Third Sunday of Easter

Third Sunday of Easter (C)

May 1, 2022

Text: John 21:1-19

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

            It sounds familiar, doesn’t it, what happens in our Holy Gospel this morning?  The fishing all night and catching nothing?  No, I’m not talking about your unsuccessful excursions at the reservoir or on the Snake.  The disciples.  Professional fishermen.  Frustrated at their profession.  And now, a mysterious man with the unsolicited advice to let down the nets once again (like He knows anything about it!), and… a miraculous catch!  Of course, this very thing happened at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry.  It is reported in Luke, Chapter 5.  On that occasion, after the miraculous catch, our Lord told Peter and the Sons of Zebedee that from now on they would be catching men (v. 10).  And they left everything… their boats, their business, the fish they’d just caught… and followed Him (v. 11).  So here they are again, and the scene is repeating itself, and that is why John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, recognized Him.  By His Word.  He is a smart cookie, that John.  “It is the Lord!” he says (John 21:7; ESV).  Whereupon Peter (and we love this) gets dressed and jumps into the sea, while John and the others row the boat ashore, considering they are not far off, and there is this net full of fish to drag with them. 

            The scene repeats itself.  But there are differences.  Now, St. Augustine, in his marvelous commentary on John’s Gospel,[1] points out that the differences are instructive.  They teach us about Church and Ministry, first from our perspective here and now in this fallen world, and then from the perspective of the risen Lord Jesus Christ from the vantate point of the End.  And it is so important for us to keep both perspectives before our eyes, because they are both true at one and the same time. 

            The account from Luke at the beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry, is about the Church as it appears to us here and now.  There is Jesus in the boat with His disciples.  Likewise, Jesus is with us here in the Church, the Ark in which we are saved from the demonic chaos and death of the sea that is this world.  And, in fact, Jesus speaks His Word across the water, and the sea becomes the very thing that saves us, the saving bath of Holy Baptism.  He teaches His disciples and the crowds, there, in the boat.  So here in the Church, Jesus teaches us, and all who will hear, His holy Word, which is our very life.  And then He commands Peter and the others to let down the nets, and though they had fished all night and caught nothing, now, though it is not the time for fishing (as any professional fisherman knows), they bring in such a miraculous haul that the nets are breaking, and they need help from their partners to bring in the catch.  And even then, the boats begin to sink.  So it is in the Church.  Though we do our very best, employing every tactic we know, to catch men with the Gospel nets, it seems to be fruitless.  Then, all at once, at Jesus’ Word, even when it seems like what He says couldn’t possibly work, and we think we know better than Him, what happens, but a miraculous catch.  Sinners coming to faith in Christ and receiving the gifts of His forgiveness, life, and salvation.

            Now, there are other challenges for the Church in this life, aren’t there?  And these, too, are illustrated in the Lukan account.  Augustine says that the nets breaking are prophetic of the schisms that rent the Church asunder whenever we don’t agree on the Gospel and all the things God teaches in His Word.  Augustine saw it in the many heresies that were prevalent in the Early Church.  We see it in the denominations of a divided Christendom.  And the boats beginning to sink, Augustine says, are prophetic of the great evils under which the Church groans.  She does not actually sink.  But there is the peril.  Fightings and fears within.  Persecutions and suffering from without. 

            And then, Jesus tells a parable in Matthew 13 (vv. 47-50) about the nature of the fish caught by the Church in this fallen world.  That is, they’re not all keepers.  Now, they are all sinners.  That is not the determining factor.  The Church only fishes for sinners, to bring them into the boat of Holy Church and give them the forgiveness of sins.  And they are all kinds of fish, the Lord says, reminding us that when the Church lets down the Gospel nets, she will catch men from every nation, tribe, people, and language.  So these are not the determining factors, either.  What is the determining factor?  Faith in Jesus Christ.  The visible Church on earth has within its walls both believers and unbelievers.  Augustine reminds us that in Luke, when Jesus commands Peter to let down the nets, He doesn’t say which side, right or left.  To mix the metaphor, the Church on earth not only catches sheep, but goats as well. 

            And we can’t tell the difference here and now.  We have to take our brothers and sisters at their word, at their confession of faith.  We can’t look into anyone’s heart, to see whether they really believe, or whether they may just be feigning.  And frankly, we’re not very good at knowing the difference between unbelief and a faith that is simply weak or suffering.  This is why we shouldn’t judge.  So it isn’t until the end of the day that the fish are sorted, reminding us that at the close of the age, “The angels will come out and separate the evil,” that is, unbelievers who have forfeited the forgiveness of sins Jesus won for them, “from the righteous,” that is, those forgiven their sins and justified by faith in Christ, who died for them, and who is risen from the dead (v. 49).  The evil, Jesus says, will be thrown into the fiery furnace where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth (v. 50), but the righteous?...  Well, now we have a new picture of what will happen, and that is the occasion of our Holy Gospel this morning.

            This is Church and Ministry from the perspective of the risen Lord Jesus Christ, from the vantage point of the End.  This time, He is on the shore.  Which is not to say He isn’t with us on the boat, but remember, this is a matter of perspective, and we are talking about Jesus Christ, God in human flesh, who is ever and always at once in all places, right?  The disciples are in the boat, having caught nothing, and the risen Jesus is on the shore, and though they see Him while they are still on the sea, they don’t recognize Him.  And so He calls out to them.  He speaks to them, His Word.  “Children,” a term of endearment and affection, “do you have any fish?” (John 21:5).  The word is actually not fish, but “do you have a little side dish?”  Or in context, the sense might be, “do you have even a little fish to go on the side of a meal?”  A side of sardines, you know, like a side of fries?  No, not even that.  “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will catch some” (v. 6).  See, these now, from this perspective, are only going to be good fish, large fish (sheep, from the right side, to mix the metaphor), keepers.  And so it is.  A miraculous catch.  Nearly impossible to haul it in.  

            John recognizes Jesus, and says so.  Peter puts on his clothes to jump into the water, and we laugh, but then, this is baptismal imagery.  In the water, Peter’s shameful nakedness is clothed with the righteousness of Christ.  And we know that, even as he denied the Lord three times around a charcoal fire, He is about to receive a three-fold restoration and confess His Lord around a charcoal fire. 

            The Apostles come, piloting the boat, the Church, dragging the net full of fish.  And this time, the net is not torn.  There will be no schism here, when the Church comes to Jesus on the shore.  And each fish will be numbered.  Each one is special.  Each one is important.  It is not that they catch about 150 fish, or 155ish.  153.  An exact number.  Each one known to Jesus.  Caught by the Gospel net, the Apostles drag them through the water to the shore, where Jesus is, to greet them.  Just as we are each one numbered and known to Jesus, special to Him, purchased for God by His blood and death, caught by the Gospel net, drug through the baptismal water of our own death and resurrection in Christ, to Jesus on the shore where He is waiting for us.  And that is heaven.  That is the New Creation. 

            Now, there is so much more to say about our Holy Gospel, and all the readings we’ve heard from Holy Scripture this morning.  But I suppose that will have to wait for another time.  Suffice it to say, Jesus feeds His Church.  There is bread, reminding us that He feeds us here in the Supper with His own body and blood, and that this is but a foretaste of the Feast to come when we reach the shore where Jesus is waiting for us.  And there are fish already on the fire.  Jesus didn’t have to wait for the disciples to bring in the net.  He who multiplied loaves and fishes in His earthly ministry here creates them out of nothing, for He is the God who created all things out of nothing. 

            And He provides for the preaching of the Gospel and the tending of His sheep.  Peter is restored and called to shepherd the Church.  Saul is knocked on his hateful keister and transformed by the Lord’s call and by Holy Baptism to fish especially among the Gentiles and bring in a great catch.  Augustine says that the two boats at the beginning of Jesus ministry are a sign of Peter and Paul and the coming together of Jews and Gentiles in one holy Church.  And in some sense, we are all caught in the Apostolic net of the Gospel preached by Peter and Paul and James and John and the rest, for the Church is built on the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the Cornerstone (Eph. 2:20), again, to mix the metaphor. 

            Now, Church and Ministry from both perspectives, can be summed up in this way: Jesus provides all that is necessary to bring every single fish, every last on of us, to Himself on the shore of His Kingdom, where He gathers us for the Feast.  We must repent of relying on our own expertise and fishing methods, our clever evangelism programs of bait and switch, thinking we know better than Jesus.  We must repent of our worrying about bad fish and the challenges that confront the Church.  We must repent of pre-judging who does and does not have faith.  Jesus speaks His Word.  That is what fills the boat.  He catches men alive.  He caught us.  He brings us in.  He gives Apostles and Prophets, Gospel Writers, Pastors, and Teachers (Eph. 4:11), as well as our fellow saints, parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters, friends and neighbors, to cast the net of the Gospel, to bring us through the water of the font, in the boat of the Church, to the place where Jesus feeds us.

            And whichever way we look at it, from the perspective of our own fallen line of sight in this world, or from the perspective of the risen Jesus, one thing is certain.  It is Jesus who really does the fishing.  It is Jesus who bring us into the boat.  It is Jesus who reals us onto the shore.  The Church will not sink.  She cannot.  Jesus is bringing her in.  And the harvest of fish will be plentiful.  So trust Him.  And hear Him now, as He says to you, the same thing He said to the Apostles at the Sea of Tiberius: “Come and eat!”

            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] Tractates on the Gospel of John, https://sites.google.com/site/aquinasstudybible/home/gospel-of-john-commentary/st-augustine-on-john/augustine-on-john-21 . 

Second Sunday of Easter

Second Sunday of Easter (C)

April 24, 2022

Text: John 20:19-31

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

            If the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is merely a glorious demonstration of His divine victory, a personal vindication of His holy life and the truth of His Words over against His detractors, the grand assertion of His Lordship over His enemies, then it still demands our worship and praise.  But in the end, it does us no good.  The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is not merely for His own sake.  It is for us, and for our salvation.  His victory is our victory.  His vindication is our confidence, and the power that brings us from unbelief to saving faith in Christ.  His Lordship is the devastation of our enemies and all that held us captive, including sin, death, and the very devil.  The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is our justification before God.  It is our reception of the Kingdom by grace.  And it is our own resurrection from the death of our trespasses and sins (Col. 2:13), to new life in Christ, in which we are given to walk now in spirit (Rom. 6:4), and then when He raises our bodies out of the grave (v. 5).

            But if our Lord’s resurrection is to be for us in this way, it must be given to us.  It must be imparted to us by some method, some means.  We do not receive the benefits Christ’s resurrection by travelling to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher to see for ourselves that the tomb is empty.  That is not where He gives us His resurrection victory, any more than we receive atonement for our sins via our proximity to the Old Rugged Cross, or any other relic.  It is true, Jesus won our salvation by His cross and empty tomb nearly 2,000 years ago in Jerusalem.  But the question is, how do we get what He did there and then, to us here and now?  (Those of you who have studied the Catechism with me, this is the “pipes” illustration, isn’t it?)  He pipes it in…  He gives it to us by His divinely appointment Means of Grace, His Word and the Holy Sacraments.  And He shows us this very thing this morning in our Holy Gospel. 

            There are the disciples, the Church, gathered in fear, locked behind closed doors.  And Jesus appears in their midst.  No, He didn’t climb in through the window.  No, He didn’t find the key hidden under the mat and slip through the door when no one was looking.  This is a very important point.  The risen Lord Jesus is forever and always in the midst of His Church.  Even in our fear and cowardice.  Even in our sin and shame.  Even in our doubt and despair.  He is with His Church, invisibly, but bodily.  And so He opens their eyes to the reality.  He appears in their midst.  They do not come to Him.  If the Church is to be in the presence of God, she cannot ascend to Him.  He must come to her.  And He does, in the flesh and blood born of Mary. 

            And what does He do when He appears?  He preaches the Gospel.  “Peace be with you” (John 20:19; ESV).  That is, “I have not come to berate you for deserting me.  I have not come to condemn you in your fear and unbelief.  Nor have I come to annihilate you in divine wrath.  I have come to announce that your sins are forgiven.  They are at an end.  You have peace with God by virtue of My sin-atoning death on the cross.  And you have life, salvation, and joy, a home and a place in the Kingdom of My Father by virtue of the fact that I am risen from the dead.”  The preaching of this Gospel is the first Means of Grace.  It pipes in all the saving benefits of His death and resurrection.  And in this way, He shows them the tokens of this salvation: His holy wounds, He hands, His side. 

            And then, He sends them, His Apostles (“Apostle” means “one sent as an official representative,” with all the authority of the Sender).  Jesus here ordains an Office for the preaching of this Good News to the world.  For the shepherding of His Church.  For the tending of His Flock.  “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you,” He says to them (v. 21).  And for this purpose, He breathes on them, and says to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (v. 22).  Just as he breathed into Adam the breath of life, and made Adam a living being (Gen. 2:7), so He breathes new life into His Apostles, His Holy Spirit.  And it is not so that they can inhale and hold Him in.  That is not how breathing works.  It is so that they, likewise, can exhale the Spirit to others.  How?  In preaching!  “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 [means!], the Holy Ghost is given, who works faith; where and when it pleases God, in them that hear the Gospel.”[1]  The Spirit is exhaled by preachers in preaching, and it is the very breath of Christ, inhaled by those who hear and believe.

            And this happens in a very particular way, in what our Lord here institutes: The Holy Absolution.  “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld” (John 20:23).  This is the “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.”[2]  According to these words, we should “believe that when the called ministers of Christ deal with us by His divine command, in particular when they exclude openly unrepentant sinners from the Christian congregation and absolve those who repent of their sins and want to do better, this is just as valid and certain, even in heaven, as if Christ our dear Lord dealt with us Himself.”  When a pastor pronounces Holy Absolution upon a repentant sinner, as happened just now at the beginning of the Service, and as happens whenever you come to your pastor for private Confession and Absolution, Jesus Christ, who is really the One speaking, in whose stead and by whose command the pastor speaks, removes your sin and death from you, and infuses His own righteousness and resurrection life in you.  It is a death and resurrection in you.  It is a return to the baptismal waters.  He joins you to His own death and resurrection.  It is a Means of Grace, to bring you what happened there and then, here and now. 

            Now, like Thomas, who was absent that Easter evening when Jesus first appeared to His disciples, you may doubt that these things can be true.  You may be reluctant to believe the Apostolic preaching that Christ, who died, is now risen from the dead, and that that means your sins are forgiven and you have eternal life.  You may demand to see such a thing for yourself.  Seeing is believing.  Empirical knowledge is the rule of the day.  Unless I see the wounds, and poke around in them, I will never believe.  What great grace, what astounding patience on the part of our Lord, that eight days later He appears in the midst of His disciples (once again behind locked doors), especially for the sake of Thomas, whom He has also called and appointed for this Office.  Once again, He preaches the Gospel: “Peace be with you” (v. 26)… With all of you, still locked away for fear.  And also with you, specifically, Thomas, in spite of your unbelief and hard-hearted demands.  Now… here I am!  Go ahead, look, touch.  Is this what you demand?  “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side.  Do not disbelieve, but believe” (v. 27).  And what does this preaching, this display of Jesus’ wounds, do for Thomas?  We don’t know whether He touched them or not.  That is not what is important.  The preaching of the risen Lord Jesus, the breath of His mouth, exhales His Holy Spirit upon Thomas, bestowing faith and confession.  “Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’” (v. 28). 

            Now, Thomas is given a gift that in some sense, I suppose, we don’t get.  He sees the risen Lord, wounds and all.  That is because the Apostles are given specifically to be eyewitnesses of these things, in order that they testify of them to the Church and to the whole world.  But though you and I do not get to see the risen Lord and His wounds with our eyes, it really does happen for us in the same way.  Here we are, gathered together with all our fears, our guilt and shame, our doubt and unbelief, and our demands for our own standard of proof.  And suddenly, here is Jesus among us.  No, He didn’t sneak in the back door, or through a window.  As it happens, He has been with us the whole time, as He has promised, our Emmanuel: “behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:20).  He is not just with us in spirit.  He is with us bodily, with His mortal wounds, but risen from the dead, living, and life-giving.  He does not come among us to berate us and condemn us for the many times we have deserted Him in our sin and cowardice.  He does not come to annihilate us in divine wrath.  He comes preaching His Gospel: “Peace be with you.”  “Your sins are forgiven.  They are at an end.  You have peace with God by virtue of My cross and death.  You have life and salvation, righteousness and joy by virtue of My bodily resurrection.”  He sends His man in the Apostolic Ministry, to proclaim to you the Scriptures of the Apostles and Prophets, your pastor, to breathe on you with the very breath of Christ.  And so you receive the Holy Spirit.  And what is that proclamation?  “In the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ I forgive you all your sins.”  It is a plunging back into the cleansing baptismal waters, and a raising up anew unto eternal life.  And then, though you do not see it before your earthbound eyes, it really does happen for you as it happened for Thomas and for all the Apostles.  You behold His wounds.  And you touch them.  In fact, you eat them and drink them.  Crucified.  But risen.  Living and life-giving.  This is what St. Paul means when he writes to the Galatians, “It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified” (Gal. 3:1).  It is not that they were there when they crucified my Lord.  It is that they have heard the preaching and received the fruits of His cross under the bread and wine. 

            In recent days, in spite of my aversion to travel and particularly airplanes, I have been enamored with the idea of visiting Israel.  I’d love to see the places that figure so prominently in our faith, touch the stones that maybe Jesus touched, the relics… be there where the Lord Jesus died for our sins, and rose again.  Some of you present have done that very thing.  There is great catechetical benefit in it, I have no doubt, and I am certain it is very edifying.  But it is essentially a tour of a living museum.  The Lord does not bring to us here and now, what He did there and then, by our proximity to the Old Rugged Cross and the empty tomb.  He does it by coming among us, bodily, in the way He has promised, in the things to which He has attached Himself.  Words.  Water.  Bread and wine.  The Means of Grace.  We often wish that we could see Him and poke around in His wounds.  But that is not what gives us faith.  The Holy Scriptures are written that we may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing, we may have life in His Name (John 20:31).  That we may obtain such faith, He has given the Office of the Ministry in His holy Church.  He has given His Word and Sacraments.  That is enough.  And blessed are we who have not seen with our eyes, but by these divinely appointed means, have believed (v. 29).  This is how Jesus gives us life.  This is how He raises us from the dead.  And He can do it, because He 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] AC V:1-3; www.bookofconcord.org. 

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

The Resurrection of Our Lord

The Resurrection of Our Lord

April 17, 2022

Text: Luke 24:1-12

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

            Then why do you seek the Living One among the dead (Luke 24:5)?  Why do you still live in fear, locked away behind closed doors, fearing those things and people who, at worst, can kill your body, but after that, have nothing more they can do (12:4 ff.)?  Why are you anxious about your life, what you will eat, and about your body, what you will put on (v. 22)?  Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing (v. 23)?  Why do you grasp at the things of this life as though you must get all you can out of it now, before you die, building bigger barns to store your grain and your goods, so you can relax, eat, drink, and be merry (vv. 13 ff.)?  Why do you question in your hearts (5:22)?  Why do you doubt?  Why do you seek for spectacular signs that would somehow prove God true, when the sign of Jonah has been fulfilled (11:29 ff)?  O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken (24:25).  Why do you cling to the guilt of your sins, the shame, the condemnation and accusations of the Law?  “Man, your sins are forgiven you” (5:20; ESV).  Why do you despair of His help and healing?  “(R)ise, pick up your bed and go home” (v. 24).  “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace” (8:48).  And above all, why do you fear it may really be true?  That Jesus, who was crucified, is risen from the dead?

            You fear it, because this is not how things go in this world.  This is not what you experience in your body, what you see with your eyes, what you know by your mortal mind.  Here, now, you are oppressed by your enemies.  The devil lies to you.  He tells you Christ will only judge you and condemn you.  The world mocks the foolishness of a God who dies, and of a Man who rises from the dead.  And, though the spirit is willing, your sinful flesh renders you weak.  Like the women in our Gospel, insofar as you are flesh, you come to the tomb on Easter morning with the spices of your songs and praise, but ultimately you expect to find a dead body.  Like the Apostles, insofar as you are flesh, you gather with the Church on Sunday, more out of habit than anything else.  Or maybe not even that.  And so much of life seems hopeless, as change and decay in all around you see. 

            That is why this morning, and every Sunday, and every time we gather, you must hear the preaching of the two men in dazzling apparel who met the women at early dawn.  Why do you seek the Living One among the dead?  He is not here!  The tomb is empty!  Jesus Christ is risen from the dead!  And then, Remember… Remember how He told you that it must be this way, “that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise” (24:7).

            Remember His Words.  This is your lifeline.  The preaching of Christ crucified, Christ who is now risen from the dead, lives, and reigns, this obliterates all doubt and despair.  It silences all fear and quells all anxiety.  It casts out sin and every idol.  It assuages guilt and covers shame.  Christ died for your sins.  He is risen for your justification.  He has purchased you for God.  The Father loves you as His own dear child.  If that is true (and it is), then “What shall we say to these things?”… these things that so trouble us…  “If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things” (Rom. 8:31-32)?  And, as Paul confidently preaches to us this morning, “in fact Christ has been raised from the dead” (1 Cor. 15:20).  And if that is true (and it is), “in Christ shall all be made alive… Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ” (vv. 22-23).  And that means you.  And that means me. 

            You see… The resurrection of Jesus Christ changes everything.

            When the women came to the tomb at deep dawn on Sunday morning, they did not find a dead body sealed in the grave, as they expected.  The stone had been rolled away.  And the two men, angels, preached the good news.  He is not dead.  He is risen, just as He said.  They bid the women remember Jesus’ Words, and that’s just what they did.  This is what He said would happen.  And look… it has!  And now, they no longer despair.  They return to tell the Apostles and all the rest that it really is true!  Jesus Christ is risen from the dead!  The preaching of the risen Jesus opens the lips of these dear women in confession and praise.

            When the Apostles hear it, they do not believe at first.  Well, again, this is so contrary to all human experience.  Like us, they are hindered by their fleshly weakness.  It is not possible.  Dead men don’t rise.  But then, something happens within Peter, and it can only be the work of the Holy Spirit through the witness of the women… in other words, by the hearing of the Word.  “Peter rose” (Luke 24:12; emphasis added).  Πέτρος ἀναστὰς, from which we get the name, “Anastasia.”  The word is THE word for resurrection.  (If you’ve ever watched My Big Fat Greek Wedding, which you should do this very afternoon if you haven’t, you know that the Easter greeting is Χριστός Ανέστη, and the response, Aληθώς ανέστη: Christ is risen!  He is risen, indeed!)  Πέτρος ἀναστὰς, Peter rose, because he heard Jesus is risen, and now what was dead in him, namely his faith in Christ, rose to new life.  And he ran to the tomb.  The lame not only walk… they run!  You remember from the Prodigal Son text a few weeks ago, what it means to run in the ancient world.  How no respectable man ever, for any reason, runs.  It is disgraceful.  It is embarrassing.  You have to hike up your skirts and show a little leg.  It’s like running through the streets in your underpants.  But now, who cares?!  Jesus is risen!  This is worth the humiliation.  And he gets to the tomb, and what does he find?  Not a body.  The linen cloths by themselves…  You know, the shroud, in which they had wrapped the Lord’s corpse.  And he knows.  Jesus had prayed for this moment: “Peter, you will deny me.  You will fall”… “but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail.  And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers” (22:32).  Now he does just that.  He will return to the Apostles.  He will bear witness.  He will become the great preacher of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

            Now, any number of times in the forty days subsequent to the resurrection, the risen Jesus appears to His disciples.  And this is important.  This is not just a myth somebody made up, or some kind of spiritual (metaphysical) resurrection, or a resurrection in the disciples’ hearts.  We have eyewitnesses who will testify to their death that they saw Jesus dead, and then saw Him alive, risen, bodily. 

            But in terms of the limits of our Holy Gospel this morning, have you noticed the one thing that we don’t get?  An appearance of the Man Himself, the risen Lord!  Now, we will get that in the readings over the next few weeks, and of course, you can go read it for yourself in the very next verses, and you should.   But there is something appropriate about our Easter morning Gospel ending here, where it does.  At this point, all the women have to go on is the preaching of the two dazzling men.  At this point, all the Apostles and those with them have to go on is the witness of the women.  Just like us.  We have not seen the risen Lord Jesus yet with our eyes.  But we have the preaching.  We have the Church’s confession.  We have the Apostolic testimony in Holy Scripture.  And that is enough.  Remember what He told you.  By His Word, the Spirit raises us to faith in Christ, who is bodily risen from the dead.  We rise, and we run.  And we see that the body is not in the tomb.  Why would we seek the Living One among the dead?  Now we should seek Him in all the places He positions Himself in the Gospel readings for the coming weeks, the places he has promised to be.  And that is to say, among His Apostles, in His Church, in His holy Word and Sacraments.

            You really do believe this, in spite of the devil’s lies.  In spite of the world’s mockery.  In spite of the weakness of your sinful flesh, which you should daily push back down into the baptismal waters and drown in repentance.  You believe this, because the Spirit of the Father has been poured out on you, and blown through on the preaching of the Gospel, the very breath of Jesus Christ.  You believe this… and it is a miracle.  It is nothing short of a resurrection from the dead.  You who were dead in your trespasses and sins, the Spirit has now made a living one, through the resurrection of Christ, the Living One. 

            And so, what happens to fear?  The worst that can happen is the death of your body.  But Jesus Christ, who is risen from the dead, will raise your body on the Last Day.  What happens to anxiety?  Jesus Christ, the Bread of Life, who lives and reigns, will not fail to give you each day your daily bread, and provide for all your needs of body and soul.  What happens to greed and covetousness, the bottomless void you are always trying to fill with the things of this fallen world?  Jesus Christ, who sits at the right hand of God the Father almighty, fills you to the brim with Himself, and then graciously gives you all things.  The tomb is now empty.  There is no place for doubt, and no room for despair.  Why seek the Living One among the dead?  Remember His Words.  His death and resurrection are how it must happen.  Your sins are forgiven.  There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, our crucified and risen Lord (Rom. 8:1).  And what further signs do you need?  You are baptized into Christ.  His seal is upon you.  Here is His body.  Here is His blood.  Given and shed for you, for the forgiveness of sins, now coursing through your veins with resurrection life.  Remember what He said.  At His Word, and at His touch, you are healed and made whole.

            The resurrection of Jesus Christ changes everything.  Jesus lives.  And in Him, so do you.  So you can live boldly.  You can live confidently.  You can live with joy, and in peace, in spite of the devil and the whole world.  Live as though Jesus is actually risen from the dead.  Because He is!  O wise ones, given wisdom and faith to believe all that the prophets have spoken.  It really is true!  Χριστός Ανέστη!  Aληθώς ανέστη!  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.                     

 

Vigil of Easter

The Resurrection of Our Lord: Vigil of Easter

The Baptism of James Ambrose Ford

April 16, 2022

Text: Mark 16:1-8

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

            From ancient days, the central feature of the Easter Vigil was the Sacrament of Holy Baptism.  This was particularly so for adult catechumens (though we will not complain that tonight we have an infant who has received the saving Bath).  It was the night when the catechumens who had completed three years of instruction… instruction that intensified during Lent… came to the climax of their catechetical journey with Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist. 

            As the Church waits in the darkness for the Light to dawn, keeping vigil with Christ, yearning for the Good News of the empty tomb, straining to hear and sing the Easter Acclamation, the whole history of salvation is rehearsed for us in the Service of Readings as the grand finale of our catechesis.  And all the readings in this Service are images of Holy Baptism.

            As in the beginning (Gen. 1-2), God created the heavens and the earth, so in Baptism, God creates us anew.

            As in the flood (Gen. 7-9), God cleansed the earth of evil, but preserved believing Noah and His family, eight souls in all, safe in the ark, so in Baptism, God cleanses us of sin, and preserves us safe in the Ark of His Holy Church.

            As in the crossing of the Red Sea (Ex. 14-15), God drowned hard-hearted Pharaoh and all his host, so in Baptism, God releases us from the tyranny of our ancient enemies, sin, death, and the devil, and drowns our old sinful nature.

            As God brought Israel safely through the sea on dry ground, so in Baptism, God surrounds us with a watery wall of protection on each side, and brings us safely through the water, to life and freedom on the far shore. 

            And as God protected the three young men (Dan. 3) in the burning, fiery furnace, by the presence of “one like a son of the gods” (v. 25; ESV) (and we know who that is!), so in Baptism, God protects us through every fiery trial, and He is with us in it, in the flesh of the Son of God.

            And there are more traditional readings for the Vigil.  This Service could last for hours if we did the whole thing!  After all, it is designed to be an all-night Vigil.  These four readings constitute the minimal for the Service of Readings (and the deliverance at the Red Sea is never to be left out), but then, try some of these additional Scriptures on for size:

            As God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac (Gen. 22), but staid the father’s knife and Himself provided the sacrifice as a substitute, so in Baptism we bring our children to God, who stays His own wrath and provides His Son Jesus to be the Sacrifice in their place.

            As God says through the Prophet Isaiah (55), that His Word is like the rain and snow that water the earth, making it sprout and grow, so in Baptism, God waters us with the Word, so that we grow in faith and bear fruits of love.  Indeed, He promises that His Word never returns to Him empty, but accomplishes His purposes and succeeds in the thing for which He sends it.

            As God promised through the Prophet Ezekiel (36) that He would sprinkle His people Israel with clean water, to cleanse them from idolatry and wickedness, and give them a new heart and His Holy Spirit, so in Baptism, God cleanses us by water with the Word, reclaims us from all false gods, creates in us a new heart, and grants us His Holy Spirit.

            And so it continues.  It is a veritable litany. 

            As God commanded Moses (Deut. 31) to put a new song on the lips of Israel as they were about to enter the Promised Land, to remind them of His Torah, keep it before their eyes and on their tongues, so in Baptism, God opens our lips, that our mouths may declare His praise in faithful confession of His Word. 

            As God showed Ezekiel (37) the valley of dry bones, and sent His Spirit to clothe the bones with flesh and raise them to life, so in Baptism God raises us who are dry and dead to new, and Spirit-animated life, clothed with the very righteousness of Christ.

            As God led Job (19), in the midst of his afflictions, to cry out, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth.  And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another” (vv. 25-27), so in Baptism, God grants us faith in our risen and living Lord, who will return and raise us from the dead, bodily, that our own eyes may see Him for ourselves.

            As God sent the Prophet Jonah (3) to preach to unbelieving Nineveh, and they believed the Word of the LORD, and repented of their sins, so in Baptism, God grants us ears to hear and believe His Word, and true repentance for our sins. 

            And as God comforted His people through the preaching of the Prophet Zechariah (3), by the promise that He would gather His people into His saving presence, taking away all the judgments against them, and saving them from their oppressors, so in Baptism, God comforts us with His bodily presence in the Church, which He has gathered here to Himself.  Our sins are forgiven.  Our enemies are conquered.  And there is Jesus Christ, our Lord and our God, enthroned upon the altar. 

            Holy Baptism is the sinner’s death with Christ on the cross, and the new man’s resurrection with Christ in His risen body.  “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:3-4).  And so there is the young man’s proclamation in our Holy Gospel: “Do not be alarmed.  You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified.  He has risen; he is not here” (Mark 16:6).  The tomb is empty.  Jesus lives.  He is the fulfillment of all the Scriptures.  And He is your life and salvation. 

            This evening, James Ambrose died with Christ before our very eyes.  Now there is nothing left for him to do but live in Christ.  And so it is with us in our Baptism.  We died.  Sure, there is the physical expiration and burial to come, unless the Lord returns first.  But our death is done.  Now, we live.  God’s own child, I gladly say it.  A New Creation.  Released from tyranny.  Cleansed from sin.  Planted and watered in His Kingdom.  A place reserved at His royal Table.  His own Name written upon us.  Our own bodily resurrection to come. 

            Beloved, the Light has dawned.  There is no more waiting.  Now we say it with Spirit-wrought joy: 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.

Good Friday Tenebrae

Good Friday Tenebrae

April 15, 2022

Text: John 19

            Our Savior, Jesus Christ, thirsted for our salvation.  He thirsted to accomplish the Father’s saving will, His mission of mercy, the redemption of the world.  Jesus thirsted to atone for our sins.  He thirsted after righteousness… His own righteousness, imputed to us, which is to say, Jesus thirsted for our justification.  Jesus thirsted to have us as His own. 

            The bystanders lifted a sponge full of sour wine to His lips, but it was not this for which He thirsted.  He had had enough of the sour wine of God’s wrath, the foaming wine will-mixed, which He drained to the very dregs for the wicked and sinful world… for us, for our sins (Ps. 75:8).  Undoubtedly, He was physically very thirsty.  Having suffered the excruciating torment of the cross and the pangs of hell on our behalf, He was parched.  But here He thirsts to quench our need by what He pours out for us.  “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water” (John 4:10; ESV).  Jesus thirsts to satisfy our thirst by pouring Himself out for the life of the world. 

            And now, He has done it.  Τετέλεσται.  “It is finished” (v. 30).  Not only our Lord’s suffering, but His whole divine, saving mission.  The Sacrifice.  The work of Atonement.  The Father’s wrath is finished.  It has come to an end.  It has been spent on Jesus.  The Scriptures are fulfilled.  All the prophecies.  All the types.  And the curse.  The curse has been broken, for Jesus bore the thorns and thistles and the bloody sweat of His brow to give us the Bread of Life.  Satan’s tyranny has been shattered, for in grasping the Savior’s heel, the serpent’s head is crushed (Gen. 3:15).  The woman’s offspring has done it.  The bonds have fallen from our hands and feet by virtue of Jesus’ holy wounds.  The Law’s accusations have been silenced by the blood of Christ.  Sin has been washed away.  Hell must give up its plunder.  In His thirst, Jesus has accomplished all of this.  “It is finished.”  And now, He will swallow death itself.  And death, too, He renders impotent, as He will prove beyond the shadow of a doubt on the Third Day.

            Thus, knowing that all was now finished, and having tasted the sour wine, the Lord bowed His head, and gave up His Spirit (John 19:30).  The action is all His.  He is in total control.  He gives His life willingly into death for us.  He decides when it will happen.  This is His great love for us.

            He gives up His spirit.  He exhales.  This is to say, His human spirit is now separated from His body, the definition of physical death.  “(T)he dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it” (Ecc. 12:7).  But so also, this is an indication of the way He will pour out the Holy Spirit.  By His mouth.  By virtue of His death.  By the breath of His life.  By His speaking.  In the beginning, God breathed into Adam the breath of life.  He spirited into him His Spirit.  When the risen Lord Jesus stood among His disciples where they were locked away for fear, He breathed on them the Resurrection Life, and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22), and then He sent them out to absolve and to preach.  They would speak His Words.  They would breathe out His breath.  And in this way, down to this very moment, in this very place, Jesus gives up His Holy Spirit to bring life and breath, faith, hope, and love to all of us who hear. 

            And then, the soldier’s piercing lance, and the water, and the blood (John 19:34).  The separation of the liquids shows death has occurred.  No need to break this One’s legs.  But so also, it shows the life of the Church.  Even as God put Adam into a deep sleep, and from his side formed Eve to be Adam’s Bride, so also God has put our New Adam, Jesus, into the deep sleep of death, and from His side forms a Bride for Christ, the Holy Church.  And that means us… you, and me.  Born of the water.  Nourished by the blood.  Called, enlightened, sanctified, and kept by the Spirit.  “For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree” (1 John 5:7-8). 

            These three Jesus has poured out to slake our thirst, and in doing so, to slake His own.  Now, in preaching and Sacrament, He gives us the fruits of His cross.  Therefore, “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters” (Is. 55:1).  You who hunger and thirst for righteousness (Matt. 5:6), “come, buy and eat” (Is. 55:1).  Come to the font.  Come hear the Word.  Come to the Supper.  Without money, and without price, you shall be satisfied.  You know the gift of God, and who it is that says to you, “I thirst” (John 19:28).  So ask Him, and He will give you living water. Whoever drinks of the water Jesus gives, will never be thirsty again, but this water will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life (John 4:14).  Indeed, “Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water” (John 7:38). 

            From His cross, our Savior, Jesus Christ, thirsted for this very thing.  And now… it is finished.  He accomplished it when He gave Himself into death for us.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.