Sermon for The Second Sunday of Easter, April 12, 2026.
He is risen, He is risen indeed, alleluia!
The disciples were afraid of the Jews after Jesus’ crucifixion. We’re specifically told that they had locked the doors (plural) for fear of the Jews. And that detail sets the stage for an amazing event. Even though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among the disciples, saying to them as He appeared to them, “Peace be with you.” (John 20:19)
Eight days later, this happens again. The disciples are inside and “although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’” (John 20:26)
How did Jesus get inside? John doesn’t go into the mechanics of the event. Human beings can’t pass through solid objects. We would say that it’s impossible, but that’s the wrong word, because Jesus is a human being, and whether He passed through the locked doors or manifested His presence all at once, He does appear inside the room despite the physical barriers. He is wholly human, just as He is wholly God. In fact, this whole pericope is centered on Jesus showing the disciples His humanity.
The first time He came and stood among the disciples despite the locked doors, “he showed them his hands and his side.” (John 20:20) We’re told the disciples were glad. Of course they were. Their master is alive. The man from Nazareth, Mary’s son, who had taught them God’s Word these past three years, who had been publicly killed, was alive in the flesh. He had the scars to prove it. They saw the wounds with their own eyes.
The second time Jesus came and stood among them despite the locked doors, it was not just to let them see His flesh, but so Thomas could touch it. “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve [that I’m alive in the flesh], but believe.”
Jesus is showing them that their Lord and their God is alive in the flesh. It’s the revelation of Christ’s human flesh, crucified and resurrected, that moves Thomas to cry out, “My lord and my God!”
So, yes, Jesus is very much a human being. That’s the central component of this reading. So, apparently, it is possible for a human being to defy physical barriers. At least, this one did. It’s not impossible. As I said, that’s the wrong word. The far more accurate word is incomprehensible. How Jesus was able to come and stand among the disciples despite the locked doors is incomprehensible to us. We can’t comprehend how it was possible for Jesus to get into the room with the doors being locked, but He did. Our lack of comprehension, however, is not the measure of whether or not something is possible.
What Jesus did here for Thomas and the other disciples, and what He did for us, since John recorded the event for our blessing, is a sign for the specific purpose of helping us believe in Him—that having been crucified, He is risen, He is risen indeed, alleluia!
What did Jesus say to Thomas? John 20:29. “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” Whether it was Thomas or other disciples, or you and me, we can say with Scripture that those who don’t need to comprehend Jesus Christ’s miraculous signs in order to believe in Him are truly blessed. We don’t need to be told how Jesus appeared in the room despite the locked doors. We don’t need to know how He stilled the winds or walked on water, or how He could raise people from the dead—how He Himself was raised from the dead. Comprehending the how is not important. What’s important is that He actually did these things.
And so, John writes that “Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:30-31).
Christian, you are in a similar situation as the disciples in our Gospel text every Sunday here at the Lord’s altar. Many men have tried to explain how Jesus’ Body and Blood are present with the bread and wine in the Lord’s Supper. All of them have failed miserably. Thomas Aquinas tried to rationalize this miracle in the 13th century, and the Roman Catholics have been confused ever since. Ulrich Zwingli, John Calvin, and other radicals tried explaining away the miracle after the Lutheran Reformation, leaving millions under the impression that Christ isn’t capable of doing the incomprehensible, making Communion into a symbolic meal because their mental capacity is the norm of their belief, not God’s Word.
All the skeptics fail for a simple reason. How Jesus’ Body and Blood can at the same time be truly present at this altar and every other altar where His Sacrament is being distributed, how Christ’s flesh can be in and with the bread and His Blood truly in and with the wine, how the eating and drinking of them can forgive your sins, give you eternal life, and save you from the Devil—these things are, for the human mind, incomprehensible. We’re children. It’s not required that the children comprehend the ways of the Father in order for what He does to be doable. How many toddlers can comprehend how Mom and Dad provide the family with food to eat? Their comprehension of the how is not important.
We must remember that God is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient. We’re not.
It’s enough for us to know the results of His activity. And that is why Jesus did what He did, so that you would believe, so that eyewitnesses could write down the historic events that occurred to testify that Jesus is the Christ, the one who came to live and die for you as the prophets foretold. God inspired the prophets to record those prophecies in order to, if you will, stack the deck against Himself. The Messiah had to fulfill all these prophecies to be the true savior. Jesus fulfilled them all. The written record didn’t disqualify Him but validates His status as your redeemer. The evangelists wrote down His life, and at any time during that first generation, had they lied, any number of people could have called their bluff. People knew the events. But there was no bovine scatology for critics to call out.
Jesus is the Messiah. And blessed are you, who have never seen Him as Thomas did, and yet still believe in Him. You, who believe the incomprehensible because of the verifiable eyewitness testimony of the apostles and evangelists, you are greatly blessed! The Biblical witness has stood the test of time and all the scrutiny of scoffers and critics, and the Holy Bible is still standing, because Jesus, He is risen, He is risen indeed, alleluia!
Christian, we live in skeptical times. Do not disbelieve but believe. It’s easy to get carried away by the spirit Thomas displayed: this idea that we need to see it to believe it. No. All we need is to hear it. Faith comes from hearing the Word of God. The greater blessing is to believe without seeing. The evidence is all there. The reasons to believe are plentiful and testable. Do not disbelieve, but believe.
Christ was crucified for you, and He was raised for you. He appeared to the disciples behind locked doors for you, too. To show you that just because it’s incomprehensible, very much like the Sacraments, doesn’t mean it’s impossible. With God, all things are possible, including the forgiveness of your sins and your resurrection from the grave, even your ability to live forever in a perfect world.
You have life in His name.
Amen!
Rev. Tyrel Bramwell 
Leave a comment