“Where Does Faith Come From?”
Rev. Rolf Preus| Quasimodogeniti Sunday| April 12, 2026| John 20:19-32
The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the greatest miracle in the history of the world. It is the historical proof of the Christian religion. Jesus said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” (John 2:19) He was referring to the temple of his body. They had him crucified and he raised himself from the dead on the third day. He proved that his word is true. If his teaching is true, so is the teaching of the apostles that he sent out. The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is an historical fact. It does not require faith to believe it. An open mind, common sense, and the ability to use your God-given reason are all that is required. But Easter is more than the historical fact of Christ’s resurrection from the dead. Today’s Gospel Lesson teaches us that Easter is about the miracle we experience today. In answer to the singer’s question, no, we were not there when they crucified our Lord, when they laid him in the tomb, or when the stone was rolled away. We weren’t even born yet. We are here. Not there. But the Holy Spirit has worked a miracle in our hearts. He has given us the treasures Jesus won by his suffering and death. Jesus gave these treasures to his church after he rose from the dead. These treasures are the pure gospel and sacraments of Christ. The Holy Spirit uses them to bring us to faith and to sustain us in the true faith. Jesus’s resurrection of Jesus is the greatest miracle in history. The greatest miracle in our lives is our faith.
Our text for today teaches us four things about this miracle of faith. First, faith is based on fact. Second, faith receives peace from Jesus. Third, God gives us faith through the spoken Word. Fourth, God gives us faith through the written Word.
Faith is based on fact. Thomas openly denied the resurrection until he saw Jesus. He demanded proof. He said, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” While chiding him for his refusal to believe the word of the other apostles, Jesus gave Thomas the proof he demanded, eliciting that wonderful confession of faith, “My Lord, and my God.” Jesus gave Thomas proof. He also said, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” We base our salvation on the historicity of Christ’s resurrection. We have not seen the proof that the apostles saw. But we know what they saw and heard from the testimony of the men who wrote the Gospels. St. John was an eyewitness of what he reported in his Gospel. Our faith is not based on hallucinations, creative legends, or fanciful speculations. It is based on fact. On the first Easter Sunday, Jesus displayed the wounds he had received on the first Good Friday, showing his disciples that it was he, Jesus, who was crucified, who stood before them.
None of the apostles ever recanted their testimony that Jesus rose from the dead. All but St. John were put to death on account of their Christian testimony. They spoke the truth. The steadfastness of Christ’s apostles proves they were speaking the truth. The bodily resurrection of Jesus is the foundational truth of the Christian religion.
The second thing our text teaches us about faith is that it receives peace from Jesus. The first words out of Jesus’s mouth when he saw his disciples for the first time were, “Peace be with you.” Right after saying these words Jesus pointed to the wounds he suffered on the cross. That certainly identified who he was. But more than that, it showed them that the peace he gave them was bought at the price of his own suffering and death. Jesus made peace between God and this sinful world by suffering on the cross. Jesus points to the proofs of his suffering to provide proof of the peace. Jesus died in the place of sinners. He reconciled us to God.
Yet as the law must be fulfilled
Or we must die despairing
Christ came and hath God’s anger stilled
Our human nature sharing
He has for us the law obeyed
And thus, the Father’s vengeance stayed
Which over us impended.
Jesus won the peace. He quenched God’s anger against us by bearing it himself. This is the very heart of our Christian faith. The Bible calls it reconciliation. It calls it justification. Reconciliation means that God is not angry with us on account of our sin. Justification means that God forgives us all our sin. If you are forgiven, God is reconciled. If God is reconciled, you are forgiven. This is the peace that Jesus spoke to them.
He didn’t lecture Peter for his shameful denial. He did not criticize those frightened cowards for their cowardice in running away. He knew their hearts. He saw their guilty consciences. He spoke peace to them. That’s what he speaks to everyone who comes into this church with a burdened conscience. Jesus receives sinners and eats with them.
Jesus won the peace and Jesus gives the peace he won. He said, “Peace be unto you” twice, and when he said it the second time, he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” We confess in the Creed that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. He proceeds from the Son in eternity. The Son sends him in time. Wherever the gospel of reconciliation is proclaimed, there the Holy Spirit is. He has joined himself to the ministry of reconciliation. Jesus went on to say, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
This brings us to the third thing this text teaches us about faith. God gives us faith through the spoken Word. Listen once more to St. John’s account of Christ instituting the ministry of the Word:
So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
St. Matthew records Christ’s institution of the ministry of the Word. He writes:
And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth, Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have command you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matt 28:18-20)
St. Mark records Christ’s institution of the ministry of the Word. He writes:
And [Jesus] said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.” (Mark 16:15-16)
St. Luke records Christ’s institution of the ministry of the Word. He writes:
Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” (Luke 24:46-47)
Jesus established the pastoral office by sending out the apostles as the church’s first pastors. They were to preach the gospel, administer the sacraments, forgive and retain sins, and feed the flock with God’s Word. Jesus has been sending out pastors ever since. They are to hold faithfully to the apostolic Word. Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would accompany the preaching of the gospel.
Jesus saw how faithless his disciples were. How often he said to them, “Oh you of little faith.” Jesus knew their need and our need to hear God’s Word. Jesus is the incarnate Word. He knows everything. He knows that we need the oral Word, that is, the spoken Word, the preached Word. This is why he established the ministry of the Word. We need to hear the gospel preached. St. Paul writes in Romans 10:17, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” When you confess your sins to God and the pastor, as a called and ordained servant of the Word, absolves you in the stead and by the command of his Lord Jesus Christ, know for a certainty that it is Jesus Christ who is forgiving you through the words his servant is saying. Some people argue against the power of the absolution because only God can forgive sins. That’s right! And it is Jesus Christ, confessed by Thomas as “my Lord, and my God,” who gave to his church the authority to forgive and retain sins.
When Jesus said, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them,” he gave absolution as a gift to his church. He is not just talking about the confession and absolution at the beginning of the Divine Service or that we have privately with the pastor, he is talking about preaching. The sermon preaches that God forgives those who are sorry for their sins and that God retains the sins of those who are not sorry for their sins but deliberately continue in them. When the preacher preaches this, he’s not just expressing his own perspective, he’s speaking for Christ.
You come to church to listen to God’s Word. You’ve heard the line, “You don’t have to go to church to be a Christian.” Well, you certainly need to hear God’s Word. Where else are you going to hear it? “Oh, I can read the Bible all by myself. I don’t need to go to church to hear someone read it to me.” That’s true. And if you read the Bible carefully, you’ll see that it tells you to go to church. The Epistle to the Hebrews says,
And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. (Heb 10:24-25)
We don’t go to church to do God a favor. We go to church to receive the favor of God. That’s what preaching is all about.
There are times when you cannot get to church. Believe me, I know. I live in the north woods of Minnesota 101 miles away from my church. Sometimes we get snowed in and can’t go anywhere. When that happens, we have church at home. You can have church at home every day of the week just by reading your Bible. Listen to what John wrote says about why he wrote in his Gospel:
And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. (John 20:30-31)
Fourth, God gives us faith through the written Word. Why did John write his Gospel? Faith is the reason. “That you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. Set aside time every day to read your Bible. You will find that the Holy Spirit works through the written Word just as he works through the spoken Word. The Bible isn’t just dead letters on the page. It is God’s Word. The Bible conveys God’s grace and truth to us. To know the Bible is to know Christ, for he is the very center of the Holy Scriptures. From Genesis through Revelation, the Bible testifies to Christ.
From the miracle of Christ’s resurrection, we are raised from the dead. The Holy Spirit calls us to faith and keeps us in the true faith. Our faith is based on fact. Our faith receives peace from Jesus. God gives us faith through the spoken Word. God gives us faith through the written Word. Let us pray:
Almighty God, grant to Your Church Your Holy Spirit and the wisdom that comes down from above, that Your Word may not be bound but have free course and be preached to the joy and edifying of Christ’s holy people, that in steadfast faith we may serve You and, in the confession of Your name, abide unto the end; through Jesus Christ Your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen