The Wounded Lord Draws Near – April 16, 2026

https://wels2.blob.core.windows.net/daily-devotions/20260416dev.mp3 Listen to Devotion A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” John 20:26-29 The Wounded Lord Draws Near A week after Jesus appeared to his disciples on Easter evening, he appears again. The doors are locked. This time, Thomas is present. Jesus speaks directly to him. “Put your finger here; see my hands… Stop doubting and believe.” What mercy! Jesus repeats Thomas’s own words back to him—not to mock, but to invite. The Lord had heard his doubt. And now he answers it with the proof of his wounds from the cross. Even in resurrection glory, Jesus keeps the marks of crucifixion as proof of his undeserved love. Thomas responds with the clearest confession in John’s Gospel: “My Lord and my God!” Thomas declares who Jesus is—God himself—and who Jesus is to him—his Lord. His doubt is transformed into worship. Jesus then speaks to us: “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” This is not second-class faith. It is faith grounded in the testimony of the apostles. The eyewitnesses saw so that we may trust their proclamation. We do not touch his wounds physically. However, we encounter the same crucified and risen Jesus in his Word and in the Lord’s Supper. In the Lord’s Supper, Jesus provides individual sinners with the ongoing assurance that his body and blood have been given and shed for them. He lives. And his living presence continues to comfort wounded consciences. Your wounds, too, are known to him. By his death and resurrection, he transformed your guilt into peace, your temporary pain into enduring hope, and your momentary sorrows into joy that will last forever. Thomas received what he asked for and more. He received a living Savior. So do you. Prayer: My Lord and my God, thank you for meeting my doubts with mercy. Keep my faith anchored in your wounded yet victorious body. Amen.   Daily Devotions is brought to you by WELS. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. ™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.