John 20:24-31.
But Thomas, one of the twelve, who is called a twin, was not with them when Jesus came. Then said the other disciples unto him, We have seen the Lord. And he said unto them: Unless I see in his hands the marks of the nails, and put my fingers into the marks of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it. And again his disciples were there eight days, and Thomas with them. When Jesus came, and the doors were shut, he entered into the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. Then saith he unto Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and put it into my side; and be not faithless, but believing. Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord, and my God. saith Jesus unto him, Because thou hast seen me, Thomas, thou hast believed. Blessed are they that see not, and yet believe.
1 I know nothing more certain about St. Thomas than what this gospel writes about him here; the other things that are otherwise said about him from the book of legends are all lies. And even if it were true in part, there is nothing to build on it, nor does it make us any better: therefore let us put up with it and say something about this gospel that will be more useful and necessary to us than all the legends.
The first part of the history of this gospel took place on the evening of Easter, when the two came back from Emmaus and announced to the other disciples how the Lord had risen. The last part happened on the eighth day after. Therefore this Gospel was also preached on the eighth day after Easter; there you heard enough the interpretation of the Gospel, if God had wanted you to keep it. For it is an almost comforting gospel, showing us the fruits of faith, namely, peace and joy; as also St. Paul says to the Romans Cap. 5, 1: "If then we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ." But now we want to say a little about what it means that the Lord shows his hands and feet to the disciples; by this we are shown what Christ is good for, what he serves us for, and what we should expect from him.
3. it is implanted in the hearts of all men alike, as if by nature, that we would like to have
and each one thinks how he would like to attain salvation; therefore, some have thought of this, others of that, and thought that they would thereby attain a gracious God and acquire heaven. But no one has ever found the right way, because they all stood on it, they wanted to do it by deeds and works. Even the highly learned doctors and holy fathers have written and taught much about how to attain piety, and have made great efforts in this regard; but as can be seen, and as we have unfortunately experienced to our noticeable detriment, they have achieved little. Therefore, it is necessary to know the right reason how we can come to true piety, because this is very important; for whoever lacks here, lacks the right main part of the Christian being. We must say a little about this.
4) The right true piety, which is valid before God, stands in the works of others and not in one's own works. Take an example: One builds churches; another walks to St. James, to Aachen, to Rome, to the holy grave; the third fasts, prays, wears a cap, walks barefoot, or does any other work whatsoever: these are his own works, God has not commanded them; but men and hypocrites, the saints of works, have devised them themselves, and thought that they were delicious good works and had great standing before God, knowing nothing else.
res, because they wanted and should thereby be rid of their sins and obtain a gracious God. But such self-selected works are nothing and must perish, because they are done without faith, and are sin, as St. Paul says: "Whatever does not come from faith is sin," Rom. 14:23. For such works of ours are shameful and unclean in the eyes of God, indeed, He is abhorred and disgusted by them.
5 Therefore, if we want to act before God, we must not come up with our own works, but with others'. What then are the works of others that are valid before God? These are the works of our Lord Jesus Christ, whom God the Father sent from heaven to make atonement for our sin through His death and suffering. This satisfaction came about in this way: We were in great danger, had heavy tyrants over us, who frightened us day and night without ceasing. The law, as God struck man, drove us, demanded much of us, and we could not do it; therefore it condemned us. Sin was upon our necks, which made the law greater and greater. Death wanted to devour us, as it is the wages of sin. The devil wanted to drag us into hell, as he should punish us for sin; there was misery and distress. God had mercy on us and sent His only Son out of pure grace and goodness, without any merit on our part, to save us from such cruel tyrants, and He did so in a mighty way:
He fulfilled the law completely, because he loved God with all his heart, with all his soul, with all his strength, with all his mind, and his neighbor as himself. For in this is the whole law and the prophets, as Christ himself says Matth. 22, 37. 40. All that Christ did, therefore, came about in these two things. He loved God in that He obeyed His will, became man, and carried out in all obedience what He was to carry out and what He was commanded to do by His heavenly Father, as St. Paul says to the Philippians Cap. 2, 8. Says, "He was obedient to the Father unto death, yea, even the death of the cross." After that
he loved his neighbor, for all his works that he did here on earth were to serve men; indeed, he loved his neighbor so much that he even laid down his life. As he also said to his disciples John 15:13: "Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." Yes, St. Paul makes it greater and says: for his enemies, since he says to the Romans Cap. 5, 8: "Therefore praise God for his love toward us, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
007 Forasmuch then as Christ fulfilled the law, it could not accuse him; neither could sin work in him. It lay hold on him, but he was too powerful for it; he swallowed it up; in him it was extinguished like a little fire in the whole sea, for there was only righteousness. Death also came and wanted to eat him; he ate him, but he could not digest him, he had to spit him out again; yes, this morsel came to great harm to death, and turned the game around, that Christ ate death; because he lay on him to whom he had no right, because there were no sins. Where there is no sin, death has nothing to do, as St. Paul says in 1 Cor. 15:56: "Sin is the sting of death," or the spear with which he strangles, otherwise he would be blunt and could do nothing. The devil also tried his power on him, but he had to suffer, because he attacked the one to whom he had no right: he was overcome in this battle and did little; as Christ says: "The prince of this world is coming, and has nothing on me," John 14:30. Item, hell opened its jaws and wanted to devour Christ, but it was devoured by him. So that in this battle the law, sin, death, the devil and hell were put to shame, all of which he led in one triumph and made an army out of it, as St. Paul says Col. 2, 15.
(8) Now all these things are not only for our benefit, but are also given to us when we believe in this Lord Christ. For all that he has is ours. He Himself is also ours, as St. Paul says Rom. 8, 32: "God gave us His Son, just as He gave us His Son.
should he not give us all things with him?" So that I may boast of all the victory he has done over the law, sin, death, the devil, hell, and may ascribe to myself all his works as if they were my own and as if I had done them myself, if only I believe in Christ; otherwise his works would not help me at all if they were not given to me. These are the foreign works that make us pious and blessed in the sight of God; our works will not do, we are too weak in armor with all our strength to resist even the slightest sin, let alone to face death, the devil and hell, and to fight with them.
009 Therefore when the law cometh, and accuseth thee that thou hast not kept it, turn it unto Christ, and say, There is the man that hath done it, and I cleave unto him; he hath fulfilled it for me, and hath given me the fulness thereof; and it shall hold his peace. If sin comes and wants to strangle you, point it there to Christ and say: "As much as you can do to him, so much can you do to me, for I am in him and he in me. If death comes and wants to eat you, say to him: "Dear death, if you know the man there, go and bite his tooth out, he has made your biting sour enough once; if you have a craving, rub yourself against him again. You thought you wanted to have a share in him, since he hung between two murderers and died a blasphemous death, which was also condemned before God and before the world; but what did it help you? You took a bite that did not sit well with you. I belong to the man: I am his, he is mine, and where he remains, there I also remain; you have not been able to harm him, you will also leave me satisfied. If the devil comes and wants to have a part in you, and hell wants to devour you; point him to Christ, and you will satisfy him.
(10) So you see what we have in Christ, namely, the man given to us by God, who was to blot out sin, crush death, break hell, and take the devil captive, and all this for our good. For if he had not done so and given us these things, we would not have
we are eternally under the malediction of the law, under sin, under death, under the devil and under hell. God has saved us from this through this Christ; therefore St. Paul speaks to the Corinthians in his 1st Epistle Cap. 16, 64-57. from the prophet Hosea Cap. 13, 14: "Death is swallowed up in victory! Death, where is your sting? Hell, where is your victory? But the sting of death is sin, but the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who has given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."
(11) From this we see what works are to make us righteous and just before God, namely, works of others and not our own self-chosen works. Therefore, the whole papacy with all its most precious and holy works falls down, which is even directed to the fact that the poor, miserable, blinded people think that they can attain heaven with their own merit and works; therefore, so many orders have arisen that they can hardly be counted, and one has always wanted to be holier than the other, after he has done hard, great, heavy works. But such work, toil and anxiety, praying, fasting, mortification of the body and what is more, is all lost and in vain, has not been able so much that it could have taken away the very least daily sin; have this saying of Isaiah Cap. 29, 13, which the Lord repeats in Matthew: "This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips: but their heart is far from me. But they serve me in vain, because they teach such doctrines as are not the commandments of men," Matth. 16, 8. 9.
(12) From this you may conclude that all the saints, having been as holy as they wish, have not attained beatitude through their holiness, merit and work. Even Mary, the Mother of God, because of her virginity and because she was the Mother of God, did not become pious, blessed or righteous; but all of them became blessed through the Lord Christ, rather than through works of others. For mark this, that our salvation is not in un-
but in the works of others, that is, of Christ our Savior, which we obtain through faith alone.
(13) This is also the story here in this gospel, when the Lord instructed the disciples, and especially the dear Thomas, about his hands and feet, so that he understood that these hands and feet must do it, and none else, that is, his works belonged to salvation and not others; for by hands and feet are understood in the Scriptures works and conduct.
14 Christ still shows us these hands and feet and says: "Behold, man, I alone am the one whose works and conduct count for something in the sight of God; you will not succeed with your works; your piety serves nothing here, it belongs elsewhere. If you are pious, you enjoy it among the people, you have praise and glory of it here on earth, as Saint Paul says Rom. 4, 2; but before God this piety is not valid, you must have another piety. That is me; that is what God my Father looks at; for I have redeemed you from sins, death, the devil, hell and from all misfortune; because of you, you were still in it, yes, you would never come out of it; I have taken away the wrath of God and made a gracious, merciful, kind father out of a wrathful judge. Believe this, then there is no need for you; you are already blessed, pious and righteous. Do not ever come before God with your piety; if you want to act before him, crawl into me, put on me, and you will obtain from the Father whatever you want and desire. As he says to his disciples in John Cap. 16, 23: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, If ye shall ask anything of the Father in my name, he will give it you." Therefore, just as we received sin initially and originally from Adam, as from an alien sin; for neither I nor you ate the apple: so also by an alien righteousness we must again be made righteous and godly; which is now Christ JESUS, by whose righteousness and works we have all been saved, as you have sufficiently heard. St. Paul has almost abundantly put this into a sentence, when he writes 1 Cor. 1, 30. 31. thus
says: "Christ Jesus was made for us by God for wisdom, and for righteousness, and for sanctification, and for redemption, that (as it is written) he who boasts may boast of the Lord," Jer. 9, 23. And to the Romans Cap. 4:25: "Jesus Christ was given for our sins, and raised for our righteousness."
(15) In these two sayings you have gathered together, as in a bundle, all that we are to expect from Christ. But all this is done by faith. For he who does not have faith cannot understand such things; indeed, it is foolishness to reason, and the world considers it foolishness, as St. Paul says in 1 Cor. 1:23.Christ is an offense to the Jews, and foolishness to the Greeks." That is, when one preaches to the Christian that he is our righteousness, that through him we are to be saved and become children of eternal life, without our works and piety, the pious holy people are offended at it, as the Jews were; but to the wise and prudent of this world it is foolishness and a foolish thing that such a crucified man should be put to death. Therefore, everything that is pious, holy, wise and intelligent in the eyes of the world must be offended by this Christ and must run against him. "But unto them," saith St. Paul, v. 24, "which are called, both Jews and Greeks, we preach Christ, divine power, and divine wisdom." And to the Romans Cap. 1, 16. 17. he says: "The gospel of Christ is the power of God, which saves all who believe in it, especially the Jews and also the Greeks. For therein is manifested the righteousness that is before God, which cometh by faith through faith; as it is written, The just shall live by faith," Hab. 2:4. Therefore the Lord said to the disciples of John, "Blessed is he that taketh not offense at me," Matt. 11:6.
16 And there you also see clearly that this faith, which we have in Christ, comes from the preaching of the gospel; as St. Paul says Rom. 10, 17: "Faith comes from preaching, but preaching through the word of God." Yes, that is where the power lies: from the Word of God, not from men.
The word of God does it; not when one preaches about letters of indulgence or about works, as has happened so far, unfortunately, with our noticeable damage to both the good, body and soul. But we would remain silent about the good we have often given away, if they had not afflicted our bodies with fasting, casteism, pilgrimages and such foolish works. Yes, this would also be forgivable if they had not led us away from righteous faith and trust in God through Christ so miserably and pitifully with their false trust in such works of theirs. Now, praise God that we still recognize it; for the world has been so full of misery that it has almost overflowed; which alone is God's punishment and wrath, because we have despised His word and followed the words of men, even our own head and discretion. We have been so blinded that we have almost believed that each one of us has done a work that he only wanted to do.
(17) Our consciences are now saved and set free, but no one ever thanks God for it. If we fail to do so, we have a greater misfortune on our hands than this has been; but it would hardly do us justice, we deserve it honestly with our ingratitude. Before, we could give so much to monks and priests that they almost became masters of the world from the giving: now, we can hardly maintain six or seven poor people in a city, indeed, we cannot feed one preacher or priest now, since we fed almost a shock of priests before. Now we see what we have been, now it breaks out; if we had not been forced and driven to it, we would also have let it stand, as now. Therefore, you must not blame the gospel for such a perverse nature, as our adversaries are now impudently doing. It does not mean that you should let your neighbor suffer misery beside you. Yes, the whole gospel is meant to direct you to your neighbor, to do him good, to help and advise him, as God has advised and helped you.
18 And this is certainly done by a righteous man.
Faith, which leads out and does to others as God has done to him, and as he wanted to be done to him when he was in poverty, fear and distress. God does not want our good works, he does not like our praying and fasting, building churches and making masses, he does not want our sacrifices, yes, he says in Isaiah, Cap. 1, 11, that he hates them and hates them. He is satisfied that we consider him to be God, that we trust in him and thank him. As he says in the 50th Psalm v. 7-15: "Hear me, O my people, let me speak, O Israel, let me testify among you: I God am your God. I will not punish you because of your sacrifice; your burnt offerings are always before me. I will not take bullocks from thy house, nor goats from thy stalls. For all the beasts of the forest are mine, and the cattle upon a thousand mountains. I know all the birds of the mountains, and all the beasts of the field are before me. Where I hungered, I would not tell thee: for the ground is mine, and all that is therein. Do you think I will eat flesh from oxen or drink blood from goats? Offer sacrifices of thanksgiving to God, and pay your vows to the Most High. And call upon me in the time of trouble, and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt praise me."
(19) With works God points us down to our neighbors, to the poor, miserable, desolate people; we are to come to their aid, we are to comfort them, teach them and instruct them. And what we do to them, we have done to God and His Christ, our Lord, Himself; as He will say at the last judgment: "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me," Matth. 25, 40.
(20) So you have it that a Christian life consists in our becoming godly and righteous by works other than our own, namely, by the works of Christ, which we can have by faith alone. This faith naturally brings with it love, by which we do to our neighbor as we know God has done to us. You have heard more about this elsewhere; now we will leave it at that and call upon God for mercy.