Sunday, April 19, 2020

Second Sunday of Easter


Second Sunday of Easter (A)
April 19, 2020
Text: John 20:19-31
Alleluia! Christ is risen!  He is risen, indeed!  Alleluia!
            And that means peace for sinners, peace with God, peace for you.  This is very important for the disciples gathered together as they are on Easter evening.  They are locked away for fear: Fear of their sins, fear of God, fear of the Lord they had denied and deserted, fear of the Jews who want their blood next, fear of death, fear of condemnation.  Locked away for fear.  Do you see how the Lord’s resurrection does away with all of that?  Jesus died on the cross as the perfect sacrifice for sins, assuaging the Father’s just wrath.  And now He is risen from the dead.  Sin is forgiven, even denial and desertion.  Justice is satisfied.  Jesus has fulfilled all obligation to death and condemnation.  And now He brings righteousness and life.  So “Peace be with you,” He announces once and again to the disciples, and again eight days later when Thomas is with them (John 20:19, 21, 26; ESV).  It is just the Absolution they need.  Peace flows from the Crucified Lord who is risen from the dead.
            And that is just what you need to hear as you are locked away this morning for fear.  Perhaps not by choice.  Perhaps quite reasonably.  Perhaps by government mandate.  But you are locked away.  For fear of a virus.  For fear of being infected.  For fear of infecting others.  And yes, loving your neighbor may require this very thing.  But notice that it all stems from the same fear that caused the disciples to lock themselves away.  That is the fear of death.  And it is ultimately the fear of condemnation.  It is the fear of God’s judgment.  It is the fear that He will not save you in the end, that He will not grant you life abundant and eternal.  It is the fear that your sins, your denials and desertions of the Lord of life disqualify you.  And frankly, they do.  Except that Jesus has taken them into Himself and put them to death in His body on the tree.  And now He is risen, and your sins are not, and the risen Lord Jesus brings you His righteousness and life, which is to say, peace.  Your sins are forgiven.  God loves you.  What is there to fear?  Jesus Christ will raise you from the dead.
            So that you know this, and so that this peace of sins forgiven and Christ’s own righteousness and life can be transferred to you, bequeathed to you, given to you, our Lord here gives an Office: The Office of the Holy Ministry, or as it is called in the Catechism, the Office of the Keys.  This is not in any way to disparage the Royal Priesthood of all believers in Christ, for those of you who have an adverse reaction every time the pastoral office is mentioned as something special, holy, and distinct.  The two are absolutely not opposed to one another.  In fact, it is from the Royal Priesthood and through the Royal Priesthood that pastors are called into this Office.  And no one is saying pastors are holier.  That is not our doctrine.  But here the risen Lord Jesus gives the Office of the Ministry.  And this is something different, something new.  It is the Lord’s own institution.
            Here the Twelve are gathered, minus Judas who betrayed Him, and Thomas who is absent.  And the Lord Jesus is suddenly standing among them.  No locked doors can keep Him out!  The fact is, the risen Jesus has been with them the whole time, though their eyes were kept from recognizing it.  Now He stands among them visibly, and He ordains them Apostles, officially sent ones.  As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you” (v. 21).  It is the beginning of the Office of the Ministry.  
            Now, the office of Apostle in particular is a special office unique to the eyewitnesses of Jesus’ resurrection, and confined to those appointed by Him directly to be His official representatives.  But it is they who would then lay hands on other men as they went on their way, on their mission, ordaining pastors, spiritual shepherds in every place, to carry on the apostolic ministry. 
            And the thing about this Office is, it is never independent from Jesus Himself.  The word “apostle” means “one officially sent, with all the authority of the sender in the matter for which he is sent.”  Jesus is the Sender and He sends the Apostles with the authority of distributing His saving death and resurrection life in the forgiveness of sins.  In other words, He sends them to preach the Gospel.  He sends them to pronounce Holy Absolution.  He sends them to retain the sins of the impenitent for the purpose of bringing them to repentance, that their sins be forgiven.  The Lord breathes on the Apostles, ordaining them with His Spirit, and He says the Words of Institution for the Holy Ministry, for the Apostles and for those who would follow in their train: “If you forgive the sins of anyone, they are forgiven; if you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is withheld” (v. 23). 
            So the Office of the Ministry, the Office of the Keys, “is that special authority which Christ has given to His church on earth to forgive the sins of repentant sinners, but to withhold forgiveness from the unrepentant as long as they do not repent.”[1]  And you can know that when the called ministers of Christ deal with you in this way, by His divine command, “this is just as valid and certain, even in heaven, as if Christ our dear Lord dealt with us Himself.”  Because He is dealing with you Himself.  He sends the preacher to preach to you forgiveness by His death and resurrection, to absolve you of your sins.  And when the preacher preaches that, when he hears your confession and pronounces forgiveness, it is Christ Himself who is speaking and forgiving.
            There are two ways the preacher is administer this forgiveness.  First, there is speaking: Scripture, sermons, Absolution.  Then there is the crucified and risen body of Christ into which the pastor baptizes you as Christ’s own hands, and which he distributes to you under bread and wine in the Supper.  And this is precisely how Jesus deals with His self-isolated Apostles, for the forgiveness of their sins.  He speaks His Word: “Peace.”  It is a Holy Absolution.  And then He shows them His hands and His side.  He gives them His body; the body crucified for them, and for you.  Behold the marks of the nails.  Go ahead, Thomas!  Poke around!  Behold my spear-riven side.  Go ahead, Thomas!  Put your hand in there!  The risen body of Jesus is the very body that was crucified, dead and buried.  He still bears the marks, no longer in pain, but as evidence, as a testimony of the payment complete, the victory won.  You may think you have a leg up on Thomas because you have believed without seeing, and indeed, Jesus pronounces you blessed (v. 29).  But the plain fact is, the Lord extends to you the same mercy He gave Thomas, by baptizing you in the water that poured from His side, by giving you the very same body to eat, the very blood poured out to drink, the very same wounds.  And that is what leads you to confess with Thomas, “My Lord and my God!” (v. 28).
            In fact, all of this is given to you to lead you to that very confession, to that very faith.  (T)hese are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (v. 31).  These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the One promised by God from the very beginning, who would redeem you from sin and death.  That He is God’s own Son, therefore He has the authority to do it, and the ability, and He is faithful as God Himself to bring it about.  By faith, you receive all His saving benefits.  The Lord has given the Holy Ministry, and all His means of grace, as a gift to you, for that very purpose.  That you believe, and so live. 
            We confess it this way in the Augsburg Confession (for which our congregation is named): “That we may obtain this faith, the Ministry of Teaching the Gospel and administering the Sacraments was instituted. For through the Word and Sacraments, as through instruments, the Holy Ghost is given, who works faith; where and when it pleases God, in them that hear the Gospel.”[2]  The risen Jesus imparts His peace by the Gospel ministry of Word and Sacrament, and by those means the Holy Spirit creates the very faith that receives Jesus’ peace.
            I’ll tell you, it is the joy of my life to be your pastor, next to being a husband and a father.  I love it, and I love you.  I love our Church, and I’m so heartbroken we’ve been prevented from receiving the Lord’s gifts together face to face.  It is such an honor and a joy to be your pastor.  Because I am sent to you by Jesus Himself to announce to you peace in sins forgiven by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  His Word.  His body.  All for you.  It is pure gift.  And it unlocks the doors, the fear that binds you. 
            Beloved, hear the Word of the Lord: For the fear of coronavirus: Peace!  For the fear that God will forsake you in this time of economic ruin and societal turmoil: Peace!  For the fear of your sins, your denials of the Lord, and for abandoning Him: Peace!  For your fear of death and condemnation, the wrath of God, the devil and hell: Peace!  Do not be afraid.  Peace be with you.  Jesus speaks it so.  And He can, because He is risen!  He is risen, indeed!  Alleluia!  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son (+), and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen. 



[1] Catechism quotes from Luther’s Small Catechism (St. Louis: Concordia, 1986). 

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