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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