Quasimodogeniti | 12.04.2026 | John 20:19–31 | Luther H. Thoresen |

¹⁹ When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors were locked where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” ²⁰ After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. ²¹ Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” ²² When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³ If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

²⁴ But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. ²⁵ So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

²⁶ A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” ²⁷ Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” ²⁸ Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” ²⁹ Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

³⁰ Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. ³¹ But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

Scripture quotations from: New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America.

Note: The initial paragraphs in italics of this sermon might be used as the basis for a Children’s message. The preacher could substitute anecdotes from their youth that would be similar to the current author’s; or share what is below in the third person. If not used that way, one might adapt it as the beginning of the “usual” sermon or insert part of it later in the sermon…or elsewhere in the service.

Good morning! I spent my childhood on a farm in northern Iowa. I recall that sometimes I would lay on my back in a hayfield…watching cloud formations. I would imagine shapes in the clouds like a horse or a human face or whatever. Have you ever done that? [allow time for 2-3 children to describe what they have seen in clouds] OR Sometimes I would lay on my back in the house yard on a summer night to look at the stars and the moon. I specifically recall once in 1994, when I was no longer a child. I was in the Black Hills of South Dakota as pastor with some high school youth. We participated in a wagon train riding horses, walking and riding in a wagon pulled by horses. Then, at night we camped and had a fire. Without the lights of a town, the number of stars we could see was great…it was wonderful.

Do you remember a time when you felt very calm and peaceful? Maybe you remember a time why you sat in the lap of a parent or grandparent who simply held you and snuggled, or just read to you. Maybe you remember a time when you sat by a lake or stream or river or ocean just listened to the water. Maybe you recall watching snow fall gently in the day or night time – without the wind that can cause trouble with snow. Maybe you took a walk in the woods with a light breeze or maybe you listened to a gentle rain fall on  your house. Usually when we are at peace, it is because of a gift from someone or something. In today’s Gospel, Jesus says, “Peace be with you.” This is a gift also like the others I have named…and, yes, more than the others. Also, the peace Jesus offers is available with no clouds, or stars or water or trees.  

I’ll talk about this more in the regular sermon. But for now, would you pray with me? God, thank you for the laps of parents and grandparents and for the sound of their voice as they read to us. Thank you for clouds to watch and to imagine shapes in. Thank you for streams and lakes and more so we can listen to water in nature. Thank you for times to walk in the woods or to watch gentle falling snow and rain. Thank you God for sending your Son, Jesus with the gift of your love for us, and for the gift of Peace from him. In Jesus’ name, Amen

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

The disciples are in the house and the doors are locked. Yet, Jesus stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.” Three times he says those words, on two different days. He says, “Peace be with you,” twice on Easter evening, and once a week later. Fredrick Buechner is a retired author and Presbyterian pastor. Once he wrote about an 8-year-old boy who was at church. The pastor asked during a children’s message “What do you think is the first thing Jesus said after being raised from the dead?” The boy took a big step forward, flung out his arms and yelled, “TA-DA!” I love it! That’s some imagination. He captured what some people might have indeed expect from Jesus – a grand entrance.

However, what we heard last week when Jesus met the women on their way back from the empty tomb to the disciples in the Matthew 28 reading was “Greetings…Do not be afraid.” (v 9, 10) Or in John’s Gospel, the first words Jesus speaks to Mary Magdalene in the garden is “Woman, why are you weeping, whom are you looking for?” (v 15) In today’s reading, Jesus does not fling the door open and yell, “TA-DA!” However, he opens himself so that disciples can see his hands and side…the nail prints are visible, and the spear wound is visible. He does fling his arms open to say “Peace be with you.”

With these words, “Peace be with you,” Jesus follows up on his conversation with disciples three or four days earlier. On Thursday evening, after Jesus washed the disciples’ feet and ate the meal, and before Jesus was betrayed and the events of his suffering and death started to roll downhill, Jesus was in conversation with the disciples. Along the way, Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not let them be afraid.” (John 14:27)

Now, it is Easter evening in today’s text. The doors are locked for fear. A week later, the doors are shut. Each time Jesus makes his entry offers, gives the gift that was promised three days earlier. Jesus makes an entry, not grand, but without a knock at the door. Jesus makes an entry and says, “Peace be with you.”

The peace Jesus offers is a gift – as he had said three days earlier, “My peace I give”. The peace Jesus offers is a gift – it is not an accomplishment like we can make it happen. The peace Jesus offers is a gift – it is not our creation. Looking at clouds or stars, or sitting by water, all these are a gift. We can be in their presence, but they are a gift…to be received.

Jesus comes and offers the gift of peace to fearful disciples. According to John’s gospel, the disciples had heard Mary say, “I have seen the Lord!” (Jn 20:18a) Yet the doors of the house were locked “for fear.” With the Easter Festival last week, we may have been led to affirm, to confess in song, “Jesus lives! The vict’ry’s won!” (LBW #133) We may have been led to affirm, to confess in song “Come, you faithful, raise the strain of triumphant gladness.” (ELW #363, LBW # 132) We may have been led to affirm to confess in song, “Jesus Christ is risen today, alleluia., our triumphant holy day, alleluia.” (ELW #365, LBW # 151). It is good to make those confessions. It is good to make those affirmations. Yet is all fear gone? In you? In those around you? I don’t think so. Is this a reason for shame? “Shame on you.” NO!  Is this a reason for should?  “You shouldn’t be afraid.” NO. It is, what is. Someone said, “Feelings are neither right nor wrong, they just are.” Fear is neither right nor wrong, it just is. Fear is not an occasion for shame or should What is it? It is an invitation to trust anew. It is an invitation to hear Jesus’ words anew, “Peace be with you.”

That’s where today’s question comes in. Jesus shows Thomas the wounds in his hands and side. Thomas confesses, “My Lord and my God.” It is then that Jesus asks, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” Jesus might ask us, “Have you come to believe? Have you continued to believe?”

Our believing receives the gifts of Jesus. Not our intellectual “beliefs” or “thinking” but our trust simply receives the gift of Jesus. Like a pipe receives water, like a copper cord receives electricity our trust receives the gifts of Jesus. In today’s gospel it is this gift, “Peace be with you.” Later, the Gospel writer affirms, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.” Today, believing brings the gift of peace connected to Jesus’ promise, “Peace be with you.” This is a gift to be received, a gift to enter into, and a gift to give.

In the first scene of today’s Gospel, Jesus showed his hands and side, and the disciples rejoiced. The initial “Peace be with you” was followed by “As the Father sent me, so I send you.” We will not explore the fullness of those words in John’s Gospel. But for today, The Father sent Jesus with the words, “Peace be with you,” and so Jesus sends you and me. The gift is for you, and it is for you to share.

You can do this – maybe on the phone, maybe at the grocery store, at your workplace or the coffee shop. When another says, “I’m afraid” about their job or about an illness; when another says, “I’m afraid” about a child or grandchild or parent; when another says, “I’m afraid” because of conflicts in our country or among the nations – it is NOT time for shame or for should. But it is time to share! Maybe your friend doesn’t even say the words, “I’m afraid,” but you hear it in their voice, or see it on their face as they bite their lip. Still, it is not time for shame or should, but it can be a time to share the gift.

Maybe you can simply say something like, “When I am afraid, I remember Jesus’ words, ‘Peace be with you.’” Maybe you can simply say, “When I am afraid, Jesus comes to me with arms open and words of peace.” Just as my fear and your fear is an invitation to trust, we can let the fear of others become an invitation for you and me to share and for them to trust. Whether, you are 8 years old, 8^th grade or out of school for 8 or 20 or 50 years, the gift of Jesus today is a gift to share. “Peace be with you. As the Father sent me, so I send you.” Amen

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

©Pr. Luther H. Thoresen, ELCA, STS, retired; thoresenluther54@gmail.com; Grundy Center, IA, USA