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In John 20:24-29, what was at issue for Thomas on that first Sunday after Easter was whether the resurrection had happened, which would be proved or disproved by whether the flesh and blood of Jesus was alive and well.
Thomas was wrong to disbelieve the resurrection at first, since Jesus Himself had promised that He was going to rise again and come see them. But, Thomas started at the right point by remembering the Incarnation of God the Son: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us,” John 1:14. Thomas also points us to Good Friday, when the nails pierced the hands of Jesus and the spear gouged His side, pouring out blood and water.
Thomas demanded, “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.” For this reason, some call him “doubting Thomas.” But for all his doubts, Thomas got the most important thing right: for those first eyewitnesses of the life of Jesus, the only proof of the resurrection that would suffice was seeing and touching a living, breathing Jesus; only that would prove that God is the God of the living, not of the dead.
Thomas had a good reason for this insistence, as recorded in John 14:1-6. In the upper room, on the night when He was betrayed, Jesus had told His disciples, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.” At this point, Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to Thomas, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
With those words, Jesus preached Christmas, Good Friday, Easter and His Ascension to the disciples, showing them indeed that the Word who has been with the Father from all eternity is now in the flesh and will take that flesh through the cross and into heaven to lead us there. He is Emmanuel, “God with us,” revealing the Father to the world and coming down to save sinners. But, the only way all of that could be true was if Jesus was truly alive.
Thomas refused to believe at first, but when he beheld the risen Lord on the eighth day after Easter, he gave us one of the most wonderful confessions of faith in Jesus that could be uttered: “My Lord and my God!” And then you and I show up in the story. Jesus responds to Thomas, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
That’s us. Even though we have not seen Jesus with our eyes, we know from the Holy Spirit-inspired apostolic testimony that our God is a Man and that He lives and reigns to all eternity. His Word in the Bible and His Sacraments in the church place His flesh and blood right in front of our eyes, our eyes of faith. The One who lay in a manger, the One who was baptized in the Jordan to take upon Himself our sins, the One who carried our sins and sorrows all the way to Calvary. He lives, still displaying the wounds from His sacrifice for our sins, still flesh and blood.
And this is why you can be certain that your flesh and blood will rise on the last day and receive the crown of everlasting life. For Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die,” John 11:25-26. The time is fulfilled, the Kingdom of God is at hand: repent and believe the Gospel. Christ is risen. He is risen indeed, Alleluia! Amen
