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Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who has risen just as He said. Amen. Sisters and brothers in Christ, the text is the glorious resurrection account given to us by the Gospel reading. You may be seated.
A riddle for you. What is the most hardest thing in the world? What is the most hardest thing in the world? And your mind quickly fleets to a diamond, titanium, and a whole host of possible other exotic metals. But do you know what the most hardest material in the world is? The human heart. The human heart is because there’s only one thing that can soften it, crush it, and resurrect it, and it’s the forgiveness of Jesus Christ. And that’s it. We don’t realize it. We sometimes overlook it and deny it. But God’s Word makes it very clear that the human heart is the hardest substance in the world. And there are many people in hell who live with it eternally.
Here in the midst of the apostles’ sin-filled fear, does Jesus, their Lord, find them? He doesn’t wait for them to get their act cleaned up. Jesus doesn’t wait for the apostles to get themselves squared with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the forgiveness of sins. Jesus finds them fear-filled and sin-filled and comes to them. They don’t come to Jesus. And the doors are locked for fear of the Jews, the text said.
And the first things out of His lips, the first words… A Lutheran Christian sermon. And says it to them again, “Peace be with you.” Because He’s saying, see this? This is your absolution. This is your peace. This is your hope that I am at peace with you. And you are at peace with the Father. I’m the one that bore the anger. I’m the one that bore damnation. I’m the one that bore the Father’s wrath, not you. You have what I just gave you in my words. Peace be with you.
Now, this kind of peace is not something that immediately brings outward behavior changes. It would be great if it did, but then it wouldn’t be faith. This peace of forgiveness brings inward change immediately. But inward change comes slowly and begins to change outward behavior. You know that in your own heart. That’s why you and I have to keep hearing this like a beautiful broken record over and over again. So that it continues to bring about that change from the inside out until finally we’re rid of the very last layer of our outward being, the sinful flesh, the shell that dies and is raised to new life.
But just as with Mary Magdalene, whom Jesus found in the midst of her sorrow and grief, we talked about it last Sunday, and just as here with the ten other apostles gathered in the upper room, also overwhelmed with fear, does Jesus find them? And isn’t it interesting? When Jesus shows up, it’s not as if Jesus is saying, well, where’s Thomas? Jesus knew where Thomas was. Thomas had a specific purpose for the proclamation of the resurrection. The purpose right now was to give these men what they needed to have, which is peace be with you. They’re like the 99. Jesus left the one still in the wilderness, Thomas, to deal with the 99 first, having proclaimed the resurrection to the 99, the ten. Then he goes looking for the one.
And what does he do with the one? Puts it on his shoulder and brings it back, though it looks like Thomas came there to prove it. Because Thomas, as you remember, came a little later on, this same day. The disciples said, “We… He saw him.” In fact, the text says they were glad when they saw him. So rather than put Thomas on the chopping block and whip him to death as being the doubter, he’s no different than the other ten. In fact, he actually vocalizes what the other ten still struggled with.
Thomas shows us how hard the human heart is. As you remember, Thomas said earlier, “I will die with you.” How’s that working out for you, Thomas? Oh yeah, he died; you didn’t. Hmm, discrepancy there, isn’t there? And why does God, meaning Jesus, love a hardened heart? Because Thomas had a hardened heart. “I will not believe.” That’s pretty bold. We can psychoanalyze it all you want, but the words still are, “I will not believe.” And Jesus goes after him. Jesus seeks him out.
And Jesus uses him so that the other ten realize, don’t set yourself up over this one weak soul, thinking that you’ve got your stuff together, because I want the one weak soul as much as you. So when he comes, that is Thomas, something else they forgot to do possibly with Thomas. Because we don’t hear about it being done to Thomas. Yes. What mission did Jesus give to the ten after he had said, “Peace be with you,” the second time? He gave them this mission.
Receive the Holy Spirit. Whosoever sins you forgive, they are forgiven. Whosoever sins you retain, they are retained. We don’t really get to see whether or not, after Thomas says what he says, that the apostles say, “But Jesus has risen. He brings forgiveness to you.” We have no proof that they ever said that word, but they were given the message to do so. Or if they did say it, Thomas still has a hardened heart to peace be with you, because they’re not about to forget peace be with you. That was the first thing out of his lips.
Eight days later, which is today, eight days after Easter, Jesus shows up and he finds them how? He finds them still in a locked room upstairs. So that peace that he imparted, it didn’t change their outward behavior right away, did it? It did change them inwardly, but it didn’t change them outwardly. So is it ineffective? No, it’s powerful. It is amazingly powerful.
So here, in the midst, again, of this tribulation and anxiety, does Jesus appear and say, “Peace be with you.” And who hears also the words, “Peace be with you,” from Jesus’ lips? Thomas. Now Thomas becomes the great poster child of the hardened heart whom Jesus will not let go. Like us at times, well, like us all the time, if the human heart really is the hardest substance in the world where only God’s forgiveness can soften it, crush it, and resurrect it and nothing else can.
Now, since such forgiveness, because remember, Thomas doesn’t do anything differently than the disciples did the week before. Jesus tells them to put out his hands, touch me, just as the disciples did. This time, Thomas realizes it’s not about seeing; it’s about believing. “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” Is that not what Peter, Peter of all people, said in his epistle? “Though you have not seen Him, you believe in Him. Though you do not see Him now, you love Him.”
But forgiveness comes from the words of Jesus. They’re His. Do you know to whom Jesus gave those words, “Receive the Holy Spirit”? Did He only give them to the apostles? If you forgive anyone their sins? No, He gave it to His church, His bride. Now the church is set up so that you give it to me to proclaim to you formally here. And I get to say it to you once a week, but you have the privilege and the opportunity of saying it to one another every day of the week.
Every day of the week. And you’re obliged not only to speak it, you’re obliged also to receive it. For to choose not to speak it when it ought to be spoken is a sin. To choose not to receive it when it needs to be received is a sin. There are two extremes to giving and receiving forgiveness. And either we’re the kind that quickly give it because we don’t want to deal with the conflict, and we really don’t give it because we’re still harboring it within our hearts, but the words came out of our lips. That’s the one extreme.
The other is we don’t say it. We say other things. “Oh, it’s okay. No big deal. I’m not hurt.” And act callous about it, but really don’t give it from our heart either. So there’s no difference except one looks prettier on the outside than the other. In the receiving of forgiveness, there’s also two extremes. One is we say sorry for everything. That way we cover all of our bases and we really don’t have to deal with the issue because we’ve said it all about these other issues. And we think in our mind, well, you’ve got to forgive me because I’ve said I’m sorry.
The other extreme is I don’t ever say sorry because I’m never wrong. And if I’m wrong, it’s your fault, not mine. Those are the two extremes. Either way, they’re both sinful and they’re not what Jesus said to the disciples. Can you imagine the ten hear what Thomas said and they think, well, I believe even though Thomas doesn’t, so I must be better than Thomas. And how does Jesus use Thomas? Jesus uses Thomas to say, your heart, you ten, are just as doubtful as this one Thomas is.
And you, ten, looked at my hands and my side and were overjoyed because you saw the Lord. Thomas has just looked at my hands and my side and saw the Lord. There is no difference. Because the peace I said to you eight days ago and the peace I said to you today are the same exact peace. And it’s meant to heal relationships. When I speak the words, I don’t get to know whether or not you believe me when I say I forgive you your sins because they’re not my words, are they? They’re Jesus’s.
You’re obliged to receive it and you’re obliged to believe it. But I have no proof, do I? It is the same with your wife or husband, and it is the same with your children or parents, and it is the same with your brothers and sisters. You’re obliged to speak it. They’re obliged to receive it. But you have no proof. Whether they receive it or not and whether you speak it in sincerity or not, therefore, you see how important forgiveness is. It’s the crux of our life in Christ.
And of all people to give this most important mission to, to whom does Jesus give it? To people like Thomas, who just a week earlier said, “I will not believe.” To whom did he give this mission to proclaim it? To people like Peter, who said, “Oh, I’ll never deny,” and then three times denied. Those are the kind of people he gave that mission. And to whom did he give that mission? For you in your family. You he gave that mission to do. And how well are we doing it? And how well are we receiving it?
Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner. All of this has been 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, in His name who brings peace and forgiveness, in His name who brings healing. All marriages are founded upon forgiveness. All parenting is founded upon forgiveness, not right and wrong. All being a child underneath a parent, unjust though they may be and imperfect though they may be, is still based on forgiveness.
And every parish family, no matter how functional or dysfunctional, is only based on forgiveness. And do you know what Satan is always pointing you to focus upon rather than the wounds of Christ for you? Rather than the wounds of Christ for you, that you get to eat and drink the very flesh and blood sacrificed for you, Satan loves for you to focus upon, wait for it, your own heart. That hardened piece of stuff that only God’s word of forgiveness can soften, crush, and resurrect.
Satan is always trying to get you to focus on your heart and not on the wounds of Christ. But why does it feel familiar to focus on our heart? Because we are self-centered, narcissistic sinners. And if he can get us to focus on our hearts, then we’re not focused on something outside of ourselves: Jesus’ wounds for us. Where was Thomas focused? “Unless I see. Unless I touch. I will never believe.”
And where did Jesus point him to? Outside of himself. “Thomas, behold, my hands and my side. Stop doubting, but believe.” When Jesus said, “Peace be with you,” where was he moving the apostles to turn their gaze from? He was moving them to turn their gaze from within their hearts to look upon Him, the salvation of their souls.
It is the same today. There is no salvation found outside of Jesus. None. And Jesus, by the Holy Spirit, is always moving you to focus upon Him and His wounds for you and not upon your heart, not upon what’s been done to you or not upon what you’ve done. That’s all focused upon you. He’s saying, “No, you will always find despair there. Focus upon Me. Behold my hands and side, for you, stop doubting and believe, because this is 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, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
The peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds on Christ Jesus to life eternal. Amen.
