"Blessed Are Those Who Have Not Seen and Yet Have Believed" (Sermon for the Second Sunday of Easter, on John 20:19-31)

Suppose you happened to be indoors all afternoon tomorrow. And the next day people say to you, “Hey, how about that eclipse yesterday?” And you say, “Sorry, I didn’t see it. Therefore, since I didn’t see it, it must not have happened.” Now that would be ridiculous. Just because you didn’t see it, there were plenty of people who did. Just because you didn’t see it, it still happened. Yeah, as crazy as it sounds for the sun to turn pitch black in the middle of the afternoon, that does not change the reality of what happened. It’s a fact, Jack, whether you saw it or not.

Well, that’s kind of an analogy to our Gospel reading today. Thomas was not there to see the risen Christ, and even though the rest of the disciples all saw the Lord risen from the dead, and told him so, Thomas will not believe. “I didn’t see it. Therefore, it didn’t happen.” But Jesus has something to say to Doubting, Disbelieving Thomas. He says to him and to us: “Blessed Are Those Who Have Not Seen and Yet Have Believed.”

But first, let’s take the story back to where it begins, on Easter Day. The disciples had locked themselves in a room, because they were afraid of the Jewish authorities, who had just had Jesus killed a couple of days earlier. And since they were Jesus’ disciples, if it became known where they were, the authorities might come after them, too. So the disciples were afraid, and they were staying behind closed doors.

But if a sealed tomb couldn’t keep Jesus in, a locked door couldn’t keep him out. He passes right through and stands in their midst. “Shalom aleichem,” he says, “Peace be with you,” a standard Hebraic greeting. But when Jesus says it, it’s a little more than standard! Jesus really does convey peace when he speaks it! This is a blood-bought peace, purchased by the blood that God’s Son shed on the cross. Peace between heaven and earth. Peace between God and man. Jesus made that peace for us on the cross, where he died for the sins of the world. Jesus packs real peace into his words, when he greets us with his “Peace be with you.”

The disciples are mind-boggled: “Whoa, we thought you were dead, Master! They nailed you to a cross! You died! They took you down and put you in a tomb! And sealed it! With guards, even! How can this be you?” But then: “Wait a minute, boys. Maybe we’re imagining things. This must be some sort of hallucination. You know, we have been under a lot of stress.” “Or, is this his ghost?” “No, this is no ghost. It really is him! Alive! In the flesh! God has raised him from the dead! Look! He’s showing us the marks in his hands, where they drove in the nails. And his side, where the soldier pierced him with the spear! Yeah, it really is him! Alive! Risen! Wow!”

Well, how about those disciples? Lucky them! They got to see Jesus in the flesh, risen from the dead. They saw him with their own eyes. They touched him with their hands. Too bad we’re not that lucky. Yeah, look at the advantage they had! Easter evening Jesus comes to them and shows them his hands and his side. No wonder they believed!

Well, most of them, at least. Thomas wasn’t there that night. Later, the other guys tell him, “We have seen the Lord.” Thomas is thinking: “Yeah, right. What have you boys been drinking? He was crucified, remember? He’s dead, Jim--yeah, you, James, and John and Peter and the rest. He’s dead. Roman soldiers don’t mess up things like that. There’s no way I can believe what you’re saying.” “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.”

Well, the next Sunday, Thomas was there in the house, with the rest of them. And who shows up? Jesus. Again, through the locked door. Again, with the hands and the side. This time Jesus does it for the benefit of 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.”

You see? Seeing is believing. Thomas gets to see. The rest of them got to see. And they believed. Oh, those lucky disciples! If only we could have been there to see the risen Lord. Then we’d be strong Christians, and we wouldn’t falter in our faith. Right?

Wrong. That’s not how Jesus sees it--or says it. He tells Thomas: “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” Jesus tells Thomas that seeing is not an advantage. Seeing is not the same as believing. In fact, Jesus turns it around. He says that believing is better than seeing.

So what does Jesus mean, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed”? And what does this have to do with us? Well, friends, that is us! We are the ones Jesus is talking about when he says, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” So Jesus must think we are pretty “blessed”! We are the fortunate ones!

We’re like the people John is writing his gospel for, people living long after the events he records. John writes for folks who had never seen Jesus up close and personal like he had. There were only a small number of persons in the world at that time who had seen Jesus during his ministry, and even fewer who saw him after he rose from the dead.

Although, there were enough eyewitnesses who could attest to the bodily resurrection of Christ. Jesus did want a core of witnesses who could verify the factuality of his resurrection. As John later wrote, “That which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life--the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us.”

Oh, there were plenty of eyewitnesses who saw the risen Christ, even beyond the apostles. But it wasn’t the seeing per se that produced faith. Seeing, by itself, is not the same as believing. No, there were lots of people who saw Jesus but did not believe in him. They did not trust in him as their Savior from sin and death.

But for us, thank God, it is different. We have not seen the risen Lord, yet God has worked faith in our hearts. Friends, we are like all the millions of Christians around the world, going back to the first century, who have never seen Jesus, yet we believe in him. And Jesus calls us “blessed.” Why? Because we still receive the blessings that come to us by faith. What you don’t see is what you get. You don’t see the peace that Jesus gives. You don’t see the forgiveness of sins or the hope of everlasting life. You don’t see the Father’s love, the presence of Christ, or the gift of the Holy Spirit. You don’t see these things. But God still gives them to you. What you don’t see is what you get.

“Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” This is taught across the New Testament. Peter writes: “Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory.” Likewise, Paul, in Romans: “Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” Again Paul, in 2 Corinthians: “We look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.” “We walk by faith, not by sight.” Or Hebrews: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” All these passages are saying the same thing: What you don’t see is what you get! Eternal things, like the salvation of our souls and the redemption of our bodies. We don’t see them with our eyes. Yet this is our certain hope, as sure as the resurrection of Christ himself.

So how does it happen? How do we get this faith in Jesus Christ? Answer: By the Word! It is the Word of God that gives us the faith to believe in Christ our Savior. It is the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, who he is and what he has done for us. The Holy Spirit works faith in our hearts through the means of grace, Word and Sacrament. There is no other way. God’s Word is what we need, now and throughout our lives.

This is why John wrote the things he includes in his gospel: “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.” The Spirit uses the gospel--preached, taught, enscripturated, sacramented--to create faith in Christ and keep us strong in the faith. It’s Third Article of the Creed stuff: “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.” The Spirit works faith in us our whole life long, and the means he uses to do this is the gospel.

So what’s the takeaway today? Two things: 1) Jesus really is risen from the dead, victorious over sin and death, giving us his forgiveness and his life. And 2) Since faith is created and nourished through the Word, it is essential that we be in the Word.

Today our risen Lord Jesus comes to us through our locked doors, through our fears, and he reassures us with his words: “Peace be with you. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” That’s us! Dear friends, this is the blessedness of believing without seeing! Thank God that you believe, you trust in Jesus Christ, your risen Savior! And thank God that you have his gospel here for you, in Word and Sacrament, in this church, every week, to give you that blessed, saving faith in Christ!

John 20:19-31 (ESV)

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.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”

Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. 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.”

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.” 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.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 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.

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