understand Thomas' search for certainty very well because I remember having similar doubts when I was a little girl. When I heard an Easter sermon, I kept wondering whether the pastor who was now talking about the resurrection of Christ believed it himself. Does he believe that Jesus really, truly, bodily rose from the dead? Or is this just a preacher's phrase used figuratively to express something else? Because they say, let's say, that Jesus "rose from the dead on the third day", but it's not so easy to believe! And the trouble is that if I am uncertain about this one tenet of our faith, then the whole edifice of my faith is shaken, then all the other tenets of our faith become uncertain at the same time!
Do you know that awful state of mind when dormant doubts suddenly burst forth, assailing and tormenting you? So that you yourself are almost frightened at your own unbelief, because you can have such thoughts: is there a God in heaven, is prayer not self-suggestion? Is there eternity, will there ever be a last judgement, is it true that an invisible hand is guiding our lives? Is there really providence? Does God care about the individual? Can I trust him? Will I not fall down? Is there really a higher, divine plan for this world? And who can list all the many, many agonizing questions that gnaw at our little faith like a moth at a tree! And do you know where all this uncertainty comes from? Because you are not sure of Christ's resurrection! You are experiencing for yourself what Paul said: 'but if Christ has not been raised, your faith is in vain'. In other words, if Christ's resurrection has not become a faith reality for you, then everything else you believe in will begin to waver and falter!
Thomas heard about the risen Jesus, but he couldn't do anything about it. You have heard about Him many times, perhaps too many times. Perhaps you say sometimes: why is it that today people talk so much about Jesus and so little about God? Understand this, my Brother: if Christ could be left out of your faith, if you can imagine your relationship with God without Christ the Redeemer, without eternal life and forgiveness of sins, then the very foundation, the very essence of your whole faith is missing! And all that you thought you believed, all that you believed in, will collapse when "the winds blow, the floods come, the rains come", that is, when you need it most! If you do not come to certainty about Christ, everything will remain uncertain!
3) What finally convinced Thomas? Eight days later, when the disciples were together again - and now Thomas was among them - Jesus appeared to him and showed him his wounds. Thomas had not touched him, there is no mention of this in the Bible, but it was not important, it was enough to see. At the sight of these precious wounds, at the sight of the Saviour's signs of love, Thomas fell prostrate before Jesus and the confession of faith came out of him: 'My Lord and my God!
Today, too, the only way to be sure of the reality of the living Christ is for the Holy Spirit to show a soul the wounds of the Lord Jesus and say to it: This is how I have been convinced that Christ is risen, that Jesus is alive, and that all other believing souls have received the blessed assurance of seeing the wounds of Christ! It is said in an ancient Scripture, "He is wounded for our sins, He is bruised for our transgressions, the chastisement of our peace is upon Him." These very wounds show how terrible a thing sin is. According to the Scriptures, sin is the sting of death. So it's like a sting, like a tiny little hypodermic needle through which the poison of death enters a person. It doesn't matter whether it's a small or a large dose of this deadly poison that gets into someone, because even a drop is deadly. The man who is infected with sin is therefore the bride of death. And there is only one antidote to this deadly poison: not prayer, not good works, not sacrifice, or the practice of any virtue, but the death of Jesus Christ alone! Without it you will die forever! Look at the wounds of Jesus: your sin has wounded him to death! He had no sin, He had not in Him this deadly poison, God poured upon Him the poison of your sin, and in it He died. Even He died! He bears the marks of that death even after His resurrection! Look at His hands, at His side: by these wounds you were healed, and I was healed!
"Be not an unbeliever, but a believer!" Can't you understand that? Do not try! A Beethoven symphony is not to be smelled, but heard. Nor is Christ's redemptive death and resurrection for you to be understood, but believed! Here on earth we walk by faith, not by sight. Our faith will only become direct vision over there! Certainty about Jesus Christ is also by faith, and it is by faith that we can have full assurance! Otherwise he would not have said to Thomas: "Blessed are those who do not see and believe." Thomas did not understand - even when he saw, he did not understand, but he believed. What he could not get into his head, he could get into his faith! And even without intellectual clarification of the miracle, he came to absolute certainty.
Can you imagine what an embarrassing surprise it must have been for Thomas to hear from Jesus' lips, almost word for word, his own earlier words? Jesus said to him. Bring me your hand and let it look at my side." Did Jesus interrogate him when he said to the disciples, "Unless I see the nails in his hands and put my fingers into the nails and put my hand into his side, I will by no means believe"? Was Jesus there then? Did he see and hear everything when he did not see Jesus? Yes, the eternity in which Jesus lives, invisible as it is, is just as close! Jesus in eternity sees and hears exactly what we do and say here in time. We are surrounded by eternity!
Jesus lives even when you cannot see him! He is near even when you cannot feel it. So dare to believe without seeing or feeling his presence around you! Dare to say, out loud, in the ears of others, "Thank you, Lord, that I too have been healed by your wounds! Dare to believe that Jesus, who died on the cross, rose again on the third day, and is alive for ever, is your Lord and your God, and then you will convince yourself that he is really, truly your Lord and your God!
Amen
Date: 17 April 1949 Easter
Lesson
Jn 20,19-24