Saint Luke Ev. Lutheran Church of Watertown

Sermon delivered by Pastor Anthony E. Schultz

Easter 2 April 4 and 7, 2002 John 20:21-31

Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.” A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though 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, see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded 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.

Dear Children of our Heavenly Father—rescued from the flaming lake of fire in Hell by the innocent blood of the very Lamb of God:

Over a hundred and one years ago a little baby girl was born named Elizabeth. She was born into a Scottish aristocratic family. When she was a young lady a shy man who stammered and stuttered wanted to marry her—but she told him no—over and over. But he really loved her—and finally she said yes. She thought she would live a happy life with him as the Duke and Duchess of York. But the next thing you know—her brother-in-law the King gave up his throne to marry a pretty lady from the US. And the suddenly Elizabeth was married to the King of England. Elizabeth was a very strong and courageous woman. During WW II—during the Blitz she literally climbed over the London rubble. She was so brave—she didn’t run—even when Buckingham Palace was bombed and hit! She was so strong Adolph Hitler called her the most dangerous woman in Europe! This short little stout little lady—the Queen Mum would wear pretty pastel coats and great floppy hats and stand and shake hands for hours. Then she would reward herself with a little Butterscotch candy. She lived to be over 101 years old! And yet the other day—in her sleep—with her daughter the Queen beside her bed—she died. The wages of sin is death. And so queens and commoners—the rich and the pauper—the educated and the illiterate—the famous and the unknown—all die. But thanks be to God—Jesus died and rose again—so death is not the end! This Sunday after Easter God’s Word gives us this powerful comfort:

Don’t Be A Doubting Thomas!

1. Jesus gives us peace

2. Jesus gives us life

Another Easter has come and gone. Last Sunday—Easter Sunday after church we took a nap. Then we went to our adopted daughter’s house in Waukesha. We had these really thick pork chops cooked on the grill so they had those little black lines on them. We had those green beans with mushroom soup on them and those crispy onion rings on the top. We had deviled eggs and fancy mashed potatoes. We had fancy Jell-O with cream and buttery pretzel pieces so it was sweet and salty at the same time. We had ice water in wine glasses. It was all very traditional and it’s all over for another year. But what Easter is all about—forgiveness of sin and guilt and triumph over death and the grave is so wondrous you can’t squash it into one day—one Sunday—even if you get up at 4:45 in the morning and stay up till past 11 at night!

We heard last Sunday from the Gospel of the tax collector Matthew chapter 28 “After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake for an angel of the Lord came down from Heaven and going to the tomb rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning and his clothes as white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid for I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here. He has risen just as he a said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples he is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him. Now I have told you.” The women didn’t just see angels. On the way back they met Jesus, too! They clasped his feet and worshiped him. They grabbed hold of Jesus nail marked feet and didn’t want to let go! They had lost him once and they weren’t about to lose him again. They didn’t understand yet! Jesus told the women to go and tell his disciples he had risen from the dead—just like he said he would. The women told the men—but the men didn’t believe. It didn’t make sense to them—so slow of heart to understand and slow to believe—all that the LORD the great I AM had told them through the pages of the Scriptures! And so it says in John’s Gospel, “On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you!’ After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. Again Jesus said, ‘Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.’”

“The disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews…” The disciples had the doors locked. You can have thick doors—solid thick doors—steal reinforced doors—with locks and dead bolts and thick reinforcing planks. The trouble is—real hurt and harm do not ring doorbells. Real hurt and harm are not kept out by security storm doors nor iron bars over bulletproof windows. Real hurt and harm are spiritual dangers that strike at our heart and soul and faith. The devil wins if we are all worried about our cholesterol and triglycerides and blood sugar and not about our faith and our immortal soul. The devil wins if we worry about changing the oil in our cars and washing away all the highway salt and touching up all the dings from gravel that are rusting—while neglecting all the dings to our soul done by sin. The devil wins if starve our bodies into thinness and bleach our teeth so our smile twinkles and buy the neatest Nike sneakers and clothes—while all the while going about in the filthy rags of our own self-righteousness! The devil wins if we fear growing old—fear living on a fixed income—fear needing lots of medication—fear physical weakness—while failing to understand the spiritual atrophy that comes from neglecting God’s Word!

Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Peace is a profound concept. Peace is a quiet calm deep in your heart. There is a mummy—an Egyptian mummy in a museum in London. The guy that was mummified inside is named Nephterra. They were not sure what Nephterra looks like—what’s left of him—that is—until just the other day. You see—nobody ever opened up the really neat painted box that he’s in. But what they did the other day was run Nephterra—big painted coffin and all through one of those CAT Scan things. And they ran that information through some computers. And now they know all about what’s inside. They can look inside Nephterra’s skull and see where his brain used to be. They now know that there’s a little clay jar like a little hat above his skull. They think that jar used to hold some of the juice they used to mummify Nephterra—but they don’t know why they would put that jar in there like it was a funny little hat. Stuff like mummies can be kind of gross—I suppose. But they aren’t scary. Like that cemetery just up the hill from our house doesn’t frighten our family. Or the catacombs underground under the city of Paris—full of the bones of millions of people who died hundreds of years ago. It isn’t scary to touch the bones of a person who died hundreds of years ago—or to pick up a skull and quote those lines from Shakespeare’s Hamlet—“Alas, poor Yorick, I knew him well!” The bodies of dead people can’t haunt us. They are like the cocoon when the butterfly is already gone. When people die—their soul—their immortal indestructible soul either goes to heaven to be with Jesus forever—or it goes to hell. There it’s like one of those worms that will be on the sidewalk in the April rains. A worm that has been stepped on and is squished—dying and dying—but never dead. We don’t need to be afraid—because we have Jesus’ peace!

Now Thomas—wasn’t with the rest of the disciples that first Easter night. So when the disciples said Jesus was risen from the dead he didn’t believe. “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.” Thomas wanted proof. Jesus didn’t owe Thomas proof—but by grace alone he gave him proof. Jesus was back that next Sunday night. Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” Stop doubting and believe! I read the other day about a young man named Kevin Dare. Kevin was in really good shape. He had to be—to compete as a college pole vaulter. His father wanted him to wear a helmet. Kevin said it wasn’t cool to wear a helmet. Kevin should have listened to his earthly father. He didn’t. He died. There are people who think going to Church and Sunday School—and studying God’s Word isn’t cool either. They say they will believe in Jesus if they just had some proof. There are people all excited because they found the body of someone who was crucified by Jerusalem—and they think they are going to prove it’s Jesus—not risen—but still dead. Jesus died on Good Friday and rose from the dead Easter morning. Prove it? I can’t. And yet I know it’s true. One day—just wait—one day Jesus will be back. And then every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord—to the glory of God his Father!

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. There are in this world—because Jesus is so kind and so good to us—all kinds of neat stuff—like DVDs! DVDs are like CDs with like movies on them. Jesus made DVDs so that beside the movies there is room on that little piece of plastic all kinds of things—like alternate endings—if you don’t like the original ending. There are explanations of how they did some of the special effects. There are interviews with the author of the story or the real people that the movie is based on. And now—I just found out—there’s this thing called Easter eggs! Did you know about DVD Easter eggs! There are—of course all kinds of menus and icons for DVDs—obvious ones that you can see. But Easter eggs are secret ones! Like for Citizen Kane—there’s this little sled—over on the side. If you click on that sled—it turns red—the little red sled—and you get to go into this whole special part that’s a secret! Easter Eggs—secret stuff that you find about—if somebody tells you! That’s how word gets out. People need to tell people! You don’t need to know about DVD Easter eggs—but there are in this world literally billions—literally billions of people who don’t know who Jesus is. Somebody needs to tell them. Somebody needs to tell them—don’t be a doubting Thomas—wondering—uncertain—spiritually adrift. Tell them that Jesus is what Easter is all about. Long after the last jelly bean is gone—Jesus will still be there—our only Savior and our only Hope! Jesus is our peace. Jesus is life itself—eternal life. Amen! To God alone all glory!