Behold the wounds of Christ! He appears to 10 of His disciples in the upper room. He is real; He appears in His flesh and blood, not as some ghastly apparition—He is really and truly present among them—and He shows them His hands and side. He shows them His wounds.

See the back of the Lord, Jesus Christ. See the marks left by the cane and cat-of-nine-tails; the scars left by His torturers. See the deep gashes and cuts and scrapes made by the wooden beam that He carried, if only part of the way.

Look at the head of the Lord, Jesus Christ. Look at the pin-pricks upon His brow. See the lines that mark his temple. Behold the scars left by His coronation, as the King of kings wore His crown of thorns.

Now with the disciples, gaze at his hands and feet. Gaze through the holes in his hands, wounds made by the nails which held Him to the leafless tree on Golgotha. Look at the floor through the holes in feet, left from the nails which immobilized the Savior upon the cross.

Also with the disciples, see the richest wound of Christ as you look at His side. See the spot where He was run through with the spear. Recall the water and blood flowing from His side—water, the means of Holy Baptism, whence faith comes, and blood, the gift of Holy Communion, whence faith is strengthened.

So, fellow redeemed of the Lord, look upon the wounds of your God and rejoice! Rejoice and recall the words of Isaiah:

Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

Now He Who was once dead has been raised back to life. He Who endured such grief and scorn has returned from the grave! He Who died to forgive us our sins has risen from the dead to give us victory over the grave! Christ is risen!

Now, enter Thomas, called Didymus, the disciple of our Lord. He comes to the upper room with the 10, The Doubter—as we are prone to label him—an unbeliever—as Scripture calls him. "Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe," as the Greek says. "I will not believe."

So let us be real, all doubt is unbelief, and all unbelief is sin. So whatever may come and cause you to doubt, you cease to believe, even if for only a moment, and you sin against your God. It is your sin no matter the cause. You are guilty of it. You have ceased to believe what your God has told you to be true in the Holy Scriptures. It doesn't matter if it sounds too incredible or illogical or if it doesn't suit your sensibilities, if God has proclaimed it to be true, and if you doubt it, you have sinned against Him.

That's where Thomas is sitting as the disciples proclaim to Him the good news: "We have seen the Lord!" We can imagine that Thomas must have thought, "That sounds incredible...illogical. Have you seen His wounds? How could any man still live after all the torture He endured?" The disciples are simply repeating what Jesus had been saying all along. He has kept His promise; He has fulfilled His Word—what He said is true! However, Thomas refused to believe it unless he can see and touch for himself.

So as the eleven gather once more in the upper room—Thomas among them—the Lord once again appears to them. And as He had done a week earlier, He appears to them again in His flesh and blood—He is really and truly present with His disciples.

Behold, once again, His wounds. See His hands and feet, and most especially His side. This time, however, behold the hand of Thomas. He reaches toward Christ and places it in His side! He touches the precious wounds of Christ! He places His hand in that most precious of wounds where flowed blood and water mingled down—the two blessed Sacraments! "Do not be unbelieving, but believing," invites Jesus to Thomas. And having heard the Word of God—having touched and felt Him—Thomas believes: "My Lord and my God!"

Of course, Thomas' story does not end there. Thomas is sent—an apostle. He is sent to give the blessing He has received so that others who have not seen may also believe. So, with the hand that received grace from God, Thomas goes forth to preach. Consider, then, that Thomas used that hand to bless people, touching them and administering the sacraments with it. Consider also, that he would participate in the ordination of men into the Office he himself occupies, with the laying on of hands, especially that hand that was placed inside the holy wounds of Christ. So, the blessing passes from Christ to the hand of Thomas to the people to whom Thomas ministers and to the people whom Thomas ordains. From that blessed hand is preached and given faith!

Now, I don't mean to make it sound as if Thomas' hand is somehow special. There is no need for relics and reliquaries. On the contrary, it is the Word of God that makes a thing what it is. To Thomas, the Word of God incarnate speaks: "Do not be unbelieving, but believing" and, later on, "Go into all the world and make disciples of every nation." Thomas (and the other apostles) went with the Word of God, proclaimed that Word of God, and gave that Word of God to a hurting, sinful world.

Consider, then, that through the ages many men have been ordained into the Office which Thomas and the other apostles occupied. Consider that these men were touched by the hands that touched the Lord, even His wounds. Consider that these men, in turn, ordained other men into that same Office, and that this continued and continues to happen to this day.

Therefore, through the ages, the blessing that Thomas received has been received by these hands and the hands of every man that has served here. And through these hands is faith preached and administered in the Sacraments. As these hands touch you and reach to you, you receive the same invitation that Thomas received, "Do not be unbelieving, but believing." So it has been that, through these hands and the hands of every pastor that has ministered to you, you have heard the Word of God and touched Him and received faith.

Again, though, it is not the hands that are somehow special. It is not the touch that makes the Office do what it does. It is the Word of God. Through the ages, the Word of God has been given to countless men to proclaim and give to a hurting and sinful world. Through the ages, that Word of God has been received by countless sinners—countless saints—giving faith, forgiving sins, strengthening faith, giving eternal life. "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed"; they have believed because of the Word of God—"faith comes by hearing!"

And it happens here, too. It's not that this man speaking to you is somehow special because of the laying on of hands at his ordination and installation, but the Office he fills has been given the Word to proclaim to you, and it is the very Word of God that gives you faith, forgives your sins, strengthens your faith, gives you eternal life. Blessed are you who have not see and yet believe; you believe because of the Word of God proclaimed to you—"faith comes by hearing!"

Incredible or illogical? Well, consider this, then: Is not the Lord present among us by His very Word? Does not the Lord appear to us in his very flesh and blood, given as bread and wine, so that we may receive Him in His Sacrament of the Altar? Does He not give Himself to us in these means through the mouth and hands of the Office for the strengthening of our faith—for forgiveness of sins and life and salvation—that we may not be unbelieving but believing? Indeed He does, He comes verily and bodily in His means of grace to give you the gift He has won by His death—forgiveness of sins—and by His resurrection—life and victory over the grave. Christ is risen and Christ is present!

Behold, then, your own head. When you were brought to the font and received Holy Baptism, the hand of the Office touched you and poured the water with the Word on you. Recall the hand of Thomas and the rich wound of Christ, for the water in which you were Baptized is the same as that which flowed from the side of Christ.

Behold, also, your own ears. As you seek your pastor to confess your sins privately or at the beginning of the Divine Service as you do the same corporately, the mouth of the Office spoke such sweet and tender words to you: "In the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost." This was the very function of the Office that Christ instituted in this morning's Gospel: "He breathed on [His disciples], and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.'"

Behold, again, your own head as you approached the table of the Lord in those days when you did not receive the Sacrament of the Altar. The hand of the Office reached down and touched you and spoke the Word of the Lord over you. Recall the hand of Thomas and the rich wound of Christ, for the hand that blessed you then is the same as the hand Thomas used as he ministered to the people to whom he was sent.

Behold, now, your own hands and mouth. As you now approach the Lord's Table to receive His very body and His very blood (or may the Lord keep you till that day when you are received at the table in fellowship with us), the hand of the Office reaches down and presents you with the very body and very blood of our Savior, given in, with, and under the bread and wine. And you take Him into your hands and mouths and touch the Lord. Recall the hand of Thomas and the rich wound of Christ, for the very body into which Thomas placed his hand is the very same body that you touch and receive in the Lord's Supper.

Once more, the focus is not on the hands, touch, or person, contrary to what you may be hearing, but on the Word of God. For it is the Word of God combined with the water that makes Baptism a blessed flood of faith and forgiveness. Otherwise, it is plain water and nothing more. It is the very Word of God spilling forth from the lips of the man in the Office that forgives (or retains) sins just as validly as if Christ Himself did it. Otherwise, they are plain words—plain speech—and nothing more. It is the very Word of God that conveys and gives the blessing over those who approach the rail yet did not receive the Sacrament, not the hands that touched them. Otherwise, it is a plain touch and nothing more. It is the Word of God that makes the bread and wine His very body and blood, not the hands of the one who gives it nor receives it. Otherwise, they are plain bread and wine and nothing more. These are simply the ordinary means of grace which God chooses to use to be among us.

The focus in this morning's Gospel was not that Thomas saw the nail holes, put his finger in them, and placed his hands in Christ's side. These things did not restore and strengthen Thomas' faith. It was the words of Christ that did it: "Do not be unbelieving, but believing." His wounded presence was the means by which He spoke those words to Thomas, but it was the Word of God that did the work.

The Lord Jesus Christ is present among us in His means of grace to bless us with forgiveness, life, and salvation. In these means, given with His Word, Jesus appears to us and bids us not to be unbelieving, but believing—to give us faith in Him, and to forgive us our sins, including the sins of doubt and unbelief. Again, it is the Word that does the work!

Christ is risen! Christ is present—truly present! He is here among us to bless you, to proclaim to you in His means of grace—the Word, the Sacraments, the hands and mouth of the Office—that you are forgiven for all your sins.