04/15/2026
For tonight's Vespers. All are invited. 7 p.m.
Easter 2 – 2026 – Wednesday
Just how are you supposed to believe anything these days, with AI and so many conflicting reports? The first Easter saw our Lord’s disciples in such confusion. “Besides all this, it is now the third day and some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early and when they did not find his body, they came back saying they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.” And Jesus said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!”
Can you really blame Thomas? The disciples on the road to Emmaus didn’t believe the women’s report. They only recognized Jesus in the breaking of the bread! Mary Magdalene finally recognized Him when He called her by name. Eyes and ears went together, as Jesus made use of them to keep His disciples faithful! So, Thomas wanted to – needed to – be body and blood sure, as do you. For apart from “the marks of the nails” and the mark of the spear, with the sound of His voice, you have no sure place for your faith.
Don’t compromise on that, dear Christian, it’s just too important to have faith grounded in the wounded flesh and blood of Jesus. So learn from Thomas. He wanted the marks of Christ’s crucifixion. They are also the marks of His incarnation. There is nothing non-corporally “spiritual” about holes in a body, evidence of nails passing through flesh, attaching hands and feet to wood for you. Nothing “spiritual” or wishful, or half-way about a spear going into Christ’s side, with blood and water flowing out of it following His death.
Jesus loved you to the end and John was there to see it. So, his testimony is true. Thomas’ testimony is as well, since Jesus made sure he also witnessed Jesus in His resurrected body, and from that point on, Thomas gave, in Word and Sacrament, what all the others did: the One conceived as Man by the Holy Spirit, crucified, died, buried, and the same incarnate Jesus in His resurrection and Ministry now. Accept no less.
You need the Jesus Thomas got, not just a Jesus in your heart, of your own making, feelings, or ideas. The Jesus Thomas wanted died and rose again, and on the night before He died, He took the bread, gave thanks and broke it, saying: “Take, eat; this IS My Body, given into death for you.” Accept no other. Demand the wounded, nail and spear pierced flesh of God, not just ruminated on, but given you to eat in bread that Jesus consecrates in His Communion. And since Christ took the wine and blessed it, saying, “Take, drink; this cup is the New Testament in My Blood, shed for the forgiveness of sins,” accept no substitute for that, either. Many do, unfortunately, turning flesh and blood into pictures, symbols, representations and reminders, as if Christ is only spiritually present, though Jesus gives His flesh for you to eat in bread and His blood for you to drink in wine.
Is that too REAL for you? Too physical? The disciples DID mistake the risen Christ at one point for a ghost. So, Jesus took some fish and ate it in their presence. Theirs, yours and mine, is still a very much incarnate Lord and Savior; the Word of God made flesh, and flesh and blood still!
Accept no substitutes! Demand the marks of Jesus. Just don’t expect to get them in the same way Thomas did. He was one of the Twelve, of the Lord’s apostles. He needed to be an eyewitness of Jesus in His resurrection. He needed to be able to speak as St. John did, standing at the cross, seeing the blood and water pour from Jesus’ side. So, Thomas got the marks of Jesus in the way we’ve heard: “Put your finger here and see my hands; put out your hand, and place it into my side. Do not disbelieve but believe.” You won’t see what Thomas did until Christ comes in glory, but demand the marks of Jesus, and trust you have them!
In our Lutheran Confessions, we speak of the “marks of Christ’s body, the Church,” by which that invisible fellowship of true believers, is outwardly recognized. The marks of the Church are: “The Gospel taught in its truth and purity and the Sacraments administered according to Christ’s institution.” Where these are in question, rejected, absent, obscured or denied, remain as resolute as Thomas and demand the marks. It’s why we catechize and preach as we do. It’s why we practice closed communion, calling people away from fellowship with darkness and disbelief. The believing of our hearts is never perfect, as the apostles and first disciples of Jesus showed. How they had difficulty trusting what He said! Still, He blesses faith and those who believe what He says, since the preaching of the Gospel and the administration of Christ’s Sacraments are the living voice and work of the crucified and risen Christ among us.
You do not see Him, as Thomas and the others did, but you hear His voice and receive His working. So, Luther joyously confesses in his commentary on the book of Genesis: “When I approach Baptism, I must conclude that nothing human is being done there. The water is a veil or means. So is the Word with which God is veiled. Behind these stands our Lord and God, and they are the means through which He speaks with us and works in each one individually. He baptizes me; He absolves me and gives me His body and blood through the tongue and hand of the minister. For God works salvation in Baptism. And this is the presence or form and epiphany of God in these means.”
Thus, we kneel, and confess with Thomas, “My Lord and my God,” as He puts us into His death and resurrection through Holy Baptism, cuts us free from guilt, shame, and condemnation in the Holy Absolution, retains our sins against us if we need it – to break our stubborn unrepentance, that He might then restore us in forgiveness. His great desire then is to feed us from His nail-scarred hands the very body and the blood He gave upon a cross for our salvation.
In Jesus’ Name, Amen
