Intro
The Apostle John says in his first Epistle, “This is the victory that has conquered the world: our faith” (1 John 5:4). If so, then it seems that all we have to do is have more faith.
If we believe more, if we have more faith, then faith will destroy our sinful urges. Faith will crush our frustrations and annoyances; it will wipe away our aches and pains. Why, faith would even ease our tensions and solve our financial woes. If we only had more faith, then faith would make life better. For faith overcomes the world.
Main Body
And so we become convinced not only that we need faith, but that we need a faith that never wavers, a faith that is always on fire. And then what happens? We set out to prove to ourselves and everyone else that we have that faith, that we do, indeed, believe!
And that’s what’s happening in many churches today--they’ve become self-convincing societies. Oh, look at so and so! What faith he has. If only I could believe like he does. If only I was always happy like he’s always happy. If only I was always on fire like him. And yet, if you were to peel away the veneer of his life, you’d see him doing the same thing--trying to prove to himself, and everyone else, that he really does have the faith that overcomes the world.
And then a few years later, you see that same man who was once on fire for God. You knew for some reason that he had quit coming to church. And then you find out why. He gave up trying to live the lie, the charade, of having the unquenchable fire of faith. For his faith was based on feelings. And when he could no longer keep lying to himself, trying to convince himself that his faith was for real, because his feelings told him so, he gave up. He quit believing. For the object of his faith was his feelings--not Jesus!
You gotta have faith! You gotta believe! That’s the world’s motto for success. It’s the creed we repeat so often that we also believe it. So we make faith in faith our goal. Or we make faith in our perceptions of faith, our feelings--instead of Jesus--our goal.
Oh it’s true--you are to believe! Never doubt that! But it’s what you put your faith in, that’s what’s often left unsaid. And when the object of your faith is not clear, then your faith isn’t connected to the Lord. You’re told to believe, but you’re never told what your faith should grasp. And so what happens?
You have faith in, or believe in, a multitude of things. Perhaps, you believe in yourself. Perhaps, your measure of faith is your feelings, for how else would you know if your faith is weak or strong? Or you may believe in your values. Or you may believe in prayer. Or you may believe in whatever you want--as long as you believe in something. But it’s faith in Jesus that overcomes the world--and nothing else.
And so we get to Thomas in our Gospel reading. He believed in something. He believed firmly and sincerely that what he heard the other disciples say about Jesus was not true. Jesus couldn’t be alive! And Thomas wouldn’t believe that until he had a sign. And not just any sign, but the sign that he demanded. Jesus would have to meet Thomas’ own litmus test before he would believe.
Yet, do not doubt this: Thomas didn’t just doubt--he no longer believed in Jesus! That’s why Jesus said to Thomas, “Do not disbelieve, but believe.” Oh, Thomas had faith in something, but it wasn’t Jesus. And so Thomas had fallen away from the faith; he was no longer a Christian; he was an unbeliever.
But notice how difficult it was for Thomas, and for us, to believe. For Jesus calls us to believe what we think is unreasonable. Jesus tells us to throw away what we are so sure is true, and suppress what we feel may be right. That’s what Thomas had to do.
Thomas wasn’t there when Jesus first stood among to His Apostles after He arose from the grave. Later, the other disciples told Thomas, “We have seen the Lord.” But Thomas refused to believe what he heard. Instead, he believed what made sense to him and what felt right in his heart.
But our Lord knows what we are like. He knows that we are often slow to believe, and quick to doubt or even disbelieve. He knows that fear often runs our lives--not His soothing and comforting Word. He knows that our spirit often resists His Spirit. And so our Lord gives us His Holy Spirit, over and over, in every Divine Service, so we would “believe His holy Word and live a godly life, here in time and hereafter in eternity” (Small Catechism).
That’s what Jesus breathing on His Disciples, now made Apostles, was all about. “Receive the Holy Spirit,” Jesus said. With those words, Jesus breathed His Spirit into His Apostles.
The Spirit not only gave them the Lord’s peace, but also the faith to believe in, and hold on to, His peace. The Spirit created in them a clean heart. The Spirit removed a heart of unbelieving stone and replaced it with a warm, Spirit-filled heart, pulsing with the Life of Christ. For it was not just a spirit, but the Holy Spirit--one of the Divine Persons of the Holy Trinity, who works with the Father and the Son to bring us into communion with God.
For what is the goal of faith? It’s to bring us in communion, in oneness, with God. The Holy Spirit points us to Jesus. Jesus brings us to the Father. And the Father declares and makes us holy because of Jesus, making us fit to be in His eternal presence for all eternity.
The goal of faith is not to have your feelings on fire. My goodness, your sinful flesh, exciting music, or drugs can give you that--at least for a short time. But none of them can make you holy in God’s eyes and give you eternal life. That’s where true joy and peace come from, the joy and peace that transcends this earthly life.
But why else did Jesus give His Disciples-now-turned-Apostles His Holy Spirit? Jesus gave them His Spirit so they could do the tasks He was commissioning them to do. Our Gospel text for today mentions the forgiving and retaining of sins.
And so the Spirit, who proceeds from the Father, is given to the Apostles through the Son. They received the Spirit, who, in turn, gave that Spirit to others in the waters of holy Baptism, through the preached Word, through the Word of Absolution that Jesus had given them to speak, and even the Lord’s Supper.
But it doesn’t end there. And thank God that it doesn’t! For our Lord Jesus insists that not only the Apostles, but their successors in the Office of the Holy Ministry--pastors--are to deliver His peace in the same way. This peace isn’t just an abstract and distant peace. It comes in the flesh, using the preached Word, the waters of Baptism, the hands of Absolution, and the bread and wine of Holy Communion. These are the incarnational ways the Lord’s peace enters your ears, goes into your mouth, and even enlivens your heart. These are the Lord’s ways for His peace to be as real as real can be.
Well, what else did Thomas get that night? He not only received the Holy Spirit, he also received in the flesh what his faith needed. But here’s where it get’s really good: Thomas didn’t get what he demanded and wanted; he got what he needed. For Thomas didn’t really know what he needed, he just thought he did. He went by his feelings, feelings that wouldn’t believe until he could thrust his finger in the nail holes of Jesus.
Although invited by Jesus, Thomas never touched those nail holes or placed his hand in the Lord’s spear-pierced side. When Thomas saw Jesus in His resurrected flesh, that was enough to pull back the curtain of unbelief. Thomas then cried out, “My Lord and my God.”
And it’s the same for you and me. The Holy Spirit also pulls back the curtain of your unbelief that you, too, may believe in Jesus. The Word in the water of baptism plants the seed of faith in your heart. The preached Word pierces your ears to plant and renew faith at every Divine Service. In private confession, your Lord calms your troubled heart for specific sins you may feel are unforgivable. And in His Supper, the Lord and Giver of Life gives you Himself in His body and blood. For only Jesus can give to you a true and genuine life in God.
So “do not disbelieve, but believe.” That’s what Our Lord says, not only to Thomas, but also to you. For whoever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith.
Because Jesus has risen from the dead, He has made all things right between you and God the Father. For the same Jesus who rose from the dead, showed Thomas His nail prints and side. And that same Jesus has triumphed over sin and death--the same Jesus who will reunite you with your body on the Last Day, so your communion and life in God will be full and free for all eternity!
That’s why we rejoice. For the Spirit who reveals to us the Lord Jesus, who brings us to the Father, is the same God who gives the peace beyond all understanding. For it is then that we have what the world cannot give: the peace of the Lord that settles and calms our hearts, even while it surpasses our understanding.
So who is the One who overcomes the world? It’s not the one who believes for the sake of believing. It’s not the one who measures faith by his feelings. No, it’s the one who believes that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God--no matter what he feels.
For the Holy Spirit points us to Jesus--not to our feelings. Our feelings only come along for the ride. And the Holy Spirit continues to breathe into us the breath of eternal life by speaking to our spirit, and by planting the flesh and blood of the Lord within our bodies and our being.
Conclusion
For by the Holy Spirit, the Lord Himself comes to you, even right now in the preached Word, the Word who is Jesus Christ. And by the Spirit, the Lord Himself speaks to you His own peace. He gives you His word of forgiveness and even gives you His own Body and Blood.
That is why we pray, when we sing:
Lord, be our light when worldly darkness veils us;
Lord, be our shield when earthly armor fails us;
And in the day when hell itself assails us,
Grant us Your peace, Lord. (LSB 659, st. 3) Amen.
