John 20:24-31

²⁴ But Thomas, one of the Twelve, the one called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. ²⁵ So the other disciples kept telling him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands, and put my finger into the mark of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will never believe.” ²⁶ After eight days, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them. “Peace be with you,” he said. ²⁷ Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and look at my hands. Take your hand and put it into my side. Do not continue to doubt, but believe.” ²⁸ Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” ²⁹ Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” ³⁰ Jesus, in the presence of his disciples, did many other miraculous signs that are not written in this book. ³¹ But 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.    (EHV)

“Seeing is believing.” So the saying goes. But sometimes that is just not so. People may see a lot of things and still not believe. The people of Israel saw the finger of God shake the land of the ancient Pharaohs with ten devastating plagues. They saw the parting of the Red Sea with their own eyes, the pillar of cloud and fire, manna from heaven each morning, water gushing from a rock in the desert. They saw fire and smoke as God descended to the top of Mt. Sinai amid the earth quaking and the trumpets of angels. Seeing is believing? Not if you know the rest of the story! Moses went up the mountain to talk with God and came down less than six weeks later to the sight of the people cavorting around a golden calf. All that seeing did not mean believing. In the same way, many people saw Christ perform countless miracles and still whined, “Give us a sign!”

This is always the complaint of unbelief: “We need another sign, more evidence, more proof, more experts.” Shortly before his death, the agnostic British philosopher Bertrand Russell was asked: “If, when you die, you discover there really is a God, what will you say to him?” Russell sarcastically replied: “I would say, ‘Sir, why did you not give me better evidence?’” Even more bluntly, the godless French philosopher Voltaire once said: “Even if a miracle should be wrought in the open marketplace before a thousand sober witnesses, I would rather mistrust my senses than admit a miracle.” Elton John has said that all religion should be banned, which was also the belief of the Beatles when they sang “Imagine no religion.” For such folks, all the seeing in the world will not result in their believing, even though the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ has passed every historical test applied to it. Yet in wonderful contrast, as the account of Christ’s appearance to Thomas shows us, Believing Is Seeing.

Jesus Appears

For the disciples, on the first Easter evening, things had not yet sunk in. They were still overcome with fear and shock, hiding behind locked doors when the risen God-Man suddenly appeared in the midst of them. “Peace be with you!” He says and extends to them His nail-pierced hands. He shows them His glorified wounds. Peace—eirene in the New Testament—as in the name “Irene”—Shalom in the Old Testament language. The word comes out meaning “the way things are supposed to be” —the way things were before we were driven out of paradise, East of Eden—the way God made things at the start—life, not death; laughter, not tears, singing, not mourning. Through faith we know that peace in part. Just imagine what it will be like forever hereafter!

But one of the apostles was not there to see it: Thomas, one of the Twelve, the one called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. ²⁵ So the other disciples kept telling him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands, and put my finger into the mark of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will never believe.”

Where was Thomas? We are not told. Was he off by himself brooding that his hopes had been dashed? Or was he absent for some other reason? One thing’s for sure. Thomas missed out on a blessing by not being there with the others. The worst thing you can do when unbelief, doubt or grief cast long shadows over your life, is to go off alone with your morbid thoughts, while cutting yourself off from the family of believers. The best thing you can do, even when you do not feel like it—especially when you do not feel like it!—is to go where the fellowship of believers gather around the Gospel, where Christ Himself meets us, and speaks His sweet “Peace be with you.” Otherwise, we miss out on the blessing we need the most, just like Thomas that first Easter night.

Thomas Doubts

Thomas has gotten a lot of bad press over the years. We remember him as “Doubting Thomas.” When Jesus once announced that He was going to Bethany to awaken Lazarus, it was Thomas who said: “Let us go also that we may die with Him.” We don’t know whether Thomas said that boldly or pessimistically: “Well, I suppose if it has to be that way….” Maybe labeling him as “Doubting Thomas” is a little unfair. We don’t know if this was just a moment of weakness or a regular personality trait.

Nor should we let him off too easily, either. It’s a sad fact that in his moment of great weakness, Thomas did more than doubt. He flatly refused to believe. He demanded more than to just to see Jesus. He demanded to touch the holes in Christ’s hands and to thrust his hand into the Savior’s pierced side. It was arrogant, really, to demand that Christ jump through hoops and perform like a trained seal before he would believe Jesus was alive. The sun doesn’t need to prove that it is bright!

But he wasn’t alone. Yes, Thomas doubted. But so did all of them until they’d seen Jesus at least once. You and I have had our doubts too—about the things we have been taught from Scripture since childhood. Ever since Eve strolled through the garden, Satan has been injecting doubt and unbelief into our shaky hearts: “Did God really say? Can you really be sure?” Rather than place ourselves self-righteously above these doubting apostles, we must stand alongside them.

And yet, this is what makes the apostles unimpeachable witnesses of the resurrection of Christ. They are not gullible men, easily fooled or easily convinced. They are not given to collective hallucinations and strange visions. When they testify that Jesus Christ has physically risen from the dead, they speak as men who themselves were led by the Holy Spirit out of their own dark doubts into the sunshine of certainty.

Jesus Appears Again

One week later, when they are all together again—Thomas too—Jesus compassionately condescends to appear again: ²⁶ After eight days, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them. “Peace be with you,” he said. ²⁷ Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and look at my hands. Take your hand and put it into my side. Do not continue to doubt, but believe.” ²⁸ Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” ²⁹ Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Stretching forth His nail-pierced hands and exposing His pierced side, Jesus offers Thomas the very proof he had asked for. But the proof is no longer needed. In blushing reverence Thomas cries out: “My Lord and my God!”Jesus accepts this worship from Thomas—because Christ is exactly what Thomas calls Him—the Lord God Himself.

And for Thomas’s sake and ours, Jesus says: “Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” Here Jesus pronounces a lasting blessing, a benediction on you and me and countless souls who have never seen Him visibly, but who have staked our very souls on Him by faith.

This is why God has set it all down in writing, says the apostle John, in closing this chapter: ³⁰ Jesus, in the presence of his disciples, did many other miraculous signs that are not written in this book. ³¹ But 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.

We Believe, and Therefore See

Then, as now, Believing Is Seeing. So the Bible teaches in the first chapter of Hebrews:“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”Or as Peter once put it: “Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” How did John put it later in one of his epistles? “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”

Paul said: “We walk by faith, not by sight.” We need no more signs or proofs, for, as John says: “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.”

“Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” Faith is being certain of what we do not see. There are a lot of things we have not seen. We were not there to see the creation of the world. We didn’t see Christ feed the five thousand or walk on water in the storm. We didn’t see the Savior die or the risen Son of God hold out His glorified wounds to Thomas. But along with Thomas, we see blessed things with the eyes of faith!

God tells us that the blood of Jesus purifies us from every sin. Who can see sins forgiven? But faith is being “certain of what we cannot see.” The Bible tells us that baptism saves, and that Jesus gives us His body and blood for forgiveness. Who can see these things? But “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” We plant the seed of the Gospel in the hearts of our children, our friends, and our city, never knowing what results if any we’ll see. “But we walk by faith, not by sight.” We maintain with Job and St. Paul—when adversity and heartache mark so many chapters of our lives—that God is just, even when He smites; that God is good even when we do not understand Him; that our Redeemer lives and so too shall we, even when death is all around us, because “faith is being certain of what we do not see.”

With Thomas, by faith, we do see. Are things that we don’t see with our eyes any less real? Air? Your mother’s love? The love of God and the throne of Christ in heaven?

Yes, there are things we want to see with our eyes. When we experience an unusually beautiful day—perfect temperature and humidity, blue sky and sunshine—or when we hear the clear, untarnished voice of a child singing. These moments of beauty are fleeting. But they give us a glimpse of what can be and will be. The hymns of Easter transport our tired hearts momentarily to the other side where countless hosts, arrayed in white, have gone before and wave their palm branches in triumph. We strain to hear the distant triumph song. We feel homesick for a homeland we have not yet entered. Where do such eternal longings come from? From One who has been there, who left there for us, who has returned there and who will one day take us there. You have not seen? Neither did Job, but he could still declare: “I know that my Redeemer lives…I myself will see Him with my own eyes.”You have not seen? Of course not. St. Paul wrote: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him, but God has revealed it to us by His Spirit” (1 Corinthians 2:9,10). Yes, Believing Is Seeing!

Amen.