Semon-Sunday March 30 2008
Second Sunday in Easter
Brothers and sisters,
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
In our gospel lesson for this morning we read about what had to have been one of the scariest times in the history of the church. Granted the events from our Gospel lesson are drawn from a period of time after the resurrection, and the days immediately before this would have been the three days in between the cross and the empty tomb. And so a strong argument could be made that those three days were scarier, nevertheless this still had to have been one of the scarier times in the history of the church.
And truthfully as the passage begins, the disciples aren’t really sure if they have made it out of that scary period in between the cross and the empty tomb. They have heard the testimony of Mary Magdalene who told them that she had seen the Lord. But apparently that didn’t do much to convince the disciples since they were still hiding.
And who could blame them really? Their lives were at risk. To make an appearance in public at such a tenuous time when all kinds of authorities were looking to persecute anyone who had any sort of connection to Jesus would have meant risking their lives and probably certain death. Why would they take such a risk when they weren’t even sure if Jesus had been resurrected?
But then lo and behold, Jesus appears before them and in an instant they realize that Mary had been right. More importantly, in an instant they realize that Jesus Himself had been right. In an instant they realize that Jesus was in fact who He said He was. In an instant they realize that death could not contain this Savior who now stood before them bringing them peace and the Holy Spirit. In an instant they realized that the devil with all of his tricks had been defeated in what actually appeared to be the moment of the devil’s greatest victory. And in an instant they realized that their sin that Christ Jesus had taken upon Himself was left in the death that had just been defeated. And so of course the disciples rejoiced when they saw Jesus.
And as if all of that weren’t enough He now brings them the Holy Spirit and sends them out into the world with the authority to forgive and retain sins. But then we read that just a week later they are still hiding out. A week after seeing that sin, death, and the devil were no match for Christ Jesus, after the same Christ Jesus, risen from the grave for all eternity, had given the disciples the authority to forgive and retain sins, where are the disciples? After the risen Savior had appeared before them and showed them His wounds, where are the disciples? They are still hiding out, behind closed doors.
It’s no wonder Thomas didn’t believe them. Maybe Thomas was just thinking "If Jesus really has been raised from the dead then why are you hiding in here? If He has given you the authority to proclaim forgiveness in His name then why aren’t you out using that authority? If the Holy Spirit whom our Lord promised would guide us and protect us and lead us into all truth has been breathed into you then why aren’t you following the Holy Spirit into all truth?"
But any one of us would have been right up there with them in that room, hiding behind closed doors. We would have been up there wondering if the authorities were going to come after us. The echo of the cries of ‘crucify Him’ coming from that Jerusalem crowd that day would have been ringing in our ears but we would know that when we hear those cries now, they would be directed toward us. Of course we would be hiding.
Truth be told it takes a lot less than that to get us to shrink from our Christ ordained call to answer Jesus’ sending us out in the world, as He has been sent by the Father. You might feel comfortable sharing your faith within the walls of this church, and maybe your not even comfortable doing that. But truthfully how bold are you in bringing that faith to your co-worker or family members or your neighbors? Our culture tells you that your faith is a private thing; just between you and God. And like most everyone else you are probably more than willing to buy into that.
But Jesus has a different word for us. He sends us out into the world as His Father sent Him. And so we are sent out to the world; to our neighbor, our friends our family, our co-workers, as servants of the Lord. We are sent to our neighbor and we are commanded to keep our faith anything but private. And we are called and authorized to bring the most significant gift that our Lord Jesus brings to the world; the gift of forgiveness of sins through faith in Christ Jesus, to the world.
And yet we continue to run and hide from this call, which in reality is a privilege more sacred than we could ever imagine. We run from it, out of our desire to not make waves or not upset anyone. Or perhaps, for some of you, maybe it’s from doubt. Maybe you are not quite sure if you even do believe. Whatever the reason or excuse for running from your being sent out to the world, when you give in to it, then you may as well be with the disciples in that room hidden behind locked doors, hiding from the very world that you were called to.
And in the midst of their hiding and doubting, they were failing and denying their Savior. But what we see today through the Word that our Lord brings us is that He will not leave us in our failing Him and our denying Him and our doubting Him. Just as He did for Mary Magdalene outside of the tomb and for the disciples who weren’t convinced by the testimony of Mary, and for Thomas who would not believe the testimony of his fellow disciples, He does for us also.
Christ Jesus came to them in the midst of their fears and denials and doubts and He brought them peace. And so He does for you; coming to you in the Word proclaimed to you and the sacraments and in fellowship with each other. He is doing so right now through the Word being proclaimed to you; He is coming to you in the midst of your doubts, filling you with the Holy Spirit, bringing you the undeniable truth of the Gospel. He comes to you, bringing you the good news that your sin and death have been taken care of.
He comes to you in your fears, filling you with the Holy Spirit reminding you of the claim that He made on you in your baptism. Our Lord came to Mary Magdalene, and the disciples and gave them exactly what they needed. This text is not about doubting Thomas, as some like to make it about, it is about Christ Jesus giving Himself to those whom He has claimed as His own, and coming back to us, and never letting us forget the claim that He has on us.
And so He does for you, never letting you forget the claim that He made on you when His word was spoken over you at the font; giving Himself to you, reminding you of the new birth into a living hope that He has given you through the resurrection. He brings you the Holy Spirit, who through the Word of our Lord and the sacraments, comes to you assuring you that no matter what struggles and challenges this sin-filled world may throw your way, there is an imperishable, undefiled, unfading inheritance for you in heaven. And inheritance lifted up for you because your Lord Jesus laid down His life for you.
In the meantime you are among those who are being protected by the power of God through faith; the same faith that our Lord brings to you daily in the midst of your doubts, denials and fears; the faith that frees you to go to your neighbor, having been sent to them as God the Father has sent His Son Christ Jesus to you; bringing to your neighbor the peace that surpasses all understanding; the peace of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Amen
Brothers and sisters,
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
In our gospel lesson for this morning we read about what had to have been one of the scariest times in the history of the church. Granted the events from our Gospel lesson are drawn from a period of time after the resurrection, and the days immediately before this would have been the three days in between the cross and the empty tomb. And so a strong argument could be made that those three days were scarier, nevertheless this still had to have been one of the scarier times in the history of the church.
And truthfully as the passage begins, the disciples aren’t really sure if they have made it out of that scary period in between the cross and the empty tomb. They have heard the testimony of Mary Magdalene who told them that she had seen the Lord. But apparently that didn’t do much to convince the disciples since they were still hiding.
And who could blame them really? Their lives were at risk. To make an appearance in public at such a tenuous time when all kinds of authorities were looking to persecute anyone who had any sort of connection to Jesus would have meant risking their lives and probably certain death. Why would they take such a risk when they weren’t even sure if Jesus had been resurrected?
But then lo and behold, Jesus appears before them and in an instant they realize that Mary had been right. More importantly, in an instant they realize that Jesus Himself had been right. In an instant they realize that Jesus was in fact who He said He was. In an instant they realize that death could not contain this Savior who now stood before them bringing them peace and the Holy Spirit. In an instant they realized that the devil with all of his tricks had been defeated in what actually appeared to be the moment of the devil’s greatest victory. And in an instant they realized that their sin that Christ Jesus had taken upon Himself was left in the death that had just been defeated. And so of course the disciples rejoiced when they saw Jesus.
And as if all of that weren’t enough He now brings them the Holy Spirit and sends them out into the world with the authority to forgive and retain sins. But then we read that just a week later they are still hiding out. A week after seeing that sin, death, and the devil were no match for Christ Jesus, after the same Christ Jesus, risen from the grave for all eternity, had given the disciples the authority to forgive and retain sins, where are the disciples? After the risen Savior had appeared before them and showed them His wounds, where are the disciples? They are still hiding out, behind closed doors.
It’s no wonder Thomas didn’t believe them. Maybe Thomas was just thinking "If Jesus really has been raised from the dead then why are you hiding in here? If He has given you the authority to proclaim forgiveness in His name then why aren’t you out using that authority? If the Holy Spirit whom our Lord promised would guide us and protect us and lead us into all truth has been breathed into you then why aren’t you following the Holy Spirit into all truth?"
But any one of us would have been right up there with them in that room, hiding behind closed doors. We would have been up there wondering if the authorities were going to come after us. The echo of the cries of ‘crucify Him’ coming from that Jerusalem crowd that day would have been ringing in our ears but we would know that when we hear those cries now, they would be directed toward us. Of course we would be hiding.
Truth be told it takes a lot less than that to get us to shrink from our Christ ordained call to answer Jesus’ sending us out in the world, as He has been sent by the Father. You might feel comfortable sharing your faith within the walls of this church, and maybe your not even comfortable doing that. But truthfully how bold are you in bringing that faith to your co-worker or family members or your neighbors? Our culture tells you that your faith is a private thing; just between you and God. And like most everyone else you are probably more than willing to buy into that.
But Jesus has a different word for us. He sends us out into the world as His Father sent Him. And so we are sent out to the world; to our neighbor, our friends our family, our co-workers, as servants of the Lord. We are sent to our neighbor and we are commanded to keep our faith anything but private. And we are called and authorized to bring the most significant gift that our Lord Jesus brings to the world; the gift of forgiveness of sins through faith in Christ Jesus, to the world.
And yet we continue to run and hide from this call, which in reality is a privilege more sacred than we could ever imagine. We run from it, out of our desire to not make waves or not upset anyone. Or perhaps, for some of you, maybe it’s from doubt. Maybe you are not quite sure if you even do believe. Whatever the reason or excuse for running from your being sent out to the world, when you give in to it, then you may as well be with the disciples in that room hidden behind locked doors, hiding from the very world that you were called to.
And in the midst of their hiding and doubting, they were failing and denying their Savior. But what we see today through the Word that our Lord brings us is that He will not leave us in our failing Him and our denying Him and our doubting Him. Just as He did for Mary Magdalene outside of the tomb and for the disciples who weren’t convinced by the testimony of Mary, and for Thomas who would not believe the testimony of his fellow disciples, He does for us also.
Christ Jesus came to them in the midst of their fears and denials and doubts and He brought them peace. And so He does for you; coming to you in the Word proclaimed to you and the sacraments and in fellowship with each other. He is doing so right now through the Word being proclaimed to you; He is coming to you in the midst of your doubts, filling you with the Holy Spirit, bringing you the undeniable truth of the Gospel. He comes to you, bringing you the good news that your sin and death have been taken care of.
He comes to you in your fears, filling you with the Holy Spirit reminding you of the claim that He made on you in your baptism. Our Lord came to Mary Magdalene, and the disciples and gave them exactly what they needed. This text is not about doubting Thomas, as some like to make it about, it is about Christ Jesus giving Himself to those whom He has claimed as His own, and coming back to us, and never letting us forget the claim that He has on us.
And so He does for you, never letting you forget the claim that He made on you when His word was spoken over you at the font; giving Himself to you, reminding you of the new birth into a living hope that He has given you through the resurrection. He brings you the Holy Spirit, who through the Word of our Lord and the sacraments, comes to you assuring you that no matter what struggles and challenges this sin-filled world may throw your way, there is an imperishable, undefiled, unfading inheritance for you in heaven. And inheritance lifted up for you because your Lord Jesus laid down His life for you.
In the meantime you are among those who are being protected by the power of God through faith; the same faith that our Lord brings to you daily in the midst of your doubts, denials and fears; the faith that frees you to go to your neighbor, having been sent to them as God the Father has sent His Son Christ Jesus to you; bringing to your neighbor the peace that surpasses all understanding; the peace of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Amen
posted by Steve at 12:58 PM
1 Comments:
This is an awesome statement:
It’s no wonder Thomas didn’t believe them. Maybe Thomas was just thinking "If Jesus really has been raised from the dead then why are you hiding in here? If He has given you the authority to proclaim forgiveness in His name then why aren’t you out using that authority? If the Holy Spirit whom our Lord promised would guide us and protect us and lead us into all truth has been breathed into you then why aren’t you following the Holy Spirit into all truth?"
I've never thought of it that way. Cool sermon
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