We believe and confess one, holy, catholic, and Apostolic Church, because it is by the Apostles, first of all, that Christ Jesus establishes His Church on earth, and speaks to her in Peace, and gives Himself to those whom He has called to Himself by their preaching. He sends them in His Name and stead, with the power and authority that He has received from the Father, with the Keys of His own Cross and Resurrection, in order to set free the prisoners from the prison house of sin and death, and to open the Kingdom of God to all who believe and are baptized into Him.
As He has been sent by the Father and anointed by the Spirit in His own Body of flesh and blood, so does He pour out the same Holy Spirit upon the Apostles, and He sends them to bestow the Spirit upon the Church through the preaching of His Word of Holy Absolution. That Apostolic Ministry of the Gospel continues, even to the close of the age, in the Ministry of your pastors, who preach and teach the Word of Christ, baptize and absolve in His Name, and administer the Holy Communion in remembrance of Him, in accordance with “the Apostles’ doctrine and fellowship.”
It is by the eyewitness testimony of the Apostles — including that of St. Thomas — that you are called and brought to faith in the crucified and risen Lord Jesus, in order that, believing, you may have life in His Name. Blessed are those men who saw what the Prophets longed to see, and who looked upon the Mystery of the Word-made-Flesh, which even the holy angels had so long desired to look into. And blessed are you who receive their preaching of Christ Jesus, for by that Apostolic Word you share their fellowship with Him, and with the Father and the Holy Spirit. By the faithful Word of those who saw and touched the Body of Christ Jesus, you are made a member of His Body, and you abide in Him with one another in peace and love.
Even so, take note that the holy Apostles were not strong, confident, and believing by any reason or strength of their own, but by the grace of God in Christ Jesus. Thomas was not the only doubter among them. In fact, they all doubted to begin with, until the Lord showed to them His hands and feet and wounded side. It wasn’t simply doubt or skepticism but unbelief that plagued them.
Now, then, think of yourself on both sides of that situation:
If you doubt something and don’t believe it, you can’t simply choose to believe it. You can’t will yourself to believe differently than you do. It is possible to be convinced and convicted of this or that, by one means or another, depending on the circumstances; but apart from such a conversion you can’t just decide to trust and take to heart what you doubt.
And when you have such doubts — whether about friendship or love, or perhaps about Christ Jesus and His Word — then you have no real peace and calm, but fear, frustration, and anxiety.
On the other side of it, if someone else doubts you and your word and refuses to believe you, that can also be very frustrating and exasperating. Perhaps you become impatient and angry in such situations — although that doesn’t help your credibility, and it doesn’t help the doubter, either.
But the gracious Lord Jesus does not lose sight of His goal and purpose. He is not moved by pride or ego, but by His own divine love and mercy. His desire is to give life and peace and fellowship, to bring you into fellowship with Himself, and to unite you with Himself within His holy Body.
His love and His faithfulness are forever; so He is patient and kind, long-suffering, slow to anger, and abounding in gracious compassion. Even His “scolding” is gentle, that you not be frightened or shamed but embraced by His love. He is not harsh or mean. He does not berate His disciples or cast them away from His presence; nor does He leave them alone in their doubts and fears. But He is merciful in coming to His disciples and opening Himself to them.
Consider what it means that He reveals Himself to the disciples, including St. Thomas in particular — He makes Himself known to them — specifically by the means of His wounded hands and side. And consider carefully that He is not simply recognized as Jesus of Nazareth, the Crucified One, but in those wounds He is recognized, confessed, and worshiped as the Lord, the one true God.
Is this not striking and seemingly ironic, that the Lord our God should be seen in His wounds?
But this is exactly right. It is meet, right, and salutary; because this is the sort of God you have. He has given Himself as a Lamb for His people, a Lamb that has been slain, and yet, behold, He lives. He has passed through the deep waters for His people, on their behalf, going ahead of them, in order to bring them through on dry ground. From His pierced and wounded side He has washed His people with pure water, and He has cleansed and covered them with His holy, precious Blood, so that death has to leave them alone, and doubt must finally let go of them.
So it is that, with His Body and His Blood, He gathers His disciples to Himself and grafts them into His wounded side, that they may have Life in Him.
That is why, even in His Resurrection, His glorified Body still bears the wounds of His Passion. There is no shame in those wounds; they are His great glory as the Lord, our Savior and our God. This apparent weakness is actually His strength and His great salvation for you and all people.
And if the Body of Christ Jesus thus bears the wounds of His Holy Cross, do not be dismayed that the members of His Body bear His Cross and are wounded in various ways in this body and life.
Do not despise your wounded brothers and sisters in their weakness, doubts, and fears. If anyone says that He loves Jesus, whom he cannot see, but hates his brother whom he does see, he is a liar. You see Christ Jesus in your brother and sister, especially in your wounded brother and sister; for it is by His wounds that He reveals Himself and makes Himself known to you.
And do not despair if you yourself are wounded, whether in body or soul, heart, mind, or spirit. For the Lord Jesus has made such wounds His own, in order to heal you by His death and make you whole in His Resurrection from the dead. Do not be unbelieving, but believing and at peace.
Take courage from the example of St. Thomas, who is finally remembered in the Church, even to the end of the age, not as “doubting Thomas,” but as one of the holy Apostles. Each and all of them were raised up from their doubts and fears to confidence and courage, and they were called and sent by Christ Jesus in His Name, not because of their flawless strength and impeccable stats, but even in the frailty and weakness of their mortal flesh, in order that the glory of Christ the Crucified might be manifested in such wounded hands and feet as these preachers of His Gospel.
The wounded members also belong to the one Body of Christ. And so do all of you belong to one another in Him. You are fitted and joined together in love, in the unity of faith and the knowledge of God’s Son, that you might share each other’s strengths and weaknesses, wounds and scars, in peace — under one Head, crowned with thorns — who is Christ Jesus, your Lord and your God.
If your fellow members of His Body are not with you in the gathering of His disciples, seek them out, speak to them in love, and invite them in. That is what the other disciples did for Thomas; although he doubted their word, they spoke to him nonetheless, and perhaps that is why he was there the next Sunday, instead of being elsewhere on his own. Your words may not convince your brother or sister of anything, but bring them with you, anyway, to the Upper Room of the Church.
It is here, in the Liturgy of His Gospel, that Christ Jesus is with you, in your midst; and so is it here that His Peace is with you. Receive His Holy Spirit in His Holy Absolution of all your sins. And do not be afraid, for He is here with you and for you in love. Even His preaching of the Law is a gentle scolding, which does not drive you away but invites you to hide yourself in His wounds.
Reach here with your hand. Take, eat, drink. Taste and see that the Lord is good, and that He is risen indeed. Oh, come let us worship Him, our Lord and our God, and give to Him all thanks and praise, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
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