Poor Thomas. Of all of the disciples, only Thomas is branded with a nickname that will never let us forget his mistake. We remember this disciple of Jesus not for his courage, as when he rallied the others to go with Jesus to visit Lazarus knowing that the Jews were seeking to stone him. "Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, 'Let us also go, that we may die with him.'" (John 11:16). But we don't call him, "courageous Thomas."

Nor do we remember him as the one who was unafraid of asking questions that might reveal his slowness to catch on, as when Jesus said the twelve, "I go to prepare a place for you . . . and you know the way to where I am going," and Thomas spoke up and said, "Lord we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?" (John 14:5). But we don't call him, "questioning Thomas."

No, poor Thomas is forever remembered for that time when the other disciples told him that they had seen the Lord, and he replied, "Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe." For that single episode, he will always be remembered as "doubting Thomas."

Don't get me wrong, I am not suggesting that his nickname is unfair. Nor am I suggesting that Thomas was not really as disbelieving as he is made out to be. In fact, what we see in Thomas is nothing less or other than "disbelief." For that is what Jesus calls it. "Do not disbelieve but believe."

Now that we're using the ESV translation of the bible, maybe we should call him, "disbelieving Thomas." The older KJV says, "Do not be faithless but believing." So you could call him, "faithless Thomas." But if you want to stick to the old NIV translation, you can still call him, "doubting Thomas." Whether it's "disbelieving," "faithless," "doubting," it all means the same thing, and I suspect that poor Thomas is no happier with one than the other.

Thomas has a problem with believing the word that comes from the Apostles. In the Nicene Creed, we say that we believe in the one, holy Christian and APOSTOLIC church. That means that we believe the word of the Apostles upon which the holy, Christian church is built.

But Thomas wasn't ready to confess the Nicene Creed just yet. He couldn't bring himself to say, "I believe in Jesus Christ . . . and the third day rose again according to the Scriptures." And he couldn't because he didn't believe the Apostolic word.

The word of John, Peter and all the others to Thomas was that they saw the Lord who had been crucified. But Thomas flat out rejects their testimony. Call him a skeptic, stubborn, stiff-necked or even bull-headed and nobody would disagree with you. That's Thomas.

The Apostolic word is not enough for him. The Apostolic word is not enough for a lot of people really, and maybe it's not enough for you either. We've been carefully trained and conditioned to reject the kind of authority that says, "it's true just because I said it's true." "You need to believe what I'm telling you because I know what's best for you." Like Thomas, we've been programmed to reject "blind faith" and we, too, insist on seeing some proof before we commit ourselves.

Through the books of the New Testament, from Matthew to Revelation, the apostles silently scream at us saying, "take my word for it," claiming that it's really not their word at all but the very word of God. But like Thomas, many take a leap of doubt and say, "I will not believe."

Thomas had to have been one of those die-in-the-wool skeptics. If we didn't know better, we'd swear he was from Missouri. He doesn't seem to be ashamed of his disbelief in the least. In fact, he's so bold about it that he spells out the terms for his conversion. And tough terms they are. Before he would be converted, he would have to see the living Jesus. And, not only would Thomas not believe the Apostolic word, he wouldn't even believe his own eyes. To be sure that the Jesus he would have to see to believe, was really the same Jesus who was crucified on the cross, he would have to touch his nail wounds and put his hand into the place where the spear pierced his side. I have always wondered, just how deeply into Jesus' side Thomas was thinking he would have to put his hand before he would be satisfied.

A new hymn by Thomas Troeger, which Sharon introduced us to last year and you'll get a chance to sing here in just a minute puts it very well.

"These things did Thomas count as real: the warmth of blood, the chill of steel, The grain of wood, the heft of stone, The last frail twitch of flesh and bone." (LSB #472. st.1)

To be sure, Thomas' disbelief is not just "weak faith." It"s full-fledged doubt and faithlessness and disbelief. Which kind of makes you wonder why this text is on the menu on the Sunday after Easter every year. Even when you follow the three-year cycle of readings like we do, all three cycles would draw our attention to "disbelieving Thomas" on the 2nd Sunday of Easter. You would think that even though Thomas was one of the disciples of Jesus, he might be discreetly kept out of sight, like crazy aunt Gertrude whose behavior is an embarrassment to the whole family. But in fact, Thomas is put before us every year.

What is it that we are supposed to see in Thomas? What are we to learn from him and how are we to be strengthened on our faith and hope by his example?

One of the early church Fathers, St. Gregory the Great, answers our question like this:

"The disbelief of Thomas has done more for our faith than the faith of the other disciples." "In a marvelous way God's mercy arranged that the disbelieving disciple, in touching the wounds of his master's body, should heal our wounds of disbelief."

Gregory is not ashamed of Thomas. Rather he is thankful for Thomas, because in Thomas, with all of his bull-headed, skepticism and disbelief, we see ourselves. It's not a pretty picture and it's nothing to be proud of, for sure. But we also see the way that Jesus deals with Thomas. And as we do, we must also see the way Jesus deals with us.

How often do we put demands before our Lord and spell out the terms for our conversion? We demand that He present us with visible, tangible proof that He is alive and present among us and that He sincerely intends to fulfill His promise to us. The things that Thomas counted as real were the things that he could see and touch. And we are no different. We see the checkbook balance and the test results and the child who won't listen and the spouse who won't help out, and this we count as real. We feel the loneliness, disappointment, frustration, guilt'it's all very tangible. And this is what we count as real.

So listen closely and watch carefully how Jesus deals with Thomas. Jesus comes and meets His disciples where they are, even in their disbelief. There is no scolding or reprimand of Thomas. No lecture on what a disappointment he is to God or to the group. No penance doled out that must be paid just to be sure that his is sufficiently contrite of heart. Not even a, "why weren't you in church last Sunday."

To Thomas and to all, He says, "Peace be with you." And then it becomes pretty obvious that Jesus is there especially to convert Thomas from disbelieving to believing. "Then He said to Thomas, put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve but believe."

"Thomas answered Him, 'My Lord and my God.'" There is more here than meets the eye and we dare not miss it, because it's for our own benefit. What Thomas sees with his eyes and touches with his hands is the humanity of the person of Jesus Christ. That is, he sees and touches a human being. But what Thomas says is, "my Lord and my God." He sees true man and confesses true God. In other words, Jesus gives Thomas all he had demanded and much, much more.

This is just the way it is with Jesus. His grace is greater than our doubts. He does not leave Thomas to drown in his doubts or perish in his disbelief but comes to him and offers His side to Thomas' hand and speaks His forgiving word into his ears'just as He does for you.

Listen to St. Gregory again:

"What follows is reason for great joy: Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed. There is here a particular reference to ourselves; for we hold in our hearts one we have not seen in the flesh. We are included in these words."

The same Jesus who came to Thomas in all of his disbelief comes to you and me in ours. To us, He says, "Peace be with you" and by those precious words, we are assured that He comes, not to punish us as we deserve but to bless us with His undeserved grace and forgiveness for all of our disbelief. He comes into our presence with His crucified body and He presses it into your hands and onto your tongue so that you may stop disbelieving and believe. Believe that He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity'just for you.

Set free from the grip of his disbelief by the word and wounds of Jesus, "believing Thomas" counted the risen and living Jesus as real. So real was His Lord and His God that evidently, everything else in Thomas' life became unreal by comparison. From this room where Jesus came to Thomas with His precious words and wounds, historians report that Thomas went to India, where he became a bold witness to the reality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ until he died a martyr's death.

I strongly suspect that were you to ask for "disbelieving Thomas" when you get to heaven, no one will know anyone by that name. By His death and resurrection, Jesus Christ has made all things new and through our baptism into Him, we have all received a new name. I expect that in heaven, Thomas is best known as "believing Thomas." But then again, so is everyone.

"May we, O God, by grace believe, And thus the risen Christ receive, Whose raw imprinted palms reached out And beckoned Thomas from his doubt." (LSB #472. st.4)