The Fourth Sunday of Easter & Saude Confirmation – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: 1 Peter 2:11-20
In Christ Jesus, who suffered for our salvation and calls us to faithfully follow in His steps, dear fellow redeemed:
No one really likes the idea of being “called out.” To be called out is to be accused of some sort of wrong. This often results in the accused person feeling angry—angry that his sins have been revealed, or angry that he has been misrepresented in a public way. But the apostle Peter used this term in a different way—a very encouraging way. In the words just before today’s reading, he wrote, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”
He says that you have been “called out” by God. But these are not words of condemnation; they are words of salvation. The Lord “called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” He called you out of the sinful state you were in that could only lead to death. And He called you into His marvelous light.
This is the “marvelous light” of God the Son who took on flesh to save you. It is the light of His righteousness, His perfect keeping of the Law which is credited to you. It is the light of His forgiveness, the removal of the darkness of your sin. It is the light of His salvation, your redemption and justification through His death and resurrection. You have been called into this marvelous light by the Holy Spirit who has worked faith in your heart.
You live in this light. Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (Joh. 8:12). Because you live in this light, you see everything around you differently. In today’s reading, Peter writes that the people around you should see you differently too.
He says that we are “sojourners and exiles.” We are just passing through this world. We are like those who stay in a hotel room for a night—temporary quarters—and take nothing with us, or like those who eat at a restaurant but make no claim on the tables, plates, or silverware. What we have in this life is meant to be used for the glory of God, for the good of our neighbors, and for our own needs. We can’t take our possessions with us when we die; they are only for the here and now. Far better riches and treasures are waiting for us in heaven.
So the people around us should not see us full of greed, unwilling to help others. Neither should they see us indulge “the passions of the flesh” like unbelievers do, passions “which wage war against [the] soul.” These are the passions that violate the holy Commandments of God, passions that put any number of desires and pursuits in the place of God. The unbelieving world is ruled by these passions and does nothing to rein them in.
We who walk in the light of Jesus are called to live differently—with self-control, discipline, making sacrifices for others. Then when unbelievers call us out, “when they speak against [us] as evildoers,” as our reading says, “they may see [our] good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.” But our good deeds will not stand out if we do not stand up for what is right.
That is difficult to do. Our culture today is turning more and more against the teachings of the Bible. Shining the light of God’s truth through our words and actions is jarring in this world of darkness; it is blinding and offensive to unbelievers. The effect is like one person wearing a Cyclone jersey to a Hawkeye rally or the other way around. We stand out as Christians, and this is not welcome. The world tells us to be silent, to change our beliefs, to get on “the right side of history.”
We could respond to these attacks in an obnoxious way, returning “evil for evil or reviling for reviling” (1Pe. 3:9). We could feel superior on our high ground and pat ourselves on the back like self-righteous Pharisees, thanking God that we are not like all the bad people (Luk. 18:11). But that is clearly not the approach that God calls us to take.
As we pass through this world, Jesus calls us to shine His light into the darkness. He calls us to humility, to patience, and to sacrifice. We find this in Peter’s words inspired by the Holy Spirit, which he wrote at a time when the governing authorities persecuted the Christian Church. Peter writes that we are to be subject to the governing authorities, respect them, honor them, and pray for them. This is the teaching of the Fourth Commandment, which demands respect for authority beginning in the home and going outward.
Now your parents may not always seem worthy of your honor and respect, but you are to honor them because they are over you, put in place by God. The same goes for the governing authorities. They may not always seem worthy of your honor and respect, but they have been put in place by God for purposes that might not be clear to you but are clear to Him.
This principle also applies in the workplace. Peter writes that servants are to be subject to and respect their masters, whether they are “good and gentle” or “unjust.” Then he adds, “For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly.” Now this does not come naturally to any one of us. If we suffer unjustly, it is often the case that we do not endure these sorrows with patience. We think how unfair it all is, how heavy the burden we have to carry, how we don’t deserve to be treated like this.
And that shows us how different we are than Jesus. Just after today’s reading, Peter describes our Lord’s righteous attitude and actions—a bright Light shining in the darkness: “He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly” (1Pe. 2:22-23). This was Jesus’ active obedience, His active keeping of the holy Law, which He kept perfectly.
We often have let our sinful passions get the best of us, but He did not let the devil tempt Him from His mission. We have dishonored and disrespected our parents and authorities placed over us, but He obeyed His Father’s will without faltering. We have not endured our trials with patience and humility, but He willingly suffered for the sins of others. Everything that we have failed to be and do, Jesus lived that perfectly for us.
And He let Himself be accused and crucified in our place. This is His passive obedience, which Peter also describes: “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed” (v. 24). The blood He shed cleanses us from all of our sins. Our bad behavior, our disobedience, our impatience—all of it is forgiven, washed away by His holy, precious blood.
This is what Jesus has done for us. This is the light of righteousness and salvation that we have been called into by the power of God the Holy Spirit. This is the light we remain in by His ongoing work. The Holy Spirit works in us and has promised to work in us in no other way than through the Word and Sacraments of God.
When God speaks, He does. That’s how it was at the beginning when He said, “Let there be light” (Gen. 1:3), and that’s how it still is and ever shall be. God speaks the light of Jesus into us through the Gospel message. He replaces the darkness inside us with His own holiness and love. As we are filled and strengthened through His powerful Word, we are also equipped to shine His light toward others and bring Him glory. Jesus said, “[L]et your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Mat. 5:16).
What this means is that your life is not really yours anymore. It is not about you. You have been claimed by the God of all glory, majesty, and might. He called you out of darkness and into His light. He chose you, and since He chose you, He will not leave you to fight the enemies of darkness alone. He will not leave you to fend for yourself. He will not let the darkness overcome you and fill you like it did before.
The light you have been called into is a brilliant, powerful light. Just as it has changed your heart, it is powerful to change the hearts of others, and so it has. You do not journey as a sojourner and exile by yourself. You go forward along with all who have been called into the light of Jesus. We press on until God calls us out again, out of this short life of trouble and trial to a light still brighter, the light of His glorious presence in heaven.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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(picture from “Jesus Discourses with His Disciples” by James Tissot, 1836-1902)
The Third Sunday of Easter – Vicar Lehne sermon
Text: St. John 10:11-16
In Christ Jesus, who laid down his life for us that he might take it up again, dear fellow redeemed:
The sheep were all jumbled together. Several shepherds had brought their sheep to the same pen for the night. The pen had only one gate that was guarded by a watchman, and it had walls that were tall enough to keep the sheep from wandering away during the night and to keep thieves and predators, such as wolves, out. But if all of the sheep were in the same pen, how would the shepherds know whose sheep were whose when they came back for them in the morning? It actually wasn’t a problem at all. Why? Because the sheep knew the voice of their shepherd. When they heard their shepherd’s voice, they followed him, while the other sheep, who did not recognize his voice, stayed behind. The shepherds led their sheep by their word.
In our reading for today, we are called “sheep,” and if we are sheep, then that means that we must have a shepherd whose voice we follow. Who is that shepherd? He is none other than Jesus, the Good Shepherd. When we call Jesus “the Good Shepherd,” we don’t mean that he is simply good at being a shepherd. We mean that he is the best shepherd that we could possibly have, and Jesus shows this in what he was willing to do for us.
You were once lost sheep, wandering every which way and being hunted by wolves. These wolves are your spiritual enemies: the devil, the world, and your sinful nature. Led by the devil, your spiritual enemies had completely surrounded you. You were doomed to be snatched by them and dragged away into the fires of hell. But even though you were already in the deadly clutches of your enemies, Jesus did not want to leave you to that fate. So, he left the green pastures of heaven and entered the wilderness of Earth to save you. When Jesus appeared, the wolves attacked him and killed him. In this moment, your spiritual enemies thought they had won, but it was by Jesus’ death, by the shedding of his blood, that the price that was necessary to save you was paid. By the shedding of Jesus’ blood, you were made his own. Jesus saved you from the clutches of your enemies by laying down his life of you. This is what sets Jesus apart from all other shepherds. “The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (verse 11). Other shepherds are willing to protect their sheep, but they wouldn’t go so far as laying down their lives for their sheep. It is through this act, through willingly laying down his own life for you, that Jesus shows just how much he loves you.
But Jesus didn’t leave you without a shepherd. As he says in the verses following our reading for today, “I lay down my life that I may take it up again” (John 10:17). Death had no power over Jesus. On the third day, he rose again from the dead, declaring his victory over your spiritual enemies. Because Jesus is risen, you remain safe from the attacks of your spiritual enemies and are led to green pastures and still waters that nourish the faith that you have been given. As the psalmist says, “He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul” (Psalm 23:2–3). These green pastures and still waters that your Good Shepherd nourishes you with are the means of grace, the Word and Sacraments.
Just like real sheep, who are led by the word of their shepherds, you are led by the Word of your Good Shepherd. You know Jesus’ voice because he speaks to you through his Word, and the words that he speaks to you are very comforting. When there are sins that are troubling you, Jesus says to you, “I forgive you all your sins.” When you feel like you are in danger from the wolves that surround you, Jesus says to you, “They will never snatch you out of my hand.” When you feel lost, Jesus says to you, “Follow me.” And when you feel like you are all alone, with no one to turn to, Jesus says to you, “I will be with you always, even to the end of the age.” Your Good Shepherd not only leads you with these comforting words. He also nourishes you and strengthens you with them, just like he does with the Sacraments of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion.
In the Sacrament of Holy Baptism, you are marked for eternal life, which Jesus promises to give to his sheep in the verses following our reading for today (verse 28). You are marked for eternal life when the waters of baptism wash your sins away. These waters continue to wash you to this day. For every day, your new self rises up out of the waters of your baptism and your old self is drowned in them. Through baptism, you are comforted and strengthened, knowing that you have been washed clean. For since you have been washed clean, you have been marked as Jesus’ own, meaning that the eternal life that he promises to give his sheep is yours.
While you wait for the day when you will receive your promised eternal life, you receive a foretaste of it in the Sacrament of Holy Communion. During this holy supper, you feast on the true body and blood of your Good Shepherd who laid down his life for you to win you that eternal life. Jesus willingly went to the cross and shed his blood for you, and through the shedding of his blood, you receive the forgiveness of sins. When you come to his table, along with your fellow sheep, the forgiveness of sins that he won for you on the cross is brought to you when you eat and drink Jesus’ true body and blood in the bread and the wine. Then, you leave his table strengthened and nourished in the confidence that you have been forgiven. These means of grace truly are the best green pastures and still waters that your Good Shepherd can provide you with in this life.
You are blessed to have a Good Shepherd who continues to provide for your spiritual needs and protect you from your spiritual enemies. But that doesn’t mean that you can let your guard down. Your spiritual enemies are cunning, and there are lots of tricks that they have up their sleeves that they use against you to try and lure you away from your Good Shepherd. One of their most cunning tricks is to use false teachers to leave you defenseless to their attacks. Even though Jesus is your Good Shepherd, he has left you with shepherds who he has tasked with watching over his sheep. These shepherds are your pastors. But not all pastors are true shepherds who serve the Good Shepherd. Some of them look good and sound good, but in reality, all they care about is themselves. They do not feel responsible for you. All they want is to make a living off of you. So, when the wolves attack, they show their true colors and leave the flock to fend for themselves. Jesus compares these false teachers to the hired hands who watch the sheep. He says, “He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep” (verses 12–13). What a blessing it is to have a pastor who truly cares about you and is always willing to be there for you.
But that is only one of the tricks that you have to look out for. Another one of your spiritual enemies’ most cunning tricks is making their voices sound like the voice of your Good Shepherd. You look to God’s Word to hear the words of Jesus, but when you read them, the devil, the father of lies, says to you, “When Jesus said this, what he really meant was that.” As the world continues to live in sin and encourages you to join in with them, you point to what Jesus has said to you in his Word. But in response, the world says to you, “Those things only applied to the people of the Bible. We don’t have to follow those things anymore.” When your sinful nature tempts you to sin, you remember the words that Jesus spoke to you. But your sinful nature responds by saying, “You still have faith in Jesus, don’t you? It doesn’t matter what you do, because faith is all you need.” These, along with all other ways that your spiritual enemies attempt to lead you astray, can sound very convincing and can trick you into thinking that their voices are the voice of your Good Shepherd. But unfortunately, there are even times when you and I know that we are not hearing Jesus’ voice, yet we decide to listen to the false voices and follow them anyway. We must be careful, because these wolves are only trying to get us into their jaws so that they can snatch us and drag us away from our Good Shepherd, away from the green pastures and still waters of the means of grace, and into the fires of hell.
Even though we are sheep that love to wander and constantly fall for the tricks that our spiritual enemies use against us, we don’t need to fear losing our place in green pastures of heaven, because we belong to Jesus. As Jesus says in the verses following our reading for today, “No one will snatch [my sheep] out of my hand” (John 10:28). When we do wander into the clutches of our spiritual enemies, Jesus will be there to rescue us from them. No matter how far we’ve wandered away from him, Jesus is willing to go to the ends of the earth to lead us back to him. Jesus knows who his sheep are, and he will never abandon them, especially not when they need him most.
The sheep know the voice of their shepherd, but this knowing isn’t one-sided. Your Good Shepherd also knows you. But this knowing is much more than simply recognizing each other. Even the devil, the leader of the wolves, recognizes who Jesus is. This knowing is a knowledge that unites you with your Savior in love. You love Jesus, your Good Shepherd, and desire to follow him. But this love does not have its origin in you. It has its origin in Jesus and what he did for you. As the apostle John says, “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). Jesus loved you so much that he was willing to lay down his own life so that you may experience eternal life in the green pastures of heaven. And Jesus still shows his love for you in that, as your risen Lord, he leads you safely though the dangers of this world until you reach those green pastures of heaven. As the psalmist says, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me” (Psalm 23:4). Jesus, your Good Shepherd is better than any other shepherd because no one has love that matches his. So, you can be confident that your Good Shepherd knows you and will lead you to the green pastures of heaven. As Jesus says, “I give [my sheep] eternal life, and they will never perish” (John 10:28).
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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(picture from Saude Lutheran Church altar painting)
The Second Sunday of Easter – Vicar Lehne sermon
Text: St. John 20:19-31
In Christ Jesus, who dispels our every doubt, dear fellow redeemed:
How could Thomas be so stubborn? The other disciples saw Jesus with their own eyes. They saw the mark of the nails on his hands and the hole in his side from the spear. Why did Thomas refuse to believe his fellow disciples “[u]nless [he saw] in [Jesus’] hands the mark of the nails, and [placed his] finger into the mark of the nails, and [placed his] hand into [Jesus’] side” (verse 25)? What reason did he have to not believe the men whom he had traveled with for so long and gotten to know so well? But even though Thomas was wrong to doubt that Jesus had risen from the dead, the other disciples were no better.
The first people to hear the good news that Jesus had risen from the dead were the women who went to anoint Jesus’ body early in the morning after the Sabbath had ended. When they arrived at the tomb, they discovered that the stone, which blocked the entrance to the tomb, had been rolled away. Inside the tomb, Jesus’ body was gone, which perplexed the women. Then, two angels appeared to them and said, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise” (Luke 24:5–7). Then the women remembered Jesus’ words and went to tell the disciples what they had seen and heard. The women were told to tell them these things not only by the angels, but also by Jesus himself, who appeared to them as they returned from the tomb.
What good news the women gave the disciples! Jesus, who had been betrayed by one of their own and arrested, who had died on the cross, as witnessed by John, and who had been placed in a tomb, the entrance to which was blocked by a large stone, was not dead, but alive! He had accomplished the work that he had come to do. He had paid the price for the world’s sins on the cross and declared his victory over sin, death, and the devil by his rising from the dead. The disciples should have been rejoicing when they heard the report of the women. But, when the women told these things to the disciples, “these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them” (Luke 24:11).
The disciples had no reason to think that the women were just telling them an idle tale and that Jesus hadn’t actually risen from the dead. He had told them many times what was going to happen to him. We hear in the gospel according to St. Matthew that, after Peter confessed that Jesus is the Christ, “[f]rom that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised” (Matthew 16:21). He predicted his death and resurrection to his disciples two more times after that. Then, shortly before he was to be handed over to the religious authorities and arrested, he said to his disciples, “You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified” (Matthew 26:2). And finally, on the night that he was to be arrested and sentenced to death, Jesus said to his disciples, “[A]fter I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee” (Matthew 26:32).
When the disciples heard the report of the women, they should have remembered Jesus’ words and believed that he had risen from the dead, just like the women did. But instead, they doubted. It took Jesus appearing before the disciples and showing them the mark of the nails on his hands and the hole in his side from the spear for them to believe. The words that Jesus spoke to Thomas in our text for today may as well have been spoken to all of the disciples: “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (verse 29).
You are “those who have not seen and yet have believed.” It was two thousand years ago that Jesus walked the earth. There’s no way that any of you could have seen him. All you have are the words that the Holy Spirit inspired the disciples and the other writers of the Bible to write down. Those words tell you that you are by nature sinful and that you deserve only God’s wrath and punishment. They tell you that there is no way for you to escape God’s wrath and punishment or to earn your way into heaven. But those words also tell you that God the Father loved you so much that he didn’t want to leave you to that dreadful fate. So, he sent his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to take all of your sin on himself and experience all of the wrath and punishment from God that you rightfully deserved. The mark of the nails on his hands and the hole in his side from the spear is proof of Jesus’ love for you. Jesus was nailed to the cross for you. His side was pierced for you. His death on the cross was so that you would not have to experience that death.
But what God tells us through his Word doesn’t end with Jesus’ death, because if Jesus had remained dead, then you would have no hope. As the apostle Paul writes in his first letter to the Corinthians, “[I]f Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins” (1 Corinthians 15:17). If Jesus had not been raised, then that would mean that his sacrifice was not sufficient enough to pay for your sins. The good news is that Jesus has been raised from the dead, which means that his sacrifice was sufficient and that your sins have been paid for and forgiven. You have heard the same words that the disciples heard. The disciples were not willing to believe this good news without seeing evidence that Jesus truly had risen. Even though you have not seen any evidence that Jesus has risen, it is through the work of the Holy Spirit that you believe that it’s true.
Does that make you better or more faithful than the disciples? Even though we don’t doubt that Jesus has died on the cross and risen from the dead, there are other things that God has revealed to us through his Word that we do doubt. God tells us that he will be with us in times of trouble, but how do we know for sure that he is with us during those times? After all, it is often during our times of trouble that we feel the most alone. God also tells us that he loves us and will always do what is best for us, but how do we know that this is true? After all, so many others seem to have it better than we do, and not just other Christians, but unbelievers. If unbelievers seem to have it better than we do, how do we know for sure that he loves us and is doing what is best for us? And even though we believe that Jesus truly did die on the cross for the sins of the world, how do we know for sure that Jesus died for our sins? After all, the sins that we have done are so horrible, and they continue to weigh us down. If Jesus really did die for our sins, why do we continue to feel so guilty? What if that means that our sins haven’t actually been forgiven because they are just too great? In all of these instances, as well as many others, our doubts can lead us to not trust in the words that God has spoken to us through Scripture alone. Our doubts can lead us to seek evidence from God that what he has told us is true. In moments like these, we are no better than the disciples, who needed to see the risen Jesus to believe that he had truly risen from the dead.
Whenever we have doubts about what God has revealed to us in his Word and shut the doors of our hearts to him, Jesus passes through the shut doors of our hearts and says to us, “Peace be with you” (verses 19, 26). Jesus brings his peace to us through the means of grace, his Word and Sacraments, and through Holy Absolution. Whenever we doubt that God loves us or that he is with us in times of trouble, Jesus dispels our doubts by pointing us to the promises that he made to us in his Word and saying, “I do love you and will always be with you.” Whenever we doubt that we have been forgiven, Jesus comforts and strengthens us by pointing us to our baptisms and saying, “I have washed away your sins.” Whenever we are burdened with guilt, Jesus leads us to his table to give us his true body and blood in the bread and the wine and says to us, “I forgive you all your sins.” And in Holy Absolution, he uses his called servants of the Word to announce to all of us, “By the authority of Christ, I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” It is not through evidence that our hearts are put at peace. It is Jesus, working through the Word, Sacraments, and Absolution, that puts our hearts at peace.
While it would certainly be amazing to have evidence from God presented to us that what he was revealed to us through his Word is true, we don’t need it, because we already have the eyewitness accounts from the apostles about what Jesus did. Even though those apostles thought that they needed to see proof of Jesus’ resurrection before they could believe, they now tell us to believe without getting any further proof. As the apostle John writes in our text for today, “[T]hese have been written in order that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and in order that by believing, you may have life in his name” (verse 31). God’s Word is enough. It is through God’s Word that we know why we need a Savior. It is through God’s Word that we know what our Savior has done to save us. It is through God’s Word that we know that the victory has been won for us by our Savior. Whenever we have doubts, we don’t demand that God give us new evidence that what he says is true. We turn to his Word and hear of his great love for us, love that led our Savior, Jesus, to lay down his own life for us, and to hear of the comfort and hope that Jesus used to dispel our doubts, comfort and hope that we have through Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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(woodcut from “Doubting Thomas” by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, 1794-1872)
The Festival of the Resurrection of Our Lord – Pr. Faugstad exordium & sermon
Festival exordium:
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! That was not the disciples’ reaction on Easter Sunday. “Christ is risen!” said the angel (Mar. 16:6). “Christ is risen!” said the women (Luk. 24:9). “Christ is risen!” said the Emmaus disciples (Mar. 16:13; Luk. 24:34). But this shocking message, this wonderful news, was met with questions and doubt. “Is Christ risen?” they wondered. “We won’t believe it until we see it with our own eyes.”
We know the truth that Jesus certainly died and certainly rose again on the third day. We know it, because the disciples did see Jesus after His resurrection, and they reported exactly what they saw and heard from Him. His resurrection is a fact. Christ is risen indeed!
But where our doubt comes in is here: “Is Christ risen for me? How can I be sure? How can I know that when I die, I will rise again? Or that my loved ones will rise again?” We can understand the disciples’ doubts—when had anyone ever risen from the dead? Our doubts seem reasonable too—when have we ever seen someone rise from the dead? But experience only goes so far.
The two disciples walking on the road to Emmaus on Easter afternoon were experiencing sadness. Jesus joined them on the road, but they didn’t know it was Him. They told Him everything they had witnessed and heard over the last few days, including the report of Jesus’ resurrection.
And Jesus said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” (Luk. 24:25-26). Then what did He do? “[B]eginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (v. 27).
We may not have seen anyone rise from the dead. But we do have the Scriptures, God’s own Word. Jesus’ life and works match perfectly with all the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah. And everything that He told His disciples would happen during Holy Week, including His resurrection on the third day, did happen exactly as He predicted.
So we do not need to doubt His promise to return on the last day to raise up the dead, or His promise that He has gone to prepare a place for all believers in heaven, or His promise to be present with us now through His Word and Sacraments to strengthen our faith. His resurrection verifies that what He promises, He does.
We rejoice in these promises by rising to sing hymn #348, “He Is Arisen! Glorious Word!”
He is arisen! Glorious Word!
Now reconciled is God, my Lord;
The gates of heaven are open.
My Jesus died triumphantly,
And Satan’s arrows broken lie,
Destroyed hell’s direst weapon.
O hear
What cheer!
Christ victorious
Riseth glorious,
Life He giveth—
He was dead, but see, He liveth!
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Sermon text: 1 Corinthians 5:6-8
In Christ Jesus, through whom you are a new creation, a new lump, filled no longer with the leaven of sin, but with the sincerity and truth that come from Him alone, dear fellow redeemed:
God sent nine terrible plagues on Egypt, but still Pharaoh would not let the enslaved people of Israel go into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the LORD. God promised to send one more plague, after which Pharaoh would let the people go. In preparation for this plague, the LORD instructed each Israelite household to take a male lamb without blemish and kill it at twilight. Then they were to put the blood of the lamb on their doorposts and eat the flesh of the lamb roasted over fire.
They were also instructed to eat unleavened bread. All leaven had to be removed from their houses, and they would eat unleavened bread for seven days. The penalty for eating leavened bread during this time was severe. The LORD said, “if anyone eats what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel” (Exo. 12:15). He repeated the same warning a few verses later that anyone who disobeyed “will be cut off from the congregation of Israel” (v. 19).
In today’s Epistle lesson, the apostle Paul draws on this account of the Passover. He tells the Christian congregation in Corinth to “cleanse out the old leaven.” But he is not talking about their bread. He is talking about the congregation. The Christians there were puffed up. They were boasting, puffed up with pride, and they were not boasting about what their Savior Jesus had done for them. They were boasting about their open-mindedness and their willingness to tolerate what was clearly sinful. In this case, they were boasting about a clear violation of the Sixth Commandment—one of the members of the congregation living in open sin.
This is the kind of approach that is cheered by our culture today. The churches that are willing to compromise the Word of God, change their teachings with the times, and stop calling out sin are praised. These churches probably don’t say much about the Ten Commandments anymore, or they might explain them in such a way that no one in the congregation is really challenged or convicted by them. “Oh, the Ten Commandments are for the bad people,” they say, “and for the people who just want to judge others. But we are doing just fine.”
Paul writes, “Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?” Then he tells us what that leaven is, it is “the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil.” It is the sin that characterized us before we became unleavened, before we were born again in Christ through Holy Baptism. It is the sin that Jesus died to free us from, we who were formerly enslaved to sin and death.
We are freed from this sin, because “Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed.” Here, God’s stunning plan of salvation becomes clear, a plan that was illustrated by the Passover lamb. Right after Jesus’ public revealing as the Messiah at His Baptism, John pointed to Him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (Joh. 1:29). He could take the world’s sin, because He had no sin of His own to carry. He was “a lamb without blemish or spot” (1Pe. 1:19).
The blood of this spotless Lamb was poured out for you on Good Friday just before the Passover was celebrated in Jerusalem. This holy blood cleanses you from all sin (1Jo. 1:7). We just sang a verse about this in Martin Luther’s great Easter hymn: “Here the true Paschal Lamb we see, / Whom God so freely gave us; / He died on the accursed tree— / So strong His love— to save us. / See, His blood doth mark our door [the door of our heart!]; / Faith points to it [to His blood], death passes o’er, / And Satan cannot harm us. / Alleluia!” (Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary #343, v. 5).
Jesus’ resurrection on the third day is the irrefutable proof that all sin was atoned for by His sacrifice. Now is the time to “celebrate the festival,” writes Paul. Now is the time to celebrate the Lamb’s victory. Now is the time to celebrate the forgiveness of sins. Now is the time to celebrate the eternal life that is ours because Jesus rose triumphant over death.
But how are we to “celebrate the festival”? Today’s reading says, “not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil”—not by returning to the sin that Jesus has freed us from, not by confirming others in their sin and boasting about how charitable and accommodating we are of them. Remember that the Israelites were told to get rid of every trace of leaven from their homes. In the same way, we are called to get rid of every trace of sin in our own hearts and to recognize that our sins not only affect us—they affect the congregation to which we belong and the whole body of Christ. “A little leaven” in just one area of a batch of dough “leavens the whole lump.”
The way we “cleanse out the old leaven,” both individually and as a congregation is through repentance. We own up to our weaknesses. We admit our sinful actions, words, and thoughts that we have tried to justify or pass off as being “not so bad.” We even pry the lid off old sins that we have done our best to cover up but that continue to trouble our conscience.
We repent of our sins, because they have already been paid for. Jesus carried them to the cross, and when He came out of the tomb, our sins were left buried for now and forever. The payment of His death and the triumph of His resurrection are applied to us in Holy Baptism. Romans 6 tells us that just as Jesus was raised from the dead, so through Baptism “we too might walk in newness of life” (v. 4). “We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him” (v. 9). Because that is true for Jesus, “So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” (v. 11). His victory over sin and death is your victory.
You are not dead in your sins; you are alive in Jesus. You are no longer a slave to sin; you are free from it. You are free from the “leaven of malice and evil” that used to permeate you and rule you. You are free to “celebrate the festival” of Jesus’ victory “with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”
Paul explained more in his Second Epistle to the Corinthians what this “sincerity” means. He wrote, “we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God” (2Co. 1:12). And again, “we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God (2:17, NASB).
“[T]he unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” is the faithful confession of God’s Word, no matter what cultural winds are blowing, and no matter what pressure is applied against the church. We have nothing to be ashamed of before God, when we believe and teach the Word of God with “sincerity and truth.”
But what if you haven’t spoken His Word faithfully, but instead compromised what He says? Or what if you haven’t done such a good job of “[cleansing] out the old leaven,” so that you are often still puffed up with sin and pride, or you are full of bitterness or anger toward others? Then repent of these sins and listen to these words: “Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed” for you. God the Father sent His Son to atone for all your sins.
And He has called me to proclaim it to you. I can stand here today and tell you with no hesitation that your sins are forgiven, because Jesus won your freedom from them through His death and resurrection. Because He lives, you will live also (Joh. 14:19). That is what He promises all people who put their trust in Him. They are no longer full of “the old leaven,” they “really are unleavened.”
“You Really Are Unleavened.” That is how you are in Jesus. You are baptized into Him. You trust in Him. You know that He will return again on the last day to raise up and glorify you and all believers. He really has risen! He has risen for you, indeed! Alleluia!
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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(picture of Easter morning sunrise taken by Redeemer member, 3/31/24)
The Sunday after the Ascension & Saude Confirmation – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: St. John 15:26-16:4
In Christ Jesus, who is constantly interceding for us at the right hand of God and pouring out His blessings on the Church, dear fellow redeemed:
This past Thursday marks the day of our Lord’s ascension, forty days after He rose from the dead on Easter Sunday. St. Paul writes in Ephesians 4 that “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men” (v. 8). Everybody likes to receive gifts, so what gifts come to us from Jesus’ ascension?
Some people teach that the gifts we receive from Jesus are all about our life in this world. “If you give your life to Jesus,” they say, “you will receive great blessings. You will be more successful at your job and become more secure financially. Your family life will improve. You will have a more positive outlook, and your life will be happier.” Those are all wonderful things, but Jesus never promised to give them. Many people have been misled and frustrated by these false promises.
The gifts that Jesus did promise to give are tied directly to the work of God the Holy Spirit. Just before He ascended, Jesus said to His disciples, “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you” (Act. 1:8). And what would they do with this power? Jesus told them, “you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (v. 8). The Holy Spirit would be poured out on them, and they would boldly proclaim the truth about what Jesus had done for all sinners.
In today’s reading, Jesus called the Holy Spirit the “Paraclete,” which is often translated as “Helper” or “Comforter.” The Holy Spirit would come to guide them along the way and give them strength to do what they never could on their own. He would teach them the truth which He received from God the Son and God the Father. He would bear witness about who Jesus was and what He had accomplished. It is obvious that the disciples of Jesus received these gifts, because they went from huddling together in locked rooms to openly preaching about Jesus in Jerusalem from the day of Pentecost onward. Their attitude changed from fear and doubt to confidently and eagerly speaking the truth.
And what reward did they receive for their faithful work? They were put out of the synagogues—excommunicated from the church. They were often beaten for preaching the truth. And of the apostles who were sent out to preach the Gospel after Jesus’ ascension, church tradition indicates that all but one of them were martyred for what they taught.
That seems like a questionable bargain. If I were to start a club, and I told people that membership in the club would not benefit them in any obvious external way, how many would want to be part of it? It would not bring them more respect in the community. It would not make them more likely to be chosen for important positions. It would not make them more popular, and in fact, it would probably bring them trouble and hardship. That wouldn’t be a very popular club. But this is something like membership in the Christian Church.
Now you could find a church that would not compromise your standing in society at all, because many churches have changed their teachings to fit the trends in society. The biblical and historic teaching of the Church, for example, is that no one should receive Holy Communion unless he has been properly examined, but many churches open Communion to everyone regardless of what they understand and believe. The biblical and historic teaching of the Church is that only qualified men should be pastors, but many churches allow unqualified men and women to preach and administer the Sacraments. The biblical and historic teaching of the Church is that all sex outside of traditional marriage is sinful, but many churches say that God supports whatever personal choices anyone makes about when and with whom to have sex.
If you do hold to the biblical and historic teaching of the Church, you will find that society and a significant part of the church in the world is not very friendly toward you. You may have heard disparaging comments from people in the community or even from your own friends about how the church you attend is too judgmental, too strict, or too old-fashioned. “That’s why your church is so small,” they say. “Why don’t you just attend one of the larger churches around?”
It all comes back to what we are expecting to receive from the ascended Lord Jesus. We can’t expect to receive approval both from Him and from the world, because Jesus said that the world hated Him and persecuted Him (Joh. 15:18,20). Ultimately Jesus was nailed to a cross, even though He had committed no crime and had healed and helped many who were sick and hurting. The people who crucified Him thought they were doing it in service to God, and Jesus said this same belief would also motivate those who would persecute and kill His followers.
So why would any of us want to follow Jesus if we know it will cause us pain and trouble in the world? We follow Jesus, because He has the words of eternal life (Joh. 6:68). The world cannot give eternal life. All the world can offer is temporary wealth, temporary fame, temporary pleasure, temporary peace. But as soon as we die, everything we built up, everything we enjoyed in this life, goes away. It would be one thing if we just ceased to exist when we die. If that were the case, then why not live it up now? But God says that all who die in unbelief, rejecting the salvation Jesus won for them, are consigned to eternal punishment in hell.
That is not the case for believers. You and I will not be punished eternally, because we are justified in Christ. To be justified does not mean that all the things we have done and said are reasonable and right—far from it. We have sinned just as greatly as everyone else in the world and deserve damnation just like they do. But by faith in Jesus, we are declared right with God, innocent of any wrongdoing. That’s what justification means. It means that through Jesus’ atoning death and victorious resurrection, we are counted righteous before God, forgiven of all our sins, heirs of eternal life.
Because Jesus gave Himself for you, you can expect to receive tremendous spiritual gifts through the means He has established. Through Holy Baptism, you were washed clean of all your sins and made a child of God. Your life and your future were tied to Jesus, who “is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.” Because He lives, you live. Because He reigns, you reign. And He promises to come back again in glory to take you and all believers with Him to His heavenly kingdom.
Jesus has also promised to bring you His gifts through the preaching of His Word and the administration of His Holy Supper. Even though He visibly departed from this world, He is very much present in all His power and glory. After Jesus ascended, the evangelist Mark wrote that the apostles “went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs” (16:20). Jesus is still at work among us. He imparts His righteousness, forgiveness, and life as we listen to His Word, and as we eat His body and drink His blood with the bread and wine of Holy Communion.
Here we are, so often weak, faithless, stubborn, and lacking in love toward one another, and Jesus comes to us with mercy and grace. “Peace be with you,” He says. “I forgive you all your sins. I am not angry with you. All that is Mine is still yours.” And the Holy Spirit works through these powerful promises to comfort us and strengthen our faith.
The Holy Spirit convinces us that what Jesus has won for us and what He has stored up for us are greater treasures than we could find anywhere else. No one else has atoned for sin. No one else has conquered death. We proclaim what Jesus has done, not to cause trouble in the world, but to save the world. Our merciful God wants “all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1Ti. 2:4), and so do we. That won’t happen if we water down God’s truth and compromise our teachings with the times.
But we know that boldly speaking the truth will cause friction, just as Jesus and His disciples met opposition and persecution. We can expect to have trouble in the world, because we are not of the world. Jesus chose us out of the world (Joh. 15:19). He wanted to give us so much more than the world ever could.
As we follow Jesus by faith, we know exactly what to expect. He has told us clearly about the gifts that are coming our way. He gave the gift of the Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth and to comfort us through His saving work. He also warned us to expect hostility and trials in the world. These things do not come to us as punishment from God, but as signs of His faithfulness.
We are not meant to stay in this world any more than Jesus was. After completing His work to save us, He ascended to the throne of His Father, where He rules over all things and continuously blesses His Church. With Him as our Lord and King, we cannot lose, even if everything we have in this life is taken from us. With the psalmist we say, “The LORD is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” (Psa. 118:6). Soon the sufferings of this present time will come to an end, and we will join our Savior in the glories of heaven.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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(picture from painting by John Singleton Copley, 1775)
The Sixth Sunday of Easter – Vicar Anderson sermon
Text: St. John 16:23-30
In Christ Jesus, who teaches you the value, meaning, and the command of prayer, giving the Lord’s prayer as your model and guide, assuring you that He hears you, dear fellow redeemed:
Pastor and I have started another round of Christianity 101. Like the class in the fall, a statement is made to try and put people at ease. That statement is, “There is no such thing as a dumb question.” Now we might chuckle and think to ourselves questions that fit that category, we can also use this idea with our worship lives. Is there such a thing as a dumb prayer? Now I know when children hear the text say, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you,” they can wonder if God will really give us anything. “Can God really give me my own semi-truck?” “Can He get me my very own race car?” As a child I may have had these questions, and even if they were childish then, our text today is very clear. Jesus is teaching about the power that prayer has. This power is not from us, but we see Christ’s work on display. It is through Him that the Heavenly Father hears His children’s prayers.
Our text starts with Jesus telling the disciples that their joy will be full when they ask in His name. He is pointing out that this joy is coming to them from God. God is with them, and He will not leave them or forsake them. Jesus is pointing this out because they can still have joy, even when there is great tribulation. The disciples forget about the joy they have from their heavenly Father as the night continues. Their joy that they have being with Jesus soon shatters as Jesus is arrested and taken away from them. Instead of joy, they run away in fear.
The disciples are trying to figure out what Jesus is talking about. Jesus admits to them that some of the things that He tells them, He is using figures of speech. Jesus is not saying these things to trick His disciples. There is important information that Jesus tells them plainly. The important information is that He will die and rise from the dead. The disciples do not want to believe this saying.
Jesus also tells the disciples where He came from. “In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father.” He points out that the disciples do believe this. That Jesus is the Son of God. They can pray to God the Father because they believe in the Son. Hours from now they will be asked to pray. Jesus would pray continually in the garden, but instead of praying, the disciples would fall asleep. They would not ask for strength and they would run away in fear.
We all have fears that the devil will try to use to paralyze us. Our fears can consume us. I don’t need to say, “think about being in the disciple’s shoes.” Each one of us has had a fear that has caused us to cower and many times, it can be from our sins. We can be struck with the fear that our sins could be brought into the light. This fear has been passed to us from our first parents. Adam and Eve tried to hide their sins from God. They sewed fig leaves to make clothes and when they heard God walking in the Garden, they hid among the trees. God knows their hiding place.
He also knows our hiding place. God sees all that we do, nothing is hidden from Him. Like Adam, Eve, and the disciples, how do we go to God when we have sinned against Him. He is a righteous judge. Yet we get in trouble because we do not go to Him when we have problems. We think that since God is upset with us, maybe we can just get ourselves out of the problem. God is right there to give us medicine, but we look the other way. How can the Father love us and answer us when we have failed to keep His commands?
Jesus is teaching His disciples about God’s command of prayer. God hears our prayers and commands us to do it. Now what is the problem with that? Well, we usually do two things. We can find ourselves in a group who don’t pray or pray very little. We think that we are controlling our lives. The devil enjoys when we are not going to God. He knows that when we are not praying, it means we are focused on ourselves. Then we go to God in prayer as a last resort when we find ourselves in a bad situation. There is another group who looks at prayer as something we are doing for God. That God needs our prayers to function. These prayers, like the last-minute ones, focus on me. Not on what God has done, but what I can do for God or what I demand from Him. As you might be wondering to yourselves, “how do I pray to God”, Jesus keeps you calm with the first thing He says in this text.
God the Father does hear His children. Jesus teaches the disciples that they can have comfort and joy because they know the truth. Jesus tells them that “you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.” They understand that Jesus is true God. God the Father loves them because they loved and trusted His Son. They can go to God the Father as children because Jesus has taken away their sins and made them right with God. Even when they were going to still mess up. Jesus would soon leave them, but He would come back to them, rising from the dead!
Jesus’ glory shines forth and we see that He is not just a man. This is God in the flesh. No one can talk like this unless they came from God. The world needed someone to be able to answer God directly. We cannot do that because we are not perfect. Jesus however can talk to God directly because He has done all that His Father asked of Him. Jesus assures us just as He assured His disciples that the Father does hear us. He listens to our every word and Jesus explains why.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you.” Jesus knows that you can’t go to God the Father on your own. He is a righteous judge. Jesus tells you that it isn’t because of anything that you can do to talk to God the Father. You needed a go-between. “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5). You can ask for anything in Jesus’ name because He is your go-between. He stepped in front of God’s vision with His sacrifice on the cross for your sins. Your communication is restored with your heavenly Father because He comes to you through the work of Christ.
Christ’s redemptive work is the reason that you are children of God. You never need to think that God doesn’t hear your prayers. He is always listening. When life looks as though it will continue to push back on you, when it drives you into the lowest parts, it can feel and seem easy to not pray to God. It is in these hard moments where you look to the cross, see what Christ has done for you and know that God hears every prayer. He can even translate prayers when you are so hurt that it looks as though nothing will come out of your mouth.
As God translates even your silent prayers of pain, He has given you other prayers to pray. The psalms are rich prayers that still fit today. They remind you of where your prayers are supposed to come from. “O LORD, you hear the desire of the afflicted; you will strengthen their heart” (Psalm 10:17). Your prayers do not come from elaborate thoughts, they come from the heart. The psalms assure you that because of what Christ has done for you, you are heard here on earth.
Your Savior has also taught you a prayer that sometimes you take for granted. There is a reason that Jesus taught the Lord’s prayer. Think about the petitions, how many are focused on the things of this world? The fourth petition is the only petition that you pray that God would give you daily bread. Your daily bread is anything you need to take care of your body and life. All the rest of the petitions are about your spiritual needs. These are needs that you can sometimes forget about, and these are the most important. You are reminded that God is the One who takes care of you, not the other way around. And when you forget this, it is your Savior who has redeemed you that you can go to God as children go to their Fathers.
We do not need to be in fear or think that we don’t deserve this Fatherly love. We receive it not based on our own works. The Father loves us because of His Son. Christ died in our place and rose from the dead taking away our sins. It is because of what Christ has done for us that we don’t need to worry about our prayers. They are being answered by God himself. He is all around us, providing us with strength for our trials. Our prayers are not dumb in God’s eyes. He hears every word, even the words that won’t come out of our mouths. Nothing is too big or too small for God to handle. He will do everything according to His good and gracious will. Jesus teaches us that whatever we ask in His name God will hear. Our joy will be full because we know that we speak to God because of Christ. And because of Christ’s resurrection, we will speak to Him face-to-face when He calls us home. Amen.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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(portion of “Crucifixion, Seen from the Cross,” by James Tissot, c. 1890)
The Fifth Sunday of Easter – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: St. John 16:5-15
In Christ Jesus, whose Father willed your salvation from eternity, who won your salvation by His death and resurrection, and whose saving work is brought to you today by the power of the Holy Spirit, dear fellow redeemed:
When Jesus spoke the words of today’s reading, everything was so clouded for His disciples, so unclear. Even though Jesus had plainly told them what was coming, they did not understand. They were filled with sorrow, preoccupied with their own thoughts which were not God’s thoughts. But later, after Jesus died, rose again, and ascended into heaven, they did understand. They were guided into “all the truth” by “the Spirit of truth.” But how did they know the Spirit was speaking to them? How did they know what was true? And how can we be sure today that we have the truth?
We know very well that the world in which we live does not support the idea of objective truth. Many people consider truth to be relative: “You have your truth, and I have my truth, and everyone’s truth is equally valid.” That all sounds very nice until one person’s truth is totally opposed to another person’s truth. Then both truths cannot be equal. Both truths cannot be valid.
We would think that at least among Christians, we could agree about what is true. But sadly, that is not the case. Even basic questions like, “Is the Bible the Word of God?” or “Did Jesus really rise from the dead?” are not answered the same way by all Christians, and not even by all Lutherans. Some of them believe that the Holy Spirit is working not so much through the Bible, but that He is working directly in our minds and hearts and through our culture to lead us to new truths and new teachings.
What does Jesus have to say about all this? We’ll start at the end of today’s reading, where Jesus says, “All that the Father has is Mine.” That is a bold statement! The disciples of Jesus still did not grasp His eternal connection to the Father as His only Son. Earlier in the evening, Philip blurted out, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us” (Joh. 14:8). And Jesus replied, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?” (vv. 9-10).
Jesus was teaching them and us that He is one God with the Father. Everything that God the Father has, the Son has. Jesus listed some of these things as He prayed to His Father that same evening. He said that His Father had given Him “authority over all flesh” (Joh. 17:2). He had given Him His words (v. 8), His name (v. 11), His glory (v. 22), and His love (v. 26). These are the gifts that God the Father gave God the Son.
But those gifts did not remain with the Son. They were shared with sinners, including you and me. This happens by the work of the third Person of the Holy Trinity, God the Holy Spirit. But before the Holy Spirit imparts the gifts of God, He must prepare us to receive them. That work of preparation is hard on us, because the Holy Spirit reveals our need for salvation by pointing out our sins, imperfections, and misplaced priorities.
Jesus says that the Holy Spirit comes to “convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.” The Holy Spirit through the holy Law condemns the world for its rejection of Jesus, for trusting its own ideas about righteousness which are nothing but filthy rags (Isa. 64:6), and for following the desires of the devil who wants us to focus only on ourselves and only on this life.
The Holy Spirit must perform major surgery on us to break our dependence on the pleasures and promises of the world and to cut out the sin embedded deep in our hearts. Most surgery is painful, but its purpose is to bring about healing and strength. A patient can’t get better if the root problem is not addressed, if the infection is not eliminated, if the cancer is not removed.
The Holy Spirit shows us through the holy Law how deeply sin has infected us and how dire our situation is. But we don’t like to think we are really that bad off. Whatever spiritual weaknesses and problems we have, we think we can fix them. We can avoid the temptations that caused us to fall in the past. We can do better. It’s like trying to run on a broken leg.
So we fall into the same old sins, and we fall for new ones too. We are not capable of healing ourselves. If we were doing so well, God the Father would not have sent His Son to take on our flesh, keep the Law for us, and die on the cross to atone for sin. And God the Holy Spirit would not have come first of all to “convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.”
This is why we confess every week at the beginning of the divine service “that we are by nature sinful and unclean, and that we have sinned against [God] by thought, word and deed” (Rite 1, p. 41), that each one of us is “a poor, miserable sinner” (Rite 2, p. 61). That is not very flattering language! And it is completely accurate.
But the Holy Spirit’s work is not only to convict us, not only to reveal our sins. In fact, that is not even His primary work. His main work is to comfort us. Now He does not comfort us by telling us things like, “Everything’s going to work out just the way you want,” or “God loves you just the way you are.” He comforts us by planting the perfect promises of God right in our sinful hearts.
Jesus said, “He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak, and He will declare to you the things that are to come.” “The things that are to come” means all that Jesus would accomplish by His death and resurrection. The disciples did not know that by morning, their great Teacher and Lord would be beaten beyond recognition and nailed to a cross. They did not know that this was necessary for the salvation of sinners. And they did not know that on the third day He would rise from the dead in victory.
His saving work is why Jesus said, “it is to your advantage that I go away.” His “going away” meant that the work was finished. His work to save you was complete. Because He gave Himself as the sacrificial Lamb on the cross, your sins are all washed away. And because He rose from the dead in triumph, death can no longer overpower you.
You know this and you believe it, because the Holy Spirit has declared it to you through the holy Word of God. Jesus said, “He will glorify Me, for He will take what is Mine and declare it to you.” Here we can see the perfect unity of the Holy Trinity. The Father has given all things to the Son, and the Son has given all things to the Holy Spirit to give to you. The Father’s authority, the Father’s words, the Father’s name, the Father’s glory, the Father’s love—all of it comes to you through the Son by the power of the Holy Spirit.
With the authority bestowed on Him at His resurrection, Jesus commissioned the apostles to go and make disciples of all nations by baptizing them and teaching them all that He had taught them (Mat. 28:18-20). That is how you became a disciple. You were baptized into God’s name by the power of His Word and were brought into His holy family. Everything Jesus did for you became yours. You were given a share of His glory and became a recipient of the divine love that the Father has for His Son, because the Holy Spirit made you a member of Jesus’ holy body.
The Holy Spirit continues to bring you the rich blessings of God. The Holy Spirit does all His work through the Word, and always through the Word. That is where He is active. If anyone claims to receive a message from the Spirit outside of the Bible, a message that contradicts the Bible, that message is not from God. You have the truth, because you have the pure Word of God.
By the Spirit’s work through the Word, you know that you deserve to be punished eternally in hell because of your sins, and you also know that your sins are all forgiven through the blood of God’s Son. You know that your best works cannot earn you any favor with God, and you know that by faith in His Son, you now stand perfectly righteous before Him. You know that you have let the devil lead the way far too often and have fallen for his lies again and again, and you know that Jesus has destroyed Satan’s evil plans and brought you into His own kingdom of light.
The Spirit of truth has taught you all these things by the Word. None of them are new, and they never go out of style. In three weeks, we will celebrate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, the birthday of the Christian Church. We welcome His coming by continuing to hear the Word, read it, meditate on it, and hold it tight as the greatest treasure we have.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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(picture from stained glass by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, c. 1660)
The Fourth Sunday of Easter – Vicar Anderson sermon
Text: St. John 16:16-23
In Christ Jesus, even though we live in a world with sorrows, trials, and tribulations, we are able to rejoice in our risen Lord, who promises no one will take away your joy, dear fellow redeemed:
Change is in the air. We have watched all the snow melt away. The flowers are starting to bloom. I have noticed the green starting to appear in the grey trees as the new leaves begin to grow. I think it is safe to say that most people enjoy spring. It is a season of growth and warmth. We are transitioning from a season that is kind of dark and dreary. Those winter months can be long. We have also finished a few holiday seasons, and as we acknowledge those seasons, for some maybe those seasons aren’t as joyous as we think. During those dreary months, it is a time where people tend to pass away. The holidays that we love so much can sometimes become a time of mourning and sorrow. As the spring brings us out of those dreary months into warmth and sunshine, Jesus is telling His disciples that He will bring them joy. It won’t start out like that. He says they will first weep and lament. Jesus’ comfort for His disciples comes to you as well, your sorrow will be turned into joy!
Jesus in His discourse is telling the disciples this great message. He has told them on more than one occasion that He is going to be arrested and He will die and will rise again. Jesus tells His disciples that what He is saying, they are not going to like it or want to bear it. It will look like their lives are going to be extremely hard. Jesus assures them that they will have clarity and He will explain more to them. The Holy Spirit will guide them. Everything that Jesus is telling His disciples is so that they can be strengthened. When Jesus ends with saying that He is going to leave them, the disciples hold onto that sentence. They are having a hard time understanding what is happening. The disciples will still have their doubts, or they will not believe it.
Even after our text for today and Jesus continues to tell the disciples what is about to happen. The disciples respond, “now we know that you know all things and do not need anyone to question you; this is why we believe that you came from God” (John 16:30). The disciples think that they understand what is happening and they put their trust in their own belief. Jesus tells them what will happen. “Do you now believe? Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone” (John 16:31-32).
Jesus wants the disciples to realize they are going to have sorrow and will lament because Jesus is going to be arrested, tried, and executed. He is telling them this so that they are aware of what is happening and so that they will be strengthened. The disciples see what is happening and they fall into despair. Like the disciples, we can have a lack of understanding with what God tells us. His commands are clear to us. Most of the time, we like to pick and choose which commands that we want to follow. The world will question the truths that we believe, and they will put us on the spot. The world wants us to cave to its demands. The devil helps the world out by getting us to question what God says. And when we cave and question God’s authority, we can fall into despair.
When battles happen on these different fronts, we can look to our own strength. We can think that our belief is our own. We forget that it is by the work of the Holy Spirit that we believe. When we tell the Holy Spirit “I got it from here,” this is usually the time that our lives start to fall apart. The disciples soon found their lives falling apart at the seams.
There are two time periods that Jesus is referring to when He says, “a little while.” Our “little while” here on this earth does come with suffering and trials and our lives can start to fall apart. We are plagued with sicknesses. We live and watch as those whom we love pass away. We watch as many, maybe someone close to us fall from faith. The world rejoices and ridicules us. Like the author of Lamentations, we can sometimes say, “My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the LORD” (Lamentations 3:18). The world tells us to “just toughen up”. However, there are some trials where there might not be a toughening up to bear it. As the pain and suffering can continues to weigh us down, we can forget about the cross that won us salvation and instead fixate on our own cross.
The third commandment can bring us strength. We come to church to receive comfort. Many think that church is only filled with those who have everything going well in their lives. The world doesn’t realize that we are coming here to receive help and medicine from the loving doctor. When we neglect coming to worship. Instead of putting off our burdens on Jesus who says, “I will carry them”, we can continue to carry them ourselves and they will drag us down.
Jesus was not lying when He said that the disciple’s sorrows would turn to joy. They saw their risen Savior. He was not a ghost, but He was God in the flesh. They were comforted when they saw their teachers’ hands and his feet. They saw the spear mark in His side. The disciples witnessed Jesus fulfilling what He said He would do. The Son of man would suffer and die on the cross for the sins of the world. Like the turning from dreary winter to beautiful spring, three days later Jesus rose from the dead.
Jesus illustrates this sorrow and joy. A woman ready to give birth has pain as her child is coming into the world. Once her baby is born, the mother is filled with joy as her child has arrived. She forgets all about the pain. The sorrow of Jesus being dead doesn’t compare to the glorious joy of Him risen from the grave! The disciples would watch their Savior leave again. Like the disciples after Jesus’ ascension, we are living in a “little while.” There is sorrow now, but there will be great joy when Christ returns for the Resurrection of the Dead!
As you wait for that glorious day, Jesus does see all your struggles and hardships. He hears your cries. There are many accounts where you see the compassion that your Savior has for people. St. Matthew records, “he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:36). He had compassion for those who lived while He was visibly on earth, and He has compassion for you right now. He carried your burdens and sins on His shoulders and took them to the cross. As He turns the disciples’ lament into joy on that Easter day, that same day He turns your sorrows into joy!
Your comfort and joy are not in the things of this world, but in Jesus’ death and resurrection. The things of this world will pass away. Your laments turn to joy because even though there are struggles and trials in this life, you have been saved from eternal suffering. Jesus glorious resurrection assures you that God accepts Jesus’ sacrifice for your redemption. You are redeemed children of God and you will leave this world of sorrow and strife to your blessed inheritance of Heaven.
Every day we get closer to the hour that this life will pass away. We also see every day how people attempt to cope on their own with all the world’s pains. Many feel that there is no way out of this. That there is no comfort. As many despair, we hear Jesus’ Words to proclaim the Gospel. It is the power of the Gospel that turns sorrow into joy. We can share with others the comfort that we have in Christ. He is our strength. He is the One who carries us through this life because we don’t have the strength on our own. And when we need that reminder ourselves, we come to worship, repent of our sins, and again receive the comfort and strength that comes to us through the Word and sacraments. We then continue waiting and confessing, “The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end” (Lamentations 3:22).
As we rejoice in all the blessings that God has given us in this life, we can also rejoice that God keeps track of time way different than we do. We find the joys in spring, but we know that those dreary months will come back. Our lives will continue to have hardships and trials. But Jesus says, “A little while, and you will see me no longer, and again a little while, and you will see me.” Our time here on earth is only a little while. Every day is a blessing, but we know that soon our rooms will be prepared. Christ will call us to our heavenly home where our sorrows will cease. We will have constant joy because we have not been forgotten. Jesus has risen from the dead, and in a little while, we will see Him. Amen.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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(picture from Jerico Lutheran Church altar painting)
The Third Sunday of Easter – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: St. John 10:11-16
In Christ Jesus, who is constantly seeking after lost sheep to bring them into His holy flock of believers, dear fellow redeemed:
If you search online for “Good Shepherd paintings,” you will find depictions of lambs being carried on Jesus’ shoulders, held in His arms, led by Him to pasture and water, and rescued by Him. The Saude altar painting shows the Good Shepherd rescuing a lost lamb. What you never see in these paintings is the sheep taking charge, blazing their own trail, and conquering their enemies. That is not something sheep do—or if they try, they don’t do it very successfully.
Domestic sheep require constant care and protection. They are quite vulnerable to predators and are prone to wandering. But they are also very loyal and are able to discern the difference between their shepherd’s voice and the voices of strangers. In these ways, little lambs are something like little children.
Children come into the world through the union of a man and a woman, because God wants every child to have the care and protection of a mother and a father. Little children often don’t recognize the dangers around them. They try to touch things that are too hot or too sharp. They want to go exploring on their own and climb on things that are too high. So their parents (or their siblings) keep a close eye on them: “Don’t touch that!” they say. “Come back!” “Get down!”
Do children listen? Sometimes yes and sometimes no. You have probably seen the look in a child’s eyes when he hears his parents say something, but he wishes he hadn’t heard it, and he acts like he didn’t hear it. So a parent says, “Did you hear what I said? Listen to me!” That listening is important. It keeps children safe. It teaches and guides them.
Children who will not listen to their parents will bring harm on themselves and distress and sadness to those who care for them. But children who do listen to their parents learn early on the difference between what is good and bad, right and wrong, safe and unsafe. Children who listen grow in wisdom and knowledge. They bring joy to their parents.
The same goes for you and me before God. We are His children. He made us and continues to provide for us. He sent His only Son to redeem us, so that we would be adopted into His holy family. Our primary responsibility as His children is to listen to what He says. The apostle Peter wrote, “Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk—the Word of God—, that by it you may grow up into salvation” (1Pe. 2:2). And Jesus says, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (Joh. 11:27).
The shepherd does not follow the sheep; the sheep follow the shepherd. The sheep do not tell the shepherd what to do; they listen to what he tells them. Just as it is not right for children to be disrespectful to their parents, to question everything they say, or to blame them for all their problems, so it is not right for the sheep—for you and me—to act like this toward God. We do not have the power and the authority; He does. We do not know what is best for ourselves; He does.
That is difficult for us to accept. When we are giving in to our passions, going a direction we have been taught to avoid, doing things we have been told not to do, we feel like we are in control. “I can make decisions for myself!” we think. “It’s my life! No one can stop me from doing what I want!” We learn the hard way that the path of sinful indulgence is not where we find fulfillment and happiness. It is where we find pain and heartache, and where we receive deep cuts and wounds that don’t heal easily.
The young woman who gives herself to one boyfriend after another hoping that the latest relationship will last, knows this to be true. So does the young man who has taken the bait of pornography and is now helplessly stuck on the hook. They thought they could give up part of themselves to get what they wanted. They thought they could maintain control. But their sin controls them. And now they wish they could get everything back that they gave up.
What does a little lamb do who has gotten himself or herself into a thorny situation, who doesn’t know where to turn? That little lamb does the only thing it can do. It cries out for help. It sends out a mournful, desperate cry right from the heart. That’s what we do when our conscience is troubled, when guilt gnaws inside us, when we find ourselves in a difficult situation that we can’t find our way out of. We cry for rescue and deliverance. And the Good Shepherd hears that cry. “I know My own,” He says.
A mother can hear her child’s cry from the other side of a room full of people. Jesus not only hears your cry, He knows your pain before you express it. He knows exactly how to help before you even open your mouth. That is how well He knows you. That is how much He cares for you. But you already know this about your Good Shepherd, because you know what He gave up for you. “The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.”
Even though you and I have tested God’s patience again and again by our sinful choices, even though we have wandered so far away from Him that we could no longer hear His voice, even though we can hardly imagine why He would want us, the Good Shepherd willingly gave up His life for us. In His eyes, we were worth saving. We were worth the anguish and thorns and piercing of the nails. We were worth the righteous wrath of God and the fires of hell.
Jesus stepped between us and the wolfish devil, the one who is constantly tempting us to sin and then torturing us for committing it. Jesus let all accusation come upon Him. He took the place of us sheep who love to wander and made all our transgressions His. He paid the debt that we owed God for breaking His Commandments by our actions, words, and thoughts.
The cold jaws of death fastened around Jesus instead of us. But how could the sheep survive without the Shepherd? The night of His arrest, Jesus quoted this Old Testament passage about Himself and His followers, “I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered” (Mat. 26:31). What a terrible outcome! But then Jesus added these stunning words, “after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee” (v. 32).
“After I am raised up….” What an amazing prediction! Immediately following today’s Gospel reading, Jesus said the same thing, “I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord” (Joh. 10:17-18). The death of the Good Shepherd would not mark the end of His care for the sheep. He rose from the dead in triumph to demonstrate that nothing could stop His love for His sheep—not even death (Rom. 8:35-39).
You were brought into His care and became His little lamb when you were baptized. He took you up in His arms like He did those little children so many years ago and He blessed you. He washed away all your sins in His blood. He made you spotless like the bright wool of a lamb, clothing you in His righteousness. He rescued you from the darkness of sin and death where you had gotten utterly lost, and He brought you into His kingdom of light and life.
And what does He ask of you? Only that you listen to His voice and hear His comforting and saving words. “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,” He says, “and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (Joh. 8:31-32). To listen to Jesus is to have truth and life and freedom. To ignore Him is to become prey to the devil’s lies and death.
Listening is hard for us little lambs, us little children, because we like to do things that are bad for us. None of us listens perfectly. We sin all the time. But Jesus keeps calling out to us, calling us back to His care and protection. That call goes out every time you attend divine service and open your Bible or devotion book for study at home. “Come to me,” Jesus says, “and I will give you rest” (Mat. 11:28).
He calls you to the green pastures and still waters of His Word and Sacraments. He invites you to eat and drink for your fulfillment and strength. He trains you to listen better and follow Him more closely. This happens all through your life. You never get to the point where you are strong enough to set out on your own. You always need your Shepherd’s care.
To keep you in His care, your Lord has given you under-shepherds, who speak nothing more or less than what He has spoken. The way to tell the difference between a faithful pastor and a hired hand is to compare what each one says with what Jesus says. My call as your pastor, your shepherd in this place, is to pay careful attention to myself and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made me an overseer, to care for the church of God, which He obtained with His own blood (Act. 20:28).
My call is to remind you that You Are Jesus’ Little Lamb. You need His forgiveness. You need His guidance. You need His constant protection as you walk through the valley of the shadow of death. He brings all these blessings to you through His powerful Word. “My sheep hear my voice,” He says, “and I know them, and they follow me” (Joh. 11:27).
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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(picture from Saude Lutheran Church altar painting)
The Second Sunday of Easter – Vicar Anderson sermon
Text: St. John 20:19-31
In Christ Jesus, who walks with you by faith, who you don’t see visibly, but He is right here with you, dear fellow redeemed:
Whose shoes do you want to be in? The city of Jerusalem on the first day of the week is quite busy. Soldiers are minding their own business, probably wondering why they are guarding someone’s grave. Women are wondering who is going to move the large stone away. To their surprise angels move away the stone and proclaim the wonderful news, Christ is risen! The fear of the religious leaders has become a reality, the tomb is empty. The women not only hear this glorious news, but then they see Jesus! They tell the disciples, the ones who loved Jesus so much, and they doubted what the women told them. Thomas is nowhere to be found. So again, whose shoes do you want to be in? I think we can all feel for those disciples. We know some of the thoughts that they probably had. Their teacher was gone! He was dead! We weren’t there, we did not witness what took place, but Scripture has revealed to us what happened that Easter day. Our Savior has risen! Christ tells us directly that seeing is not believing.
Jesus’ disciples needed to see Him. Our text shows that on the evening of Easter, they are locked in a room. This is a place that they feel safe. After seeing what happened, they knew that the authorities were probably coming for them next. Remember these are disciples who said “Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death” (Luke 22:33). Some news arrives that the tomb is empty. Yet they still do not believe what they have heard.
We see in the Passion account that the disciples needed help to get to this point. They had forgotten Jesus’ teachings. Jesus had spoken plainly to them about how everything was going to be fulfilled. “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise” (Mark 9:31). Their little faith now has them locked in a room in fear of the leaders who put Jesus to death.
The other gospels have more details about that day. After the women had reported to the disciples what they discovered, Peter and John also raced to the tomb. They saw His folded up burial clothes. Jesus body was raised, yet they did not understand what was happening. They were stuck in despair. Thomas was not even in the room on that first day of the week. He did not get to rejoice in seeing His Lord. He wanted hard proof that Jesus was alive otherwise he would not believe it.
Scripture speaks very plainly to us just like Jesus spoke to His disciples. We will often ignore what Jesus says to stay in our sins. We try to appease the world, and the world will still throw us into despair. We can get to the point that our lack of faith can have us locked behind closed doors in fear too. This is what the devil wants. He wants us at that point of no return where we doubt God and we despair that we have been left alone. He points out all of the things that are going wrong in our lives. We hear the lie “If your God is a good God, why is He letting all of these bad things happen to you, surely you won’t have more than what you can bear?”
Like the disciples, we often doubt what God says. God tells us that He keeps His promises. The moment something happens in our lives that causes our world to turn upside down, we immediately doubt what God tells us. We try to find our own way of fixing the situation. The first thing we should be doing is praying to God. Our way of communicating with Him. And we should go to His Word where He shows us and tells us that He works things out for the good. We tend to not look much farther than the disaster in front of us because that doesn’t look like God’s promises.
God’s promise is that He will abide with us, provide for us, and help us. When we forget His first commandment to fear, love, and trust in Him above all things, we ignore His promises. When we forget about fear, love, and trust, well now why should we believe in Him? The world tells us to look around and see that there is no God. We must take care of ourselves. Unfortunately, we will continue into the pit of despair because we throw away our only source of comfort in this life.
The disciples looked like they were going to continue to stay in that pit of despair. Maybe they would have come around at some point from hearing what the women had told them. Jesus however has a different plan. Finally, as the day ends, they get to see Him with their own eyes. “Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.” Their Lord was there and was alive! Their faith was restored! They get to see in person that their Savior has risen from the dead! They see that He is no longer in the tomb. Death was destroyed. Jesus has done all that He says He would do!
Now remember Thomas was not there that first night. The grief of the events must have been overwhelming. Thomas also said he needs that physical proof. One week later and the first thing that Jesus does after saying “Peace be with you,” is that He heads right over to Thomas. This is not only Jesus walking over to Thomas, but this is Jesus walking over to speak directly to you.
Where you lack trust, that is all Jesus had. He trusted in God that this was the plan of Salvation. Like Isaac trusting his father when Abraham was about to sacrifice him, Jesus also put His trust in God the Father. He did it perfectly and instead of being spared, He took on all your sins and died for every one of them. Without Jesus death on the cross and resurrection, the world would be right, and you would have nothing or no one to trust in. There would be no reason to believe in God keeping His promises. There would be no reason to go to church to hear and learn from Him. You would just sit at home and wait for your untimely demise. These sins of doubt and failing to trust in God, they are forgiven. When the hard events of life get you, your faith might waver, but what you see in that room where Jesus met His disciples is the truth. Your faith in Jesus Christ is not in vain. He is risen indeed! And as He speaks to Thomas, He has a message for you.
That message comes to you right here and now. You are in the year 2023 and you did not get to witness the crucifixion. The men and women who were there saw and heard what happened, yet they doubted. You were not there, but you believe it. You have a new life in Christ because He is speaking directly to you. Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” You have faith because even though it has been 2,000 years since Jesus was visibly on this earth, He still comes directly to you in the Means of Grace providing you with strength every day. Jesus is still here! This is why you come to church, to hear His Word and to receive His Sacraments. This is where Jesus is present, coming to you. He has marked you as His own, He speaks His Words of comfort that you are blessed, and He personally provides you with forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation at the altar. He breathes the Holy Spirit on you so that you hear this message and believe it.
We walk by a clear and confident faith because God has kept His promises. Our Savior has risen from the dead. Jesus then tells us directly that we do not have to worry or doubt. We were not present, but we are blessed because we believe. This is why Scripture is recorded. Everyone can hear the message of their salvation. Jesus came and died for all. St. John tells us that it is recorded for our hearing so that we may believe. We receive comfort that Christ has not left us. He is with us now in this life and He will reign over us forever. It is 2023 and we know that the tomb of Jesus was empty. Like Job we can confess, I know that my Redeemer lives; what comfort this sweet sentence gives! He lives, He lives, who once was dead; He lives, my ever-living head (ELH 351). Amen.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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(woodcut from “Doubting Thomas” by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, 1794-1872)