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Thomas was no better than the other 11 Disciples of Christ, but he was certainly no worse. He did not sell the Lord into the hands of Caiphas; He did not deny that he even knew "The Man" three times.

Thomas is no better than you in the eyes of God, but he is certainly no worse. Before you go throwing stones, or epithets at him, just remember the things that you have done these last few days, the doubts, misgivings, questions and all the other outwardly rebellious sins in thought, word and deed.

You think you know all that you need to about Thomas from one encounter he had in a locked upper room. May the Holy Ghost unlock our own upper rooms of smugness, condescension and conceit as He again tells us of another Upper Room encounter and of all future encounters with the Christ of God. It is only the spirit who gives "wings" to the angels of the Lord. It is only the Paraclete Himself who empowers such men as Thomas to be faithful in their preaching, testifying, administering, and dying to Christ. The angel known as Thomas brings you a message tonight not of himself, but of His Lord and God.

By way of preliminaries; Saint Thomas was one of the "12," the original "called" Disciples of Christ who were to be made the Holy Apostles of the New Testament Church. His name comes from the Aramaic for 'twin', the Greek equivalent of which is given in the Gospel of John as a proper name, Didymus.

Are you braver, more courageous and resolute in your confession of Jesus than was Thomas; after all do people refer to you as "doubting Charles" or "doubting Sharon?"

Do you do a better job than Thomas did in following your Master wherever He goes; wherever He wishes to lead you? Thomas, although frightened by the very real possibility of arrest and death at the hands of the Pharisees, nonetheless accompanies Jesus to Bethany when news came that Lazarus was sick. "Then Thomas, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, 'Let us also go; that we may die with Him.''" This was no feigned bravado from "behind the lines," but rather a stirring call to faithfulness. Even amongst his fellow Angels, Thomas knew that the focus, the attention must be on Jesus and His mission.

All of the Lord's creations are meant to be His angels, i.e. His messengers. All angels are to tell of His Grace and Mercy, of His Righteousness and Love. The Lord has myriads of spirit angels. The Lord has countless flesh and blood angels as well. The human angels are the best kind are they not? They are not alien to our way; they do not terrify the way the Seraphim would. By their flesh and blood humanity, they are us, and more importantly they icon the Man-God Himself. Thomas has something in common with the Nazarene that he does not with Gabriel: flesh and blood -- humanity.

Yes, our Saint is also a sinner and thus he has something in common with all of you as well. Yes he failed miserably; does that remind you of somebody you know real well?

Thomas... "Doubting Thomas" we sneer, or smirk. Yes, he wasn't where he should have been on Easter Eve; he wasn't with his brothers in the faith, waiting, praying, and enduring. How's your home devotion life? You never have questions or doubts or misgivings about the Lord's promises, do you? You never waver in your confession of the Faith to the world, do you?

What is so felicitous, is that even in his stubborn denial of the Word, i.e. in his refusal to believe the Gospel of the other 10 Disciples that the Lord had Risen from the dead, he ended up pointing to the very Body and Blood of the Man-God; Thomas ends up as an angel proclaiming the Crucified One for your Forgiveness and Salvation.

Thomas is given the same forgiveness for his sin on that second Sunday night after Easter as was Peter given on the first. Thomas is absolved with our Lord's Words, yes, but he is also given the very Peace itself when he places his shaking fingers into Christ's side, and when he touches the nail prints themselves in the Lord's hands. The angel Thomas says to all of you, this is the Very Body and Blood of Jesus which was crucified on Calvary for your trespasses, and which is now alive again for evermore.

"Pastor Thomas," like every under-shepherd before him and every minister of the Holy Gospel after him, points you back to the Jesus of Calvary, yes! For when Thomas was placed into the five wounds of the Messiah He confessed: "My Lord and my God." But Thomas also places you back to where that Salvation is now given unto you, in the Lord's Supper, the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. For the very same words which Christ spoke on the night in which he was betrayed (betrayed not only by Peter's denial, Judas' treachery, and later Thomas' unbelief; but by your daily sins, your sins of this very Wednesday) those same words are uttered by the Christ every Mass at every altar, every New Testament creche wherein He again is with us in His precious Body and true Blood.

We again kneel every Sunday in the very presence of the Lord Whom Thomas knelt in front of on that Sunday of confession two thousand years ago. We again repeat his very words, the words of Sacred Scripture when our pastors elevate the Host and the Chalice: and we silently say "My Lord and my God."

Earthly, earthy, fleshly angels such as Thomas, and you, are really what it's all about. Jesus did not come and die for the evil angels which had fallen with Satan. As Luther tells in a famous story; the devil comes into a little rural church during an evening Mass and becomes quite upset when the people do not genuflect during the Creed. According to the story, says Luther, the devil smacked one man on the forehead and yelled "you ungrateful dolts...had the Nazarene come into the flesh and died for me I would not only kneel at this reality but prostrate myself before His magnificence."

Jesus the Christ, but also, Jesus The Uncreated Angel of the Lord, the ultimate Messenger of the Holy Trinity, died for all of you on the tree so that you would forever more be His good angels, His blessed messengers, IN HIM.

Yes, you are men, like Thomas, like all the flock to whom the Apostle Peter writes: "To [you] is was revealed, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the Gospel...things which angels desire to look into" [1 Pe. 1.12]

The good news isn't for spiritual creations, not even ones as awesome as Michael the Arch Angel. The gospel of Jesus' forgiveness, of His bloody crucifix is just for you, brought to you by angels such as Thomas; shared with others by angels such as yourselves.

Yes the angels fly around the throne of the "Three-in-One," yes the hosts of Sabaoth filled the Judean sky and heralded Messiah's birth, yes they ministered to the Lord in the desert and strengthened Him in Gethsemane, but it was not these "fiery ones" to whom Jesus came and ate with, and taught, and healed, and forgave, and loved...it was you. The Seraphs covered their faces with one set of their wings in the presence of the Lord; but Thomas, the others, and you, are permitted to eat and sup with Jesus not as slaves, but as brothers and sisters. "Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see;" said Jesus to Thomas and the other Disciples, "for I tell you that many prophets and kings have desired to see what you see, and have not seen it, and to hear what you hear, and have not heard it." [St. Lk. 10.23-24] Thomas, didn't see the blinding light of the Trinity's Glory, he saw the Face of the Christ, the servant-Lord. You see the same thing in Jesus' Word and Sacraments. You touch the same flesh, you drink the same blood.

At the Last Supper, where Jesus bequeathed to all His brothers and sisters the New Testament of His Body and Blood, He also said to Thomas and the others: "I bestow upon you a kingdom...that you may...sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel..." [St. Lk. 22.30]

This Galilean fisherman had no earthly kingdom, no jeweled throne like Solomon. This Thomas had an "office," a mission, a joy. He went to India and other far and distant lands of the Orient. He was an angel proclaiming the Crucified and Risen Lord and God. He had his promised kingdom whenever he reclined at table with Jesus during Holy Mass. He died a martyr.

Not a hero, and most certainly no only a "doubter," this one known as Thomas was a faithful apostle, pastor and angel. Peer with this "twin" your twin, sinner & saint, into the creche this Adventide; the manger of paper and ink; of water and Word; of Body and Blood. See the Babe; see your Lord and God. Have the Prince of Peace, believe in the Redeemer, the Christ.

In the Name of The Father and of The Son + and of The Holy Ghost