Fifth Sunday of Easter

Fifth Sunday of Easter (B)

April 28, 2024

Text: John 15:1-8

Alleluia!  Christ is risen!  He is risen, indeed!  Alleluia!

            “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5; ESV).  That verse has always been special to me, because, as it happens, that is the verse Pr. Wellman picked for me as my Confirmation verse.  And I’d like to say a word, here, about Confirmation verses, because I’ve been thinking about Elsa’s Confirmation coming up, and I’ve picked a humdinger of a verse for you, Elsa.  If you know your Confirmation verse, hold it as precious.  Keep it in your mind.  Memorize it.  Meditate on it.  Your pastor picked it for you.  Now, it’s not that he had some prophetic insight, as though he knew some future scenario in which your verse was destined to define your life.  But it is to say, your pastor was thinking about you, and what he knew of you in that moment, and hand-picked a verse that in some way applied.  Now, if I picked your verse for you, I may or may not remember why I picked that particular verse at the time, but I promise you this: The more you meditate on that verse, the more the Lord Himself will make clear to you, and give you, what He intends you to receive from it… the more will flow into you (the branch) the nourishing sap from the Vine, who is Christ… the more you will see how the verse applies to every facet of your life.  The Word of God is always relevant.  It is always applicable.  It always delivers.  Because the power behind it, and in it, is the very Spirit of God, proceeding from the Father and the Son.

            So, “I am the vine; you are the branches,” says our Lord.  And, “Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”  What does it mean?  Probably the illustration is self-evident.  You know how it works if you’ve ever tended any plant.  There is the stock, which is rooted, the vine.  And then there are the bits that are not rooted, but shoot out of the stock… the branches… and they depend entirely for their existence on the stock to which they are connected.  Christ is the Stock.  Christ is the Vine.  You are the branches.  And it’s all very simple, now.  If you are connected to Christ, you live.  Because your life, the nourishing sap, flows from Him.  And if you aren’t connected to Him, you dry up and die. 

            And how do you stay connected to Him?  Well, it’s not a matter of just saying, “Oh, I’m a Christian,” but then never having anything to do with His Word, not attending to His preaching, never, or rarely, receiving His body and blood in the Sacrament.  How would that work out for a branch that only sometimes wanted to be connected to the vine, but the rest of the time wanted to go its own way?  You and I both know, that’s not how it works with branches.  But that’s how the majority of those who call themselves “Christians” in this nation try to do it.  But it simply doesn’t work.  You’re either connected all the way, or you’re not connected.  You stay connected to Him, Christ, your Vine, by complete attachment to His Word, His body, His blood, immersed in the things of Jesus.  You come to Church.  You read the Scriptures, and meditate upon them.  You pray.  Rooted in your Baptism into Christ. 

            And when you do that, the living sap of Jesus flows into you and through you, nourishing you, and making you fruitful.  That is the Holy Spirit.  He is your life, this Spirit.  And you only receive Him in the Means of Grace, the Word and the Sacraments, where you are connected to Christ.  You don’t receive Him from your feelings.  You don’t receive Him from your pious opinions, your good intentions, or your upright moral life.  You don’t receive Him from the air.  You can’t receive Him apart from Christ, any more than a branch separated from the vine can live.  That branch can’t do anything but dry up and die and never bear fruit, and neither can you when you separate yourself from Jesus in His gifts.  Be warned.  Repent.  Don’t let it happen to you.

            For when you are disconnected from Christ, and dry up, and die, what does Jesus say about it?  “If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned” (v. 6).  Just so you don’t miss it, He is talking about hell.  Death and hell, the very things Jesus Himself suffered for you, to save you from them.

            But when you are connected to Christ, His Spirit flowing into you by His Word and Sacrament, you live!  And then what?  You necessarily bear fruit.  That is what living branches do.  That is what those who abide in Jesus, in His Word, in His love, do.  And what is the fruit?  The love of God in Christ flowing through you, and overflowing in good works that serve your neighbor and give glory to God. 

            This is, of course, Christ in you.  It is His Spirit in you.  It is His good work, first worked in you, and then worked through you.  You are given to be God’s hands and feet in the world.  You do this in your vocations and your station in life.  Apart from Him you can do nothing.  But in Him, you bear much fruit, and so prove to be His disciples. 

            Notice how St. John is speaking of just this in our Epistle (1 John 4:1-21).  Again, what does it mean to be a Christian?  It means, first of all, to believe and confess that Jesus Christ, our only Savior, is the Son of God in human flesh.  Any confession that contradicts this is of the spirit of antichrist.  It is literally a confession of something else in place of (anti) Christ.  And then, to be a Christian is to love the neighbor.  It is to love one another.  For love is from God.  We love, because He first loved us.  “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him” (v. 9).  “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (v. 11).  That’s just who we are, now, in Christ.  “So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him” (v. 16).  Okay, so, faith and love.  In Christ.  Connected to the Vine.  That is what it is to be a Christian. 

            Very important, though, to get the order right, because this is precisely the point where many Christians get it dreadfully wrong.  It is not the case that we love so that we may be Christians.  It is not the case that we love in order to remain connected to Christ, the Vine.  It is rather that we love as a result of our connection to Christ.  Christ has made us Christians in Holy Baptism, and He keeps us connected to Himself by His Word and Supper.  And anyone who is thus connected to Him will necessarily love.  First faith, then love.  But yes, love.  It is necessary. 

            Beloved, repent of despising our Lord’s Word and His Sacrament.  Repent of treating them lightly.  And repent of your lovelessness.  Repent of neglecting your neighbor, or despising him.  Repent of your dead works.  These are the things the Lord prunes.  Did you notice in our Gospel reading, how Jesus says that everyone gets cut?  “Every branch of mine that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit” (John 15:2).  If you are fruitless, if you do not love, then you are dead, even if you are in Church every Sunday.  You’ll be cut off, and piled up with the other branches.  On the other hand, if you are bearing fruit, showing evidence of your faith by loving your neighbor, your Father will still prune you.  That is, He will lead you to repentance, by convicting you with His Word of Law.  He will give you crosses and suffering to bear.  He will cut away your idols and your sins.  He will cut away all that hinders you from abiding in Him and bearing fruit.  It will hurt.  But it will lead to greater health, and more fruitfulness. 

            But as you abide in the love of Jesus, in spite of the pruning, and even in the pruning, yourself believing and loving… there is great joy.  That is what Jesus says.  The Lord takes great joy in you.  And your joy in the Lord is made full. 

            I didn’t appreciate this verse as I should have when I was confirmed all those years ago.  In fact, for many years, I had to keep asking, “what was my verse again?”  Thankfully, my mother had the presence of mind to write it down.  God gave her that wisdom, as she was abiding in Christ.  But over time, as I read it, and heard it, and thought about it, I came to see how this was, in fact, the theme verse of my entire life.  Not because Pr. Wellman had some direct revelation from the Holy Spirit when he picked it.  But because, in meditating on the verse, the verse was having its way with me, accomplishing in me the very thing God says in the verse.  I was abiding in Christ.  And Christ in me.  And any fruit I’ve borne in my life and ministry is due to that alone… to Christ alone.  By His Word. 

            That’s what God’s Word does.  It keeps you in Christ.  It keeps Christ in you.  And you bear much fruit.  As you hear, read, and meditate on God’s Word, it has its way with you.  It does what it says… what God says.  If you know your Confirmation verse, give it a shot.  Just see what will happen.  And if you don’t know you Confirmation verse, I’ll give you one.  Then, as you meditate on it, great things will happen.  Your connection to Christ will deepen (faith).  All that is not Christ will be pruned away (repentance).  And you will bear fruit (love).  And so, you will have joy.  And your joy… because it is in Christ… because your joy is Christ… will be full.

            Alleluia!  Christ is risen!  He is risen, indeed!  Alleluia!  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.                

Fourth Sunday of Easter

Fourth Sunday of Easter (B)

Good Shepherd Sunday

April 21, 2024

Text: Ps. 23; John 10:11-18

Alleluia!  Christ is risen!  He is risen, indeed!  Alleluia!

            Jesus is the Good Shepherd.  This is another of His famous “I AM” statements: “I am the good shepherd,” He says (John 10:11, 14; ESV).  “I AM,” or as we translate it in Psalm 23, “The LORD,” in all caps (an indication that we have, here, the Divine Name in Hebrew).  “The LORD is my shepherd” (Ps. 23:1).  And He is the Good one.  That is, Jesus is the Good Pastor, for pastor means shepherd.  And that a is a relief to me, and it should be to you, because that makes me the assistant pastor around here, in any case, and it means we all rest secure in Jesus’ care for us… a care that leads Him all the way to the laying down of His life for us, His sheep, that He may take up His life again, and so take us up into His life as well. 

            We all love the 23^rd Psalm, and for good reason.  Here, King David, an actual shepherd, now made the shepherd of Israel, paints a picture for us of what it means that David’s Son, and David’s Lord, is our Good Shepherd.  In the Good Shepherd’s care, we have no want.  We lack nothing.  He makes us to lie down, to rest (Sabbath), in safety and peace, without a care, in green pastures, comfort and luscious plenty.  How can we not think here of the green pastures of God’s Word?  That is true Sabbath, true rest.  Beside still waters.  Sheep are very particular about the water they drink.  How can we not think here of the pure, cleansing, and refreshing water Baptism?  He restores our souls, leads us in the paths of righteousness, guiding us through every peril, and even death itself, by the comfort of His rod and staff (His Scriptures, His pastors, our fellow Christians, and even the crosses He lays upon us).  And then, just so we know these aren’t actual sheep he’s talking about (this is not a Psalm about cute, fluffy, cuddly animals), but us, a change in metaphor.  He prepares a table for us in the presence of our enemies…  Who are our enemies?  You have some, whether you know it or not.  The devil, the world, and our own sinful flesh at least.  Here we hold the Feast of Victory in the vanquished camp of our enemies, because it is always Easter now that Christ is risen from the dead.  How can we not think here of the Supper of His true body and blood?  Anointed (christened, incorporated into Christ) with oil, the Spirit poured out upon us in Gospel and Sacraments.  The cup runneth over.  There is no lack with this LORD as your shepherd.  Blessing is always overflowing, thus the love of Christ poured into your cup overflows in your love for others.  And you know that His goodness and mercy will follow you all the days of your life, and there will forever be a place for you in His House, both this side of the veil (here you are now) and the other (heaven, and resurrection).

            Jesus unpacks this further for us in our Holy Gospel, what it means that He is our Good Shepherd.  “The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11).  The cross.  His sacrificial death in atonement for our sins.  The purchase price to make us His own.  The will of his Father, that we, likewise, be children of God.  Here comes the wolf… Sin.  Death.  Satan.  Hell.  The Good Shepherd lays Himself down between His sheep and the mortal danger.  That is how He saves us.  “Over My dead body,” He says to the wolf.  He gives Himself into the predator’s steely jaws, punctured, pierced, torn, and bleeding His life over creation.  He has that authority, from God Himself, to save us in this way.  To lay down His life, and take it up again.  That is what the Good Shepherd does.

            We can think of some other pastoral images in the Gospels.  When Jesus sees the crowds in the cities and villages of Israel, He has compassion on them, because they are harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd (Matt. 9:36).  In Matthew, it is on just such an occasion that He bids His disciples pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest (vv. 37-38), that is, to send pastors, undershepherds of the Good Shepherd.  And in Mark, it is on just such an occasion that our Lord has the people sit down in groups on the green grass (the green pasture!), and He feeds over five thousand on five loaves and two fishes, the very fulfillment of the 23^rd Psalm (Mark 6:39-42).

            We remember, of course, the Parable of the Lost Sheep (Luke 15:3-7), how the shepherd leaves the 99 in the open country, to go after the lost one, and he does not come back until he finds it.  And when he finds it, he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing.  Don’t fail to notice in so many paintings and icons of Christ, the Good Shepherd, how He is carrying a wounded lamb in His arms, or across His shoulders.  That lamb is you.  And when He brings you back, He bids everyone rejoice with Him… His friends, His neighbors, and all the other sheep… the whole Church, and even the angels in heaven.  Because the lost one has been found, the injured bound up, a precious lamb snatched from the wolf’s bloody fangs.    

            It is the fulfillment of the Prophets: “My anger is hot against the shepherds, and I will punish the leaders; for the LORD of hosts cares for his flock, the house of Judah” (Zech. 10:3).  “He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young” (Is. 40:11).  “As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness… I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord GOD” (Ez. 34:12, 15).  But it is not just Judah and Israel.  And that is good news for us Gentiles in the room.  “I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd” (John 10:16). 

            Now, compare Christ, our Good Shepherd, to mere hired hands.  The hired hands don’t put themselves between the sheep and whatever mortal peril may threaten them.  No, when danger arrives, the hired hands flee.  Jesus is speaking, of course, about the leaders of Israel.  The Chief Priests, the Sadducees.  The teachers of the Law, the Pharisees and scribes.  Herod and company.  All who should lead the sheep in paths of righteousness, provide for them, and protect them from predatory tooth and claw.  But, so also, He is also talking about the false teachers of our day.  Even the sincere ones.  And the unfaithful clergy, those who capitulate to the whims of the people and the ways of the world.  And, in fact, the hired hand in us all.  Whenever we, as He says, care nothing for the sheep (v. 13); whenever we fail to love one another, to help one another; whenever, in the interest of our own safety, or comfort, or advantage, we leave our brother and sister sheep to the wolves, and flee.  We have all done it.  We are all prone to do it.  We must examine ourselves, and repent.  Very often, this is how we find ourselves lost.  When we harden our hearts, seek our own interests, and refuse to love our fellow Christians.  But our Lord is faithful, seeking us out, picking us up, slinging us over His shoulders, and restoring us to the flock.  That is, He leads us to repentance for our sins, and forgiveness, and life, and love, in His Gospel gifts.    

            After all, the sum and substance of what it is to be a sheep of the Good Shepherd, is faith in Him, and fervent love toward one another.  This is what St. John says to us in our Epistle: “this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us” (1 John 3:23).  Sheep of the Good Shepherd submit, in faith, to His shepherding, and heed His voice as He speaks to them through His undershepherds.  And they love their fellow sheep.  That is what it means to be a Christian. 

            And that is not a burdensome Law.  It is simply to rest (Sabbath) under His watchful care, secure among the flock, immersed in His gifts, and following His voice, all the way to death and back.  And we know He will lead us back.  For this is the truth about our Good Shepherd: He is risen!  He is risen, indeed!  Alleluia!  And so, He knows the way.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.      

Third Sunday of Easter

Third Sunday of Easter (B)

April 14, 2024

Text: Luke 24:36-49

Alleluia!  Christ is risen!  He is risen, indeed!  Alleluia!

            They thought they saw a spirit.  A ghost!  And so, they were startled and frightened.  Now, undoubtedly, they thought it was the spirit of the dead Jesus come to wreak vengeance upon them for deserting Him.  Just so, there is a profound theological truth latent in their fear.  If Jesus is still dead… or, perhaps, more to the point, if Jesus lives only as a spirit… then trouble and fear are the only alternatives.  For if Jesus is not risen from the dead, and that bodily, we are still in our sins.  And if we are still in our sins, God shall, indeed, wreak vengeance.

            But we know better… Alleluia!  Christ is risen!  He is risen, indeed!  Alleluia!  Then again, do we know it?  We know it as an article of doctrine, but do we know it?  Don’t we, all too often, act as though Jesus lives only as a spirit, and that contained, safely, far away in heaven, with no real interaction with the flesh and blood reality of life in this world?  And don’t we sometimes even want that, because, if Jesus is just a spirit, we can ignore our doubts and fears until that day of reckoning is upon us.  We can do what we want, without His interference.  But then, what when we does appear?

            That is why, that first Easter evening, when Jesus is suddenly standing in the midst of His fearful disciples, He immediately speaks His Gospel, “Peace to you” (Luke 24:36; ESV), “Shalom” (and you remember what that means: Peace with God, therefore peace in your heart, sins forgiven, healing and wholeness, all things set right).  And then He shows them that He is not a mere spirit, not a ghost, but a Man, with a body.  See, here, my hands, and my feet.  Behold, the wounds, the holes left by the spikes.  I died.  I was crucified.  And that, for you.  But now I live.  Touch me, and see.  And not just, “it is I myself” (v. 39), but “I AM… Myself” (Krenz translation).  I AM… YHWH… God in human flesh.  Now, a spirit, a ghost, does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.  And that touches precisely the nerve of our doubt and fear.  Jesus does not live as a spirit, contained safely far away.  He is a flesh and blood Man, standing in our midst. 

            That is, at once, more frightening, and more consoling.  It is more frightening because of how real it all is.  Theology, religion, is not a system of theoretical concepts, much less soothing words of alternative reality to make us feel good and safe.  It is a concrete fact.  Our God is a Man, and He is here in the flesh, to deal with us in our flesh, and in real time.  If He does not come, therefore, speaking Peace, Shalom, we are, quite simply, doomed, and righteously so.  For all the times we have deserted Him.  For our every denial when faithfulness came at a cost.  For our every rejection of His will and His Word.  For huddling in fear of men, rather than God.

            But if He comes speaking Peace, Shalom, then a flesh and blood God is precisely the help and consolation we need.  A crucified God.  A Man, who is risen from the dead.  Because, if He is real, the Shalom is real.  It is as substantial as the flesh and bones of the Son of God. 

            And that means He is here, now, bodily, to touch your flesh with His own, thus to impart to you His life and his healing.  Incarnation: That God was born of the Virgin in our flesh…  Crucifixion: That the corpse on the crucifix is the dead body of God…  Resurrection: That the crucified Jesus did not merely arise to live in the hearts and minds of His disciples, or as a gnostic spirit, freed from the confines of the flesh… but in the body, now risen, glorified, eternally living and life-giving… These are of a piece, these creedal facts.  And they necessarily lead to the conclusion that, if our Lord Jesus is with us, as He says He is, He is with us in no less concrete a manner than bodily.  And that is to say, it really is His body and blood that you eat and drink in the Holy Supper.  And it really is His voice you hear in His Word.  Christology, what you believe about Christ, determines what you believe about the Sacrament, and the speaking and hearing of our Lord’s authoritative Word.  If Jesus accomplished your salvation, bodily, then He delivers His salvation to you, bodily.  There must be no Gnosticism about it, nor division of the Person who is at once divine and human, Spirit and body.  Even as He appeared, bodily, to the disciples on Easter evening, so He appears to you, bodily, here, under bread and wine, announcing His Peace, His Shalom.

            And then He eats.  “Have you anything here to eat?” (v. 41; ESV).  What on earth is the point of that?  Well, first of all, ghosts simply don’t eat food.  You need a body to bite and consume, right?  So, it is to prove He is really alive. 

            But it is more than that.  They give Him a piece of broiled fish, and He eats it.  Now, we may have expected Him to take bread and wine, and celebrate the Eucharist once more with His disciples.  That is certainly coming, and that will be the new reality for the congregation of disciples, from here on out, Sunday after Sunday.  He will join them (and us!) for the Feast.  This is assuredly a sign of that, but it is not that.  It is fish.  Why fish?  What is going on with the fish?

            It calls to mind, does it not, the disciples’ miraculous catch, when, at the Word of Jesus, they let down their nets, now so full that they began to break.  Henceforth, Jesus told them, they would be catching men (Luke 5:1-11).  It calls to mind the loaves and fishes with which the Lord fed the hungry crowds.  Five thousand here, four thousand there, not even counting the women and children, basket upon basket of pieces left over (Luke 9:10 ff; Matt. 15:32 ff.).  There is the parable of the net in Matthew 13 (47-50).  And, of course, there will be the repetition of the fishing miracle on the Sea of Tiberius… “Cast the net on the right side of the boat” (John 21:6), He will say, and, though the nets do not break, they will have trouble hauling the catch ashore… 153 large fish, and the charcoal fire, and Jesus, with His invitation, “Come and have breakfast” (v. 12).  Catching men like fish.  Feeding men with fish.  Fed by Jesus with fish.  This is why the fish became one of the earliest Christian symbols.  The Greek word for fish, ἰχθύς, became an acronym of Christian confession: Ἰησοῦς Χρῑστός Θεοῦ Υἱός Σωτήρ; that is, “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior.”  It was an identifying symbol, that the ancient Christians might recognize one another. 

            But there is even more than that.  Don’t forget the sign of Jonah (Matt. 16; Luke 11), the great sign of our Lord’s death and resurrection.  As Jonah was swallowed by the fish, so our Lord was swallowed up by death and the grave.  And just as the fish spat Jonah out after three days, so, from the belly of the earth, our Lord emerged alive after three days.  And now, the risen Jesus swallows the fish.  Do you get it?  It is the great joke of Easter.  Death and the grave have been swallowed up by life.  And now, just as Jonah went and proclaimed the Word of the LORD to Nineveh, and they repented and believed, so Christ is proclaimed throughout the world, and many repent and believe.  And so live! 

            But not if Jesus is just a spirit.  Get that through your head.  It is only true if God’s dead body has been raised. 

            This is what all the Scriptures are about.  All His Words.  The Law of Moses.  The Prophets and the Psalms.  “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead” (Luke 24:46).  And that is what the Church proclaims for repentance and forgiveness to all the nations.  Because that is the preaching of the Holy Spirit, the Promise of the Father, the Power from on High. 

            Jesus died for you.  Jesus is risen for you.  Repent of your sins.  Believe this good news.  Your sins are forgiven.  Your death is undone.  Receive the Holy Spirit.  Be restored to the Father.  And behold the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.  It is no mere spirit on the altar, in your midst.  It is a Man with flesh and bones.  Touch Him, and so see Him.  Eat Him and Drink Him.  And live no longer as though He is a God far away.  He is a God so near to you, His body invades yours.  And in that, there is life and Shalom.  Alleluia!  Christ is risen!  He is risen, indeed!  Alleluia!  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.    

 

Second Sunday of Easter

Second Sunday of Easter (B)

April 7, 2024

Text: John 20:19-31

Alleluia!  Christ is risen!  He is risen, indeed!  Alleluia!

            St. Thomas missed Church.  On Easter Sunday, no less!  Now, perhaps it was for a legitimate reason.  We tend to judge Thomas a little too harshly.  “Doubting Thomas,” and all that.  As though the other disciples had no doubts.  As though you’ve never doubted.  As though you don’t have any doubts right now.  Never mind where Thomas ends up at the conclusion of our Gospel.  In any case, Thomas was absent.  And what did he miss?  Nothing less than an encounter with the risen Lord Jesus Christ.  And note: It is because he missed that encounter, that he speaks his anti-Creed… “Unless!... Unless I see the marks… Unless I touch the wounds and poke around in them… Unless the Lord meets my conditions… I will never believe!” (Cf. John 20:25).

            We must not miss that, upon our risen Lord’s Sundy evening visit, all the components of the Christian Divine Service are there.  The gathering of disciples, the congregating, not of sinless saints, but forgiven sinners, still huddling in doubt and fear.  Then, all at once, the presence of the Lord.  The Holy Absolution: “Peace be with you” (v. 19; ESV).  And don’t miss what that is.  That is Shalom.  “Peace,” yes, but more than that.  “Wholeness,” we might say, the very thing, the very state of being, Israel had been longing for through the centuries, now present in this Man.  The showing and telling of His mortal crucifixion wounds (as Paul says to the Galatians, “It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified” (Gal. 3:1).  He is talking about the preaching.  The breath of Jesus, imparting His Spirit, speaking forth His Word, the Word of life.  The Holy Ministry.  Here we have its institution, the sending and the charge: “If you forgive the sins of anyone, they are forgiven; if you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is withheld” (John 20:23).  We know from Luke’s account of this same episode, that Jesus even eats with the disciples (Luke 24:41-43) (we’ll hear about that next week).  Now, it is not the Lord’s Supper.  Just a little bite of fish.  But, of course, it alludes to the eating that will happen now every Sunday, every Lord’s Day, in that Supper, at the weekly celebration of Easter.  And now, this is the pattern, isn’t it?

            So, what great grace that the very next Sunday, eight days later (John 20:26), when Thomas was with them, the Lord Jesus once again appeared.  To the disciples who were still wallowing in fear.  Still announcing the peace (Shalom) of His Absolution.  Still showing and telling of His sin-atoning wounds.  Bodily present in the midst of His congregation.  And now, because Thomas is at Church, where the risen Lord Jesus appears to distribute His gifts… his anti-Creed becomes the model Creed.  Seeing the wounds (we aren’t told whether he touches them with his hands and fingers), Thomas exclaims (mind you, concerning this flesh and blood, obviously executed, but risen and vigorously living Man standing before him), “My Lord and my God!” (v. 28).  He no longer disbelieves.  He believes.  What brought him to this faith and confession?  The same thing that happened for the other disciples the week before.  The encounter with the risen Lord Jesus Christ.

            And what happened there and then, two weeks in a row, from that time forward, has not failed to happen among the congregated disciples of Jesus, every time they gather together in His Name.  There is Jesus among them.  Absolving sins.  Speaking His Word.  Showing His wounds.  Imparting His Spirit.  Enlivening with faith and confession.  And, yes, eating with them.  Is it not true, here and now?  It is true.  Though we do not see it with our eyes.  We hear it with our ears, and so believe, and so confess.  And Jesus says that, in this way, as those who have not seen, and yet have believed, we are blessed (v. 29).

            That is why you come to Church.  Not to fulfill an obligation, or do your Christian duty (though it is your Christian duty, according to the Third Commandment).  Not to learn new things you didn’t know before (though that certainly may happen, and it is wonderful when it does; nevertheless, the Church Service, and even Bible Study, is not an academic lecture).  Why do you come, then?  To encounter the risen Lord Jesus Christ, who is bodily present, here and now, to give Himself, and all His saving benefits, to you in Word and Sacrament, for your forgiveness, life, and salvation.  Jesus is here.  You have come to visit with Him.  If you knew Jesus was going to arrive at some location, visibly, and invite you for a personal audience with Him, and bestow eternal gifts upon you, of course you’d come.  You wouldn’t miss it!  Well, except for the visible part, that is precisely the case for you at this very moment… and whenever we come together for the Divine Service.

            And see, that is what bestows faith and confession.  In the absence of the encounter, seeds of doubt and fear begin to grow.  That is what happens when you don’t come to Church.  But in the encounter, at the Word and touch of the risen Jesus, you are given to believe, and so, your lips are opened to confess the very words of St. Thomas: “My Lord and my God.” 

            You need this encounter, always.  Luther preached, “The devil is ever on the alert to insinuate all kinds of wickedness into our hearts, and would fain make them as cold as ice. Where God’s Word is not repeatedly proclaimed in sermons, in hymns, in private conversation, so that we may not forget it or become callous towards it, there it is impossible for our hearts, which are burdened with many an earthly pain and sorrow, with wicked purposes and the devil's malicious instigations, not to fail and to fall from Christ. Thus it is an urgent necessity that the preaching of the Gospel continue among us, that we may hear and retain it, otherwise we would soon forget our Lord.”[1]  In other words, we need to hear the same old Gospel preached to us again and again, because we always forget that same old Gospel.  And, of the Sacrament, St. Ambrose famously said, “Because I always sin, I am always bound to take the medicine” (AC 24:33).  Preaching and Sacrament.  That is how our risen Lord continues to hold His crucifixion wounds before our eyes, and sustain us in the one true faith.  And that is how He continues to grant us the peace (Shalom) of sins forgiven.

            We could say a word, here, too, about our new crucifix.  The crucifix is not, in itself, a means of grace, as are the Word and Sacraments.  But it is certainly a picture that calls to mind the Words of Christ, isn’t it?  And it does hold before our eyes the crucifixion wounds and the death of Christ.  And so, we might say, it is a visual aid for our faith.  That is how we should regard all Chrisian visual art, icons, crosses and crucifixes, statues, paintings… as a visual preaching.  Now, some may object to the crucifix, because, after all, we worship a risen Christ, not a dead one.  Yes, that is true.  And we also worship a grown-up Christ, not an infant one, but that doesn’t prevent you from putting up your manger scene at Christmas.  More to the point, it is admittedly strange to decorate our churches and homes with pictures of a condemned criminal’s execution.  It isn’t because we are morbid.  And, we must note, it is only this execution of this Man that we commemorate in such a way that we hang it around our necks and hold it before our eyes.  And there is a singular reason we do so.  Because this dead Man rose.  And so, His death is our life.  We have a crucifix precisely because we worship a risen Jesus.  It would be a symbol of hopelessness if He were still dead.  But now that He is risen, it is the sign of victory.  And for the same reason, the risen Jesus shows His disciples His hands and His side.  This is why He still has the crucifixion wounds.  “I died, but behold, I am alive forevermore!”  If the crucifix depresses you, repent and look again.  The corpse lifted up upon that pole is no longer dead.  Jesus lives!  And so, dear Church, lift high the cross! 

            Lift it in honor of the One who is here, bodily present, for you.  Lift it in confession and proclamation of the One who died on that cross, but who is risen from the dead.  Lift it that your eyes may behold your salvation in the body given into death, the blood poured out, for your forgiveness, life, and salvation.  Let it drive you to the Altar, where this very Lord is now enthroned, and gives Himself to you..

            And don’t miss Church.  There are legitimate reasons to miss, I suppose.  Sickness, certainly.  Hospitalization.  When you are on a trip, though in that case, try to find a Missouri Synod Church to visit.  I’d be happy to help you.  Of course, there are some folks, like police officers, or ER doctors, for example, who have to work on Sundays.  Like our shut-ins, we should always make sure they have a way to receive Jesus’ Word and Sacrament.  What else for legitimate excuses?  Not much more.  Don’t let old Adam convince you that you are too tired, or that you have too much going on, that you just need a break, that there are more important things to do.  Don’t let him poison your heart against the people here, in their own sins and weaknesses.  You, too, have your Thomasian doubts and fears.  Don’t let him convince you that the weakness and insufficiency of the pastor will prevent Jesus from showing up.  Don’t let old Adam keep you away.  Not for any reason.  Drown him.  Crucify him.  Which is to say, repent.

            Why would you want to miss this?  If you want to miss it, you just don’t get it.  And if you get it, you’ll never want to miss it.  Here is Jesus.  He is here for you.  Receive His peace.  Shalom.  Receive His Spirit.  Hear His Word.  Behold His wounds.  Be no longer disbelieving, but believing.  And confessing!  “My Lord and my God.”  These things are written for this very reason, “that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31). 

            Alleluia!  Christ is risen!  He is risen, indeed!  Alleluia!  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.                          

 

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[1] https://books.google.com/books?id=3KXvDmuEO3EC&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=%22martin%20Luther%22%20forget%20the%20gospel%20preaching&pg=PA46#v=onepage&q&f=false