John 20:19–31

¹⁹ On the evening of that first day of the week, the disciples were together behind locked doors because of their fear of the Jews. Jesus came, stood among them, and said to them, “Peace be with you!” ²⁰ After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. So the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. ²¹ Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you! Just as the Father has sent me, I am also sending you.” ²² After saying this, he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³ Whenever you forgive people’s sins, they are forgiven. Whenever you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” 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)

Dear Friends in Christ,

“Peace be with you!” Jesus said.The disciples were decidedly not at peace. They had experienced incredible emotional trauma, as their Friend and Mentor and Rabbi was taken away with His hands tied, subjected to a kangaroo court in the middle of the night and publicly executed. They were numb! But they were also scared. They thought maybe they were the next to go. But then, Jesus came, stood among them, and said to them, “Peace be with you!”

When you were a scared little kid, do you remember your mother or father comforting you and making it all better? Jesus one ups that. He comes to us, just as He did those first disciples, and says to us, “Peace be with you!”  

Jesus Appeared to His Disciples

On Maundy Thursday, all the disciples had boldly declared, “Lord even if we have to die with you, we will never desert you.” Now they were cowering in a secret upstairs room, hoping nobody would find them. They were afraid to venture out—except for Thomas. Despite their bravado, even despite the initial reports of Jesus being seen alive and angels at the tomb they were still afraid they might die. After all, by now, they might well have heard the rumor the soldiers were being paid to circulate—that they were guilty of sneaking to the tomb at night and stealing Christ’s body!

Not only were they scared, they were also grief stricken. Their whole way of life had suddenly come to an end. They wouldn’t leave Jerusalem this time, to go on another preaching tour with Jesus. It was all over.

But then Jesus came, and that changed everything. The risen Redeemer put them at peace. ¹⁹On the evening of that first day of the week, the disciples were together behind locked doors because of their fear of the Jews. Jesus came, stood among them, and said to them, “Peace be with you!” ²⁰After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. So the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.

Jesus took away their fear and their sorrow. Their fears were based on the thought that Jesus was the dead victim of the priests and Pharisees and Romans. He had looked so helpless hanging there on the cross. Their sorrow came not just from losing a friend, but from the thought that maybe all those moving things Jesus said weren’t real or true. ‘Maybe Jesus was just a well-meaning dreamer. Maybe we were just naïve to believe Him.’

But then Jesus came and put them at peace in their hearts. He hadn’t been a dreamer! He really is the Messiah! The Jewish leaders were wrong when they mocked Him on the cross, saying, “He saved others, but He cannot save Himself!” Jesus did save Himself, and that means Jesus can indeed save others! What a joyful set of thoughts began rushing through the slow minds of the disciples. But rather than just speaking peace, “…he showed them His hands and side.” And joy swept over them.

How many times aren’t we fearful and sad just like the disciples? The stress of leading the Reformation and seeing the backlash against the Gospel from Rome got to Luther sometimes. The Good News that Jesus completely paid for our sins on the cross and freed us from the fear of death and hell was such a radically joyful message at the beginning of the Reformation, that Luther naively expected it would overwhelm the false teachings of the medieval church. When backlash came, and threats, and radical fanatics and then the peasant war, Luther got sad to the point of depression. One day, as he was moping in the house, Katie Luther came down the stairs dressed in all black, as if going to a funeral. Martin asked her why, and she answered, ‘Because Jesus is dead.” “Stop talking nonsense,” Luther rebuked. But Katie said, “Then why are you acting as if Jesus is dead.” Luther snapped out of it.

Sometimes we act as if Jesus is dead. We get all fearful and sad as if it’s just us against the world. We forget that Jesus rose from the dead. We forget that He paid for our ticket to heaven, and that He’s alive and with us today. He lives my mansion to prepare. He lives to bring me safely there.

The disciples needed courage for the job ahead. And Jesus gave it to them, proving death is but a doorway. “Because I live, you also will live,” Jesus had said. And now the disciples saw with their own eyes how true that is! That’s what gave Peter the confidence to write, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he gave us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴into an inheritance that is undying, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. ⁵Through faith you are being protected by God’s power for the salvation that is ready to be revealed at the end of time.”

 Jesus Established the Gospel Ministry

They all needed that confidence, because Jesus was there to send them out of that room and into the world.  ²¹Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you! Just as the Father has sent me, I am also sending you.” ²²After saying this, he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³Whenever you forgive people’s sins, they are forgiven. Whenever you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

Jesus had trained these men as His disciples for three years. Now He was commissioning them as His Apostles. They were to be His official ambassadors. They would write His story. They were to carry His Name to every continent.  Jesus breathed on them gave them the Holy Spirit in extra measure to give them wisdom, determination, and courage. And He equipped them with special authority—the authority to forgive and retain sins, to preach sin and grace one on one, up close and personal.

It’s appropriate that we take a few moments here to review just what the Ministry of the Word is. Jesus established not only His church, but the preaching ministry of the church. It is not a mere man-made arrangement for Christians to belong to a congregation or to have a minister of the Word. That is God’s will and Jesus’ arrangement. On Good Friday, Jesus declared the work of earning our salvation “finished!” On Easter, God the Father raised Jesus to prove it. But people need to hear the message in order to believe and be saved. Paul put it this way in Romans 10: “‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ ¹⁴ How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? ¹⁵ And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’” (vv.13–15).

The ministry that Jesus established on Easter evening, is the same ministry we have today, through which the risen Redeemer puts us at peace. Through His Word and Sacraments Jesus calls us to repentance and then reassures us that we are forgiven, that our sins are paid for, that Jesus is alive, and that because He lives, we too shall live. “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ” (Romans 10:17).

Jesus Removes All Doubt

But one of the Apostles was missing that night. He didn’t see Jesus. He didn’t hear Jesus’ voice, and he refused to believe what he heard from the other apostles. Despite his stubbornness, Jesus came back to show Himself to Thomas one week later. “Peace be with you” He said to Thomas and then had him touch the nail marks in His hands, and the spear wound in His side. ²⁸Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”

We can be glad that Thomas was stubborn because the devil tries to get us to doubt about Jesus, too. Bible critics claim, ‘the disciples were so sure Jesus would rise, that they convinced themselves they saw Jesus.’ ‘It was all in their heads,’ they say. Nothing could be further from the truth. The disciples were slow to understand the prophecies—even Jesus’ own clear words about what was going to happen. They were confused Easter day until they saw Jesus. A week later, thanks to Thomas’ demand and Jesus’ convincing proofs, we know without a doubt that the disciples didn’t imagine what they saw. Thomas was forced by the irrefutable proof to confess, “My Lord and my God!”

But then Jesus said, “Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have believed.” We believe because we trust the Word of God. In fact, John concludes his book—and our text—by writing: Jesus, in the presence of his disciples, did many other miraculous signs that are not written in this book. 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.

These Scriptures have convinced hundreds of millions of Christians through the ages, demonstrating the powerful working of the Spirit through the Word. And they have convinced you as well. The disciples staked their lives on what they saw—the risen Lord pronouncing His peace on them, tackling Thomas’ doubt, even asking for a piece of fish to eat to prove that He wasn’t a ghost. The risen Redeemer put them at peace.

Jesus, God’s Son, came into the world, lived without sin, went to the cross as the Lamb without blemish to pay for the sins of the world. He rose on Easter morning, showed Himself to His disciples as proof that His Word is true. And now we will live forever through faith in Him. We have heard and believed. Through His Word, the risen Redeemer puts us at peace! May we continue to gladly hear and believe the message of Jesus that chases away our fear, our sadness, and our doubts. And may we continue to support the ministry of the Word in our church and synod. Amen.