Easter 2 April 8, 2018

Easter 2 Quasimodo Geniti
John 20:19-31
April 8, 2018

“Jesus Leaves a Mark”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

When we bought this body of Christ to go on the cross above our altar last summer, we bought it “used”, so to speak. It had been displayed somewhere else before we got it. And when we received it there was blood painted on His body. Blood dripping from the nails in His hands and the nail in His feet. And also blood dripping from His side where He was pierced with the sword. Since the body needed to be refinished, all of that red paint for the blood was stripped off and His body was stained the one color that you see right now.

The sad thing that happened in that whole process was that now you can hardly see the wound in His side at all. From back where you’re sitting you can’t see even see it. If you’re right up here at the railing, you can probably make out His wound faintly. It’s right up here on His right side. We may need to do something about that. I think we may need to look into painting or marking that wound in His side just a bit so that it’s at least visible from a distance.

And why’s that important? Well, that’s kinda the question of our Gospel reading today. Why are those marks so important? The disciples, and especially Thomas, are sure intent on seeing those marks. And to go even further, why does Jesus even have those marks left after His resurrection? Why weren’t those nail and spear marks all healed up in His perfect, glorified body?

But I think we all know why those marks are so important. Most of you know Mater from the Cars movies. He’s an old rusty tow truck with his hood missing. In the second movie they’re going to take all of Mater’s dents away. His marks. His scars. But he won’t let them. He says they’re too valuable. The dents tell stories and he wants to remember them forever. That’s the way scars are. They tell stories. And that’s why we need to see those marks of Jesus. We don’t want them gone. The cross left a mark on Him. And those marks are a sign that our sins have been paid for in full.

Notice how interested the disciples are in those wounds. Not just Thomas, but all of them. They all want to see them. They want to touch them. And why do they want to touch them and inspect them? Why? Think about it. Because they don’t believe. These are Jesus’ best guys! His top recruits! And none of them believe. So if you’ve ever wondered why people won’t believe in Jesus, here you go. Even His top guys didn’t believe. Even the guys who were with Him for three years before it happened. Even the guys who heard at least three times that Jesus said He would die and be raised. They didn’t believe. They were cowering in that room afraid for their lives.

Now Thomas is the most dramatic. He wasn’t there the first night. So when they tell him he says, “Uh-uh! I’ll never believe unless I stick my finger into the marks of the nails and stick my hand into His side.” His words are pretty graphic. He wants to get His finger and His hand into those wounds. Like a doctor. Or maybe like a mortician. He wants to press himself into those wounds.

And if you don’t think those wounds are a big deal, then look at what happens to Thomas when he finally touches them. He goes from refusing to believe to yelling out, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus says, “Put your hand in here and believe!” Those wounds don’t just leave a mark on Jesus. They leave a mark on us too.

First, let me remind you of the impression those marks made on the disciples. Here we see them hiding out with the doors locked, scared for their lives. Do they stay that way? Do they eventually all run away and get as far away from Jerusalem as possible to try and save their hides? Do they go into hiding and never come out again?

No. Jesus left a mark on them. His wounds left a mark on them. His Word left an impression on them. His Holy Spirit left a mark on them. And just fifty days after Easter, on Pentecost Day, they make a big scene in Jerusalem. Peter gets up and preaches in front of the whole town all about Jesus. They never lock themselves in a room again. Others lock them in rooms. Plenty of times they get locked up in prison. But they’re never scared to talk about Jesus again. They go from hiding out locked in a room to telling everybody that will listen that Jesus is risen from the dead.

Jesus made an impression on them. Think about that word impression for a little bit. We talk about making good impressions or making a first impression. What does that word even mean? Literally the word is “pressing into”. At the cross, the nails were pressed into (with a hammer, most likely) the hands and feet of Jesus. They left an impression. A mark. The spear was “pressed into” the side of Jesus. It left an impression. A mark. A scar.

Then when Jesus appears to His disciples these two different times, He makes quite an impression on them. They literally “press into” His side and His hands with their fingers. And He presses His Word and Holy Spirit into them. And they go all the way from unbelieving to believing.

Now in one way, wouldn’t you and I like to stick our fingers into His side? Yes, of course we would. We would love to be standing here with Jesus and examine the wounds of our salvation. But we can’t. Jesus has ascended into heaven and won’t return bodily until the Last Day. But Jesus has a way to impress you. He has a way to leave an impression on you. A way to mark you.

He presses into you His Word. Remember what He says to Thomas right after he gets to put his fingers and hand into Jesus’ wounds. Then Jesus says, “Have you believe because you have seen Me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” Who’s that? That’s you. That’s me. We are blessed. Because we haven’t seen and yet we have believed.

Why have we believed? Because the Word of God has impressed us. It has been pressed into us. We’ve been marked. Those wounds of Jesus have left a mark on us. The mark of faith. John explains this for us, He says, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His 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.”

The Holy Scriptures are written to leave a mark on you. The mark of Jesus. We may not be able to physically examine the nail marks and the spear mark. But His disciples did. And they wrote it down for us. So that you too may believe. So that you may be impressed. Marked by the wounds of Jesus.

That’s what you are and I are. We’re marked by the wounds of Jesus. When Jesus shows the disciples His wounds, what does He say right before and after? He talks about “peace” and “forgiveness of sins”. That’s why those wounds are so important. They’re our peace and our forgiveness. He was wounded for our transgressions, right? In those marks we are marked.

Because when they pierced His side with that spear, what flowed out of His side? The side of our Savior? Blood and water. That wasn’t by accident or coincidence. That was God’s plan. Because that blood and water coming from Jesus side is your Baptism and Communion. That’s where God marks you. Marks you as one who is forgiven and made righteous by Jesus Christ.

In the Epistle today from 1 John, he says that Jesus came by water and blood. There are three that testify, he says. That testify to you of Jesus. It’s the Spirit, the water, and the blood. And they all agree. This is God’s testimony to you. He’s making His case for your salvation with the Spirit, the water, and the blood. With the Word of God, Holy Baptism, and Holy Communion. All three agree. They are all the one testimony of God about His Son Jesus Christ. They all three mark you with the wounds of Jesus, with His death on the cross for your salvation. That’s how Jesus makes His impression on you. Always through His Word.

So once again, to clarify, we may not be able to stick our fingers and hands into the wounds of Jesus. Into the nail marks on His hands and into the wound on His side. But Jesus has another way of marking us. Another way of impressing us. He does it with His Word. His disciples have given us Jesus’ word in the Holy Scriptures. And we have the same Word joined with water in Holy Baptism and with bread and wine in the Lord’s Supper. And that Word works in our hearts to create faith. So that like Thomas, we too may go from unbelieving to believing.

Hear once more Jesus’ blessing for you and me, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

In Jesus’ name. Amen.