Beloved brothers and sisters,
The story of Thomas, the so-called Doubting Thomas, is not about a man who could not believe that Jesus rose from the dead. It is about a man who believed so strongly in the necessity of the cross that he could not imagine salvation without it.
When Jesus first told His disciples that He was going to Judea, it was Thomas who cried out, “Let us go, that we may die with Him.” He was ready for the cross. He believed that the Messiah’s truth must be sealed by crucifixion. So when others came saying, “We have seen the Lord,” Thomas’s heart was torn. Could it be? Or is this another man — a spirit, an imitator, a comforter pretending to be Him?
And Thomas said, “Unless I see the marks of the nails, unless I touch the wound in His side, I will not believe.” He was not doubting resurrection; he was guarding the cross.
But when the risen Lord came, what did He say? Not, “Good for you, Thomas, for checking the evidence.”
No — He said, “Do not be unbelieving, but believing.” Why? Because Thomas’s eyes were still fixed on the death, not on the life. He wanted to touch the proof of pain, not the reality of healing.
And so the Lord, in mercy, gives him what he asks for. He shows him wounds that no living body could have — hollow, open, impossible wounds — not because they were real, but because Thomas still needed to see them. It was not anatomy that was before him, it was a miracle of understanding. The Teacher stooped down once again to the level of the student.
And when Thomas saw, he fell to his knees and cried out, “My Lord and my God!”
Then Jesus spoke the blessing that still divides the world: “Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have believed.”
Friends, Jesus was not praising blind faith; He was praising faith that sees beyond the wound. The one who believes without seeing is the one who knows that God’s love does not leave a trace of death.
The one who believes without seeing is the one who says: “I do not need to touch death to believe in life.”
That is the faith of the resurrection.
That is the faith that trusts that when God raises the fallen, He does not leave holes in their hands.
He does not preserve the smell of the tomb.
He restores completely.
He makes all things new.
And so, beloved, the Lord asks each of us:
Why do you still seek the wounds?
Why do you still look for signs of death in the Living One?
Why do you keep your eyes on the cross when the tomb is empty?
The answer of faith is simple:
We believe that the cross was real, but we also believe that God is greater than the cross.
We believe that obedience leads to suffering, but that suffering leads to life.
We believe, as Jesus said, that whoever loses his life for God’s sake will find that he never truly lost it at all.
So today, if you carry your own wounds — your doubts, your losses, your scars — hear the words that Thomas heard: “Be not unbelieving, but believing.”
Believe that the Lord can raise you so fully that no trace of death remains.
Believe that even what you thought was your crucifixion can become your resurrection.
And when you do, you too will cry out with Thomas, not in doubt, but in revelation:
“My Lord and my God!”
Amen.