John 20:19-31
Second Sunday of Easter Pastor Nathan P. Kassulke Sunday, April 12, 2026
“That You May Believe”
It has been said that the Bible was not written to you, but it was written for you. I prefer not to push that idea too far as though we can fully understand all of God’s purposes in dealing with his people and his world in the way he does, but that phrase does help us consider some important points. So, for example, the Apostle Paul wrote the book of Romans in 57 AD to Christians in the city of Rome. We are not in the city of Rome, and it is not 57 AD. Paul did not write the book of Romans specifically with you and me in mind. But we still study it. We’re currently in a Bible study on that book on Sunday mornings seeing a lot of what that book, inspired by God, says to us today. It is helpful to consider the history and the original recipients and their context to get to the heart of the message. Even if it is not addressed to us, we see how it is written for us.
It’s not exactly an exception to this rule, but I wonder if one verse near the end of John’s Gospel, at the very end of our reading today, gets as close as possible to being written directly to us. After all, we’ve just been mentioned in the exchange that God allows us to overhear between Jesus and Thomas. We’ve just been spoken of as those who have not seen and yet have believed, and then John writes a sweeping conclusion to this account. He talks about all the many things, many miracles, that Jesus did that did not get recorded in the book. Then he writes, But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
So who does John mean by “you”? He means everyone who reads his book, his Gospel. John doesn’t begin the book by addressing it to any one person or group. He doesn’t identify any particular recipient to whom the Gospel message is directed. He writes almost certainly the last of the Gospel accounts of the life and death and resurrection and appearances of Jesus. He records details that others did not. He fills in some gaps in our knowledge and understanding. Perhaps he had some particular people or some particular issues in mind as he wrote. But clearly he writes in a way that shows how universal the message is. He writes with untold, unknown future Christians in mind. And he summarizes the purpose for which he writes and really for which God inspires all of Scripture: that you may believe.
Because God wants you to believe, and because God wants others to believe, he has given us his Holy Scriptures. He has written useful accounts of the life and ministry of Jesus, specific applications of that message, and the history behind it: the promises and the issues that made the promises necessary. He has recorded the good news and the bad news that made the good news so necessary. He has taught us along with many previous generations and he only knows how many generations to come that we have done wrong, deserve punishment, and have no way to escape it on our own. And he has taught us all that Jesus is the answer to that great need and therefore also the answer to every need we have in this life.
That you may believe, Jesus gave you his Word. He didn’t give you the opportunity to place your fingers into the nail marks on his hands or the spear wound in his side. He didn’t appear to you in the days and weeks after he escaped his tomb and broke death’s grip on him. He didn’t have you assembled with those to whom he preached and whom he taught. He didn’t allow you to see the parting of the Red Sea or the waters of the flood raining down. But he left you with a reliable record of all these things and more. He gave you not history as such, but salvation history, for you and for your salvation.
So doesn’t that imply that we could be a little more thankful for and a little more focused on this amazing gift? I do want to acknowledge that I am addressing people today who came to church the week after Easter. You can probably see that attendance today is not what it was last week. I am not trying to suggest that you despise God’s Word. You wouldn’t be here if you did. But we can all grow in our appreciation. We can all grow in our application. How many days go by during our weeks where we do not connect the things we are doing and the choices we are making to what God has revealed to us in his Word? And how many days go by when we choose other factors, social, political, personal, to direct our lives instead of the one great source of wisdom and strength and life. Listen as God directs you back to
his Word. Listen as Jesus reminds you that in it you have life. Study it faithfully. Open it on your own and with fellow Christians. Treat it as the special gift that it truly is, for you.
For our consideration today, God’s Word presents two particular occasions that fit so well our second Sunday of Easter. The first was on the first Easter evening, the second one week later. Since we’ve already started from the last verse of our text, lets keep working our way backward. That you may believe, Jesus gave Thomas proof. We know this is for us since it is here preserved for us to consider today. And, of course, it was for Thomas. Thomas didn’t believe the other disciples who told him that Jesus had risen from the dead and had appeared to them. He demanded proof. He demanded the specific evidence that he wanted. And even though he could have rebuked Thomas for not listening to his colleagues and he could have expressed disappointment in Thomas for his doubt, Jesus gave him exactly what he had requested, exactly what he was hoping for, exactly what he needed.
Jesus returned. He came and invited Thomas to touch his nail-pierced hands. He invited him to put his had into the wound on his side. Do not continue doubting. Believe.
Do you relate to Thomas? He has become so famous, or rather infamous, from this event that he cannot shake the title Doubting Thomas. Do you have doubts? Do you have fears? Do you have times when even though you know in your head that Jesus rose from the dead you live as though he has not?
It is indeed a blessing that God has shared with us all that he has in his Word. He allows us to look at the doubting disciple and see how Jesus proved to him that everything he said and everything he says is true. That allows us to see from this vantage point just how amazing God’s love is. Above and beyond. Jesus came to Thomas to give him proof. And we get the benefit of seeing this in his Word. We get to see a doubter become convinced. We get to think about what happens to our doubts and fears in light of Jesus offering proof. Thomas was blessed to believe when he saw his Savior, but we are blessed even though we have not seen him because we have his reliable record.
That we may believe, Jesus gave proof to Thomas, and he has given peace to all his disciples. Both the week before and when Jesus returned to the locked room where his disciples were, he greeted them by saying, “Peace be with you.” And that was much more than a simple greeting. That was Jesus speaking about the very thing that he had accomplished in dying, rising, and appearing to his people. He was bringing peace. He was bringing peace with God. While the disciples were locked behind closed doors for fear of what people might do to them, Jesus was assuring them that they did not need to worry about their relationship with God.
His purpose in living for them, dying for them, and rising again was to bring forgiveness. It was to deal with all the wrong that they had done so they did not need to worry that God would punish them for it. God punished his own Son, Jesus, on the cross. And Jesus was alive again proving that forgiveness had been earned and won. So Jesus not only brought the peace of forgiveness to those disciples, he also instructed them to bring the peace of forgiveness to others.
And that forgiveness and that peace become our very own when God brings us to faith, when he leads us to trust it. God brings us to trust what he has said through that message, that good news. So Jesus comes with a proclamation of peace that he wants us to believe, and when we believe, we have his peace.
As we celebrate Easter, we’re celebrating something that took place almost 2,000 years ago. But we’re also celebrating what this means for us right now. Jesus did not appear to us behind locked doors. He didn’t have us put our hands on his and into his side. He has given us the same forgiveness, peace, and assurance. He may not have appeared in this way to us, but he certainly did for us. He has given all these gifts that we may believe, and that we would have life in his name.
The Text: John 20:19–31 (EHV)
19On the evening of that first day of the week, the disciples were together behind locked doors because of their fear of the Jews. Jesus came, stood among them, and said to them, “Peace be with you!” 20After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. So the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
21Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you! Just as the Father has sent me, I am also sending you.” 22After saying this, he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23Whenever you forgive people’s sins, they are forgiven. Whenever you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
24But Thomas, one of the Twelve, the one called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. 25So the other disciples kept telling him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands, and put my finger into the mark of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will never believe.”
26After eight days, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them. “Peace be with you,” he said. 27Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and look at my hands. Take your hand and put it into my side. Do not continue to doubt, but believe.”
28Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”
29Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
30Jesus, in the presence of his disciples, did many other miraculous signs that are not written in this book. 31But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.