"From Unbelief to Faith" (John 20:19-31)

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Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen! Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

“On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you’” … and “He showed them His hands and His side” (John 20:19, 20). Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

 

On that first Easter morning, Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene outside the empty tomb. At first, she didn’t recognize Him, but at once she heard her name, she desired to cling to Him. (John 20:11-18)

 

Later that Easter day, Jesus appeared to two unnamed disciples on the road to Emmaus. They, too, didn’t recognize Him at first, but at once He opened the Scriptures to them and made Himself known through the breaking of the bread, they did not want Him to leave. (Luke 24:13-35)

 

But now it is the evening of that day. The rumors have been circulating all day. Word has gone out to the apostles that their Lord had risen from the dead. If they believed the word of Christ’s resurrection, they certainly aren’t showing it. 

 

But the apostles are showing something. They are showing fear and unbelief.

 

For the apostles, they are sitting behind locked doors in great fear of the Jewish authorities. Except for Thomas, they will not go out. Now, they are not behind a simple padlock – the doors are barred. And not just one door is barred. It is assumed that the outer door of the building itself and the inner door to the room are barred shut. Nobody was getting in, and nobody was getting out without everyone knowing about it. All they see is death before them. 

 

Now, the apostles have good reason for their fear. You see, long before Christ died on the cross, the Sanhedrin had decreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah was to be expelled from the synagogues (John 9:22). And since that time, the Sanhedrin’s hatred for Jesus also spilled over to them. So, they figure they’re next.

 

So, here they are, hunkered down, huddled together, letting fear control their lives.

But in reality, nobody at that present time was attempting to kill them. It is likely that the Sanhedrin believed that since “the Jesus problem” has been dealt with that His disciples would then scatter. Yet, for the apostles, they think they are next. Their hearts tremble. They are letting fear control their actions. Fear: the unpleasant emotion caused by the thought that they were in danger; likely to be threatened; maybe be inflicted with the pain and agony of the cross themselves.

 

Fear remains a major experience for us. We live in a fallen world that can threaten us with violence. Fear can disrupt your life. We live in an age where things can go disastrously wrong. We live in a very imperfect and cruel world, where bad things happen, and we think of the most frightful possibilities of harm. I’m sure you can make your own list of the things you fear the most.

 

In this moment of fear for the apostles, Jesus appears. He never knocked on the door and asked permission to come in. He never found a sneaky way in. Now in His risen and glorified state, time, space, the rock of the tomb, the walls and doors of buildings no longer hamper the body of Jesus. He simply appears where He desires to appear. At this moment, Jesus simply desired to appear and stand among His apostles and say to them, “Peace be with you” (John 20:19).

 

It is in this fear and anxiety that Jesus comes. It is in this fear and anxiety that Jesus comes to move them from unbelief to faith. Again, He greets them saying, “Peace be with you.” Now, this was a common greeting, a greeting that men spoke to each other, but when Jesus speaks “Peace be with you” here, He actually gives what that phrase says. He gives them peace. The peace which surpasses all understanding. The peace that guards hearts and minds.

 

And having spoken of peace, He now shows this peace as He “showed them His hands and His side” (John 20:20). By showing His wounds, He proves to them that He is not a phantom or a spirit. He is Jesus in the flesh. The same Jesus they knew before He suffered and died.

 

By showing His hands and His side, Jesus is showing them the very price at which He has brought them peace, His pierced hands, His split side, the evidence of His death by crucifixion. He shows them the wounds made by the nails and the spear. The wounds that proclaim that God is at peace with us. These wounds attest to our peace. 

 

 

When the apostles fled when Jesus was betrayed by Judas Iscariot, they gave up their faith in Him. They became unbelievers. But by hearing those words, “Peace be with you” as Jesus extends His pierced hands, He has taken all their guilt away and has restored them as believers again. For these ten living apostles, seeing led to them believing.

 

Now restored to faith, these ten apostles desire to begin their work on evangelizing the lost. Lone and behold, an unbeliever comes into their midst: Thomas. So, they try to convince Thomas saying, “We have seen the Lord” (John 20:25a). They kept laboring and laboring to convince Thomas to believe. But their efforts proved in vain as Thomas says to them, “Unless I see in His hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into His side, I will never believe” (John 20:25b).

 

Thomas is right where the other apostles were before they saw Jesus. They had to see in order to believe. It is often we hear of Thomas as a doubter. He was no doubter. He was certain. Just like the other apostles were certain that Jesus was dead. Besides being certain, Thomas was an unbeliever, just like the other apostles before they saw Jesus. 

 

The other apostles attempted to use reason in bringing Thomas to faith, but unbelief always was and always will be unreasonable. This is glaringly plain in the case of Thomas. For him, all the unanimous testimony of his fellow apostles, whose character he knew so well, amounted to nothing. The fact is that all of them, including himself, never dreamed that Jesus would return from the dead. That was impossible. 

 

The more the ten apostles speak to him and the more they present the facts, the more stubborn Thomas becomes. He challenges the evidence, saying, “Unless I see in His hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into His side, I will never believe.”

 

Thomas is demanding evidence. What the other apostles claim to have is not nearly enough for him. 

 

Now, you can’t reason with an unbeliever, because unbelievers set up criteria of their own. Unbelievers will have what they demand. Unbelievers make themselves a superior person, looking down on believers as fools who cannot be trusted. The wisdom of the unbeliever exceeds that of all other people. At this time, Thomas is pretty sure of himself that Jesus is dead.

Eight days later, with all eleven living apostles present, and the doors still padlocked, Jesus appears. The first words Jesus says are “Peace be with you.” Then he pulled Thomas aside and said, “Put your finger here, and see My hands; and put out your hand, and place it in My side. Do not disbelieve, but believe” (John 20:27).

 

Immediately, Jesus turns Thomas from unbelief and mistrust into a solid and confident believer. Jesus gave Him faith, just as He gives us faith. You see, faith can only be received as a gift from God, from the Holy Spirit. Faith is not something that God expects us to conjure up for ourselves. Faith is not something that we create. Faith is something that the Holy Spirit creates in us.

 

There was no mistake. This Man is the crucified and risen Jesus. He is living. He is alive! Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

 

Thomas now had the knowledge. He saw Christ’s hands and the nail holes still visible, scarring His flesh. He could no longer deny what was right in front of him. And to his faith, Thomas declares, “My Lord and My God!” (John 20:28).

 

We each have a similar walk of faith as Thomas. You were baptized. There, the Holy Spirit gave you faith. And what does the Holy Spirit do with your faith? He strengthens it as you hear and read His Word. In the Rite of Confirmation, you confessed this faith as Thomas did. You stated your agreement with God. And what does God do? He continues to strengthen your faith through His Means of Grace – His Word and Sacraments. God gives you His grace to you personally as He forgives your sins.

 

In the Lord’s Supper, you agree that Jesus is truly present. You agree that He gives you His very body and blood. When you hear His words of promise in this Supper, your faith informs you that you receive God’s forgiveness. Life and salvation are yours because Jesus won them for you, by His death, through His resurrection.

 

Since that night, Jesus is still appearing for us. Yet, not in the same way as He did for the apostles, but He still does appear. He appears to you as your Savior – as His gift to you in the Sacraments and in His Word, He continues to speak to us in His Holy Scriptures. 

 

In Christ alone, He moves all people from unbelief to faith. And in this gift of faith, we forgive one another, just as He has forgiven us. Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! Amen.

 

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,

 keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.  

+ SOLI DEO GLORIA +

"What If?" (1 Corinthians 15:19-26) - Easter Day

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Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen! Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

“If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:19-20). 

 

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

 

Happy Easter! Today is the greatest day of the year because it celebrates the greatest day in all of world history! In fact, our Christian faith is based on this very day – the day of our Lord’s resurrection from the dead. So, why then do so many people misunderstand this day? Why do so many people misunderstand Easter and just reduce it to a celebration of baskets full of goodies? Now, I, too, enjoy baskets full of goodies, but today is so much greater than just a basket filled with chocolates and jellybeans. Today we remember why we meet each week on Sundays. Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

 

But what would life look like without this day. What would life look like without Easter?

 

This is what St. Paul is asking the Corinthian church. He says to them, “If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied” (1 Corinthians 15:19).

 

So, take away Easter and what do you have? 

§  We would no longer be the firstruits of Christ’s resurrection, but rather leftovers of Satan’s temptation and Adam and Eve’s first sin.

§  We would not have forgiveness. For if Christ was not raised, we would still be stuck in our sins.

§  We would be under the eternal curse and power of the devil with his hold over us in sin and death.

§  We would be doomed to eternal death, apart from God, in complete nothingness.

§  We would have no glorified body.

 

For many of the skeptics at Corinth, they thought they were wasting their time and energy on an empty message. Afterall, dead people don’t come back to life. There are two certainties in life: death and taxes. Life always ends in death. Fight it or deny it, maybe even try to ignore it. Choose whatever strategy you like, death always wins. Death happens to everyone. It is final. It is permanent. When you’re dead, you’re dead. You become worm food.

 

If these skeptics are correct, then if Christ had not been raised, then our Christian faith is futile, and furthermore, we would all be stuck in our sins. If we have no forgiveness in Christ through His atoning death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead, then we are just doomed to the result of our sins: eternal death. 

 

If these skeptics are correct, then the resurrection is false and then there is nothing to a life everlasting, so this would constitute the greatest deception ever perpetrated on earth. Then, Scripture and the Sacraments would be of no use. The preaching would all be in vain. The apostles and myself would just be false prophets.

 

“But in fact,” St. Paul says, “Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20).

 

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

 

Our Lord Jesus Christ arose from the dead. He lives! And because He lives, you will also live – and with a glorified body: “For as by a man – Adam – came death, by a Man – Jesus – has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:21-22).

 

But what exactly is “a glorified body”? Many of the Corinthians were also skeptical of this. Many couldn’t get past the idea of breathing life into a dead corpse, or worse, bones and ash. St. Paul explains this later in 1 Corinthians 15: “So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power” (1 Corinthians 15:42-43).

 

Paul is talking about us here. Did you catch those words: “perishable,” “dishonor,” and “weakness”? That is us. That is our experience of our bodies in this life. And in spite of all our frailties, we do like our bodies. In fact, we don’t just live in our bodies, we are our bodies, and they are us.

 

Our bodies, even with our frailties, are pretty impressive. God gave humanity precisely what we need for creating and maintaining our lives. So, we not only live life in these bodies, but we also enjoy it.

 

But sometimes, you may wish to have a body that doesn’t wear down, since our bodies are perishable and weak. Yes, we are blessed to have so many modern surgeries to keep our bodies working more smoothly, but in spite of everything, we still know that our bodies are perishable and weak. Our bodies get old, they wear out, they die. 

 

As we get older, we may make light of our last enemy – death. You may lose you hair. You may go a bit gray in your 20s. But you can always cover it up with a wig or hair coloring.

 

But then there are those aches and pains that linger longer than they used to. The eyeglasses and hearing aids. All this is weakness. 

 

Now, death can strike at any moment. Some live past 100, others die in their 20s, or in the womb. Our bodies are weak. They are perishable.

 

And there’s more. We don’t just experience weaker bodies, but we also sin in the body. For this flesh is not only weak and perishable, but it is also dishonorable.

 

You and me are subject to the appetites of our body. Our hands do things they shouldn’t. Our feet take us places we shouldn’t go. Our minds conceive the worst wickedness. And then our tongues. Our tongues are completely out of control. We all say things we immediately regret.

 

For us Christians, this really hurts. We don’t want to die, and we don’t want to sin. For “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

 

In Holy Baptism, our Old Adam was drowned to sin, and we were made alive in Christ through the Holy Spirit. So, we really do want to please God. We now live by confession, repentance and forgiveness through which the Holy Spirit sanctifies us day by day. 

 

Yet, we find ourselves caught in a fight with our new self. St. Paul describes this fight saying, “I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing” (Romans 7:18-19). How can you and I get myself out of this mess?

 

Only Jesus. Since He has been raised from the dead and gives us the sure promise of a glorified body: not weak but powerful, not perishable but imperishable, not dishonorable but glorious like His, we shall bear the image of God. Christ is the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. By a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. So also in Christ shall all be made alive. Christ the firstfruits, then at His coming those who belong to Christ. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. That is the promise. That is the victory we celebrate this day.

 

For St. Paul, Christ’s resurrection is inseparably connected to our future resurrection. These are two sides of the same coin. Through Holy Baptism, we have become members of Christ’s own body. And the bodily resurrection of Jesus guarantees our future resurrection. This is our great hope.

 

For Christ will on the Last Day “raise me and all the dead and will grant eternal life to me and to all who believe in Christ. This is most certainly true.” So, with great joy, we don’t say “if” but with certainty that Christ is risen!

 

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

 

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,

 keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.  

+ SOLI DEO GLORIA +

"Are You Sure About That?" (Job 19:23-27) - Easter Sunrise

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Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen! Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

“Oh that my words were written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book! Oh that with an iron pen and lead they were engraved in the rock forever! For I know that my Redeemer lives” (Job 19:23-25a). 

 

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

 

Are you sure about that? Yes, you heard me right. I know it’s early. You may still be rubbing your eyes. 

 

Are you sure that Jesus is risen? Are you absolutely sure that Jesus is raised from the dead? Are you sure that He has conquered death and the devil? Are you certain of the Easter message? We live in an era of doubt. Are you aware of the various objections to Jesus’ bodily resurrection?

 

Some say that the disciples hallucinated that Jesus had risen. They say that severe grief struck them to imagine that Jesus was alive.

 

Some say that Jesus did not die on the cross, so He could not have been raised on the third day. That’s what Muslims believe.

 

Some say that science rules out the resurrection, and really any miracle of Jesus. For them, they say the laws of nature cannot be violated by miracles that we enlightened people don’t see every day. So, how can we be sure and shout out with confidence: “He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!”?

 

So, let’s look at these objections. First, those who say that the grieving disciples only hallucinated, or imagined, the risen Jesus. Yes, it is true that some people can become so grief-stricken that they think they hear or see their deceased loved one. But what about if hundreds of people saw a dead person alive? St. Paul tells us: Jesus appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time, then to all the apostles, and even to himself (1 Corinthians 15:5-6). How could so many people have the same hallucination? They can’t. They saw the risen Christ.

Now, what about what Muslims claim? They say that Jesus was never crucified. And the Muslims are not alone, other skeptics have picked up on this claim. But there is a problem with this Muslim claim. First, Islam didn’t exist until the 6^th century. Second, Islam claims that Jesus is a “Great Prophet,” and if He is so great, why would He lie about dying and rising? This would make Jesus a false prophet. 

 

And what about the scientific rejection? Well, we typically don’t observe miracles. And the laws of nature only describe how things normally work. While they are very reliable, laws of nature can be subject to refinement or modification as new discoveries are made.

 

And this brings us back to our question: are you sure that Christ is risen? I certainly hope so! Now, God cannot break the laws of nature, since He created them. God simply steps in and exerts His life-giving power from outside the normal system, which He also created in the first place. The Son of God stepped into this fallen world of ours, took upon Himself our flesh, suffered in our place, and has now risen from the grave. 

 

Job was sure. And he lived some 2,000 years before the incarnation of the Son of God.

 

Job had repeatedly protested that he was innocent of the charges his friends made against him. Unknowingly, his friends had served Satan’s purposes in attacking Job, for Satan had accused Job of selfish motives in serving God. Satan had maintained that if God would stretch out His hand and strike Job, Job would curse Him to His face. Satan boldly accused Job of not being a true child of God.

 

And Job’s three friends played right into Satan’s hands. They concluded that since Job was suffering so much that he must be guilty of some horrible sin, and so could not be a true child of God. Now, Job never denied that he was a sinner, but Job was convinced that his friends were accusing him unjustly. So, he sought to defend himself. And since he was making no headway in convincing his friends, he wished that his words might be recorded so that his defense of his righteousness might be preserved for future generations.

 

And since the ordinary writing materials of that day would be subject to the destructive forces of nature and the ravages of time, he expressed the wish that his words could be engraved on a rock forever inscribed with an iron pen.

 

Job’s wish came true. His words have been preserved for future generations. And Job’s words have become our words.

 

His words, “I know that my Redeemer lives” (Job 19:25a) are a profound and confident expression of faith in His coming Savior. And his words have become our words.

 

It was this faith that kept Job from collapsing under his severe sufferings and trials. He looked ahead in faith to his Savior, so that he could forget about his present troubles and in faith see what lay ahead for him after his life on earth would end. Those words of Job expressed his firm hope in his own bodily resurrection and his hope is now our sure and certain hope in Jesus Christ.

 

Jesus met many objectors and scoffers during His earthly ministry. In a dispute with the Sadducees, who denied the bodily resurrection, He said: “As for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God: ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living” (Matthew 22:31-32).

 

Job knew that his Redeemer lives. So, we can be as sure as Job – and even more sure! 

 

Again, Job lived some 2,000 years before the incarnation of Jesus. And we live about 2,000 years after Jesus’ death and bodily resurrection. Job trusted and proclaimed God’s promise yet to come. You get to trust and proclaim God’s salvation accomplished as a real historical fact! You can say with absolute confidence: “I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will stand upon the earth” (Job 19:25).

 

And you can say with absolute confidence that “after my skin has thus been destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another” (Job 19:26-27a).

 

St. Paul tells of this mystery. “We shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:51b-52).

 

Until that day of our resurrection, Jesus is among us now. Since He has resurrected from the dead and has ascended into heaven, He comes to us now through humble means as He forgives our sins and strengthens our weak faith through His Means of Grace – Word and Sacraments. 

So, here today, and every Lord’s Day, you join Mary in seeing the Lord as you hear His very Word spoken and proclaimed to you and you behold Jesus at the Lord’s Supper. 

 

So, let us join Job, St. Paul, and Mary Magdalene and announce this good news saying, “I have seen the Lord and I know that my Redeemer lives!”

 

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

 

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,

 keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.  

+ SOLI DEO GLORIA +

"Removing the Fear of Death" (Daniel 3:1-30) - Easter Vigil

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Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen! Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

“Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, ‘Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?’ They answered and said to the king, ‘True, O king.’ He answered and said, ‘But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods’” (Daniel 3:24-25).

 

Death is a powerful and frightening reality that no one can escape. We may be able to cheat death for a while through medicine or surgery, but death will come. It is a curse we carry because of the sinful rebellion of our first parents. All of humanity is cursed with death. And we all see the marks of death in our flesh: aging, illness, disease, pain, forgetfulness. These point to what lies ahead. Death is coming.

 

Three young men refused to fall down and worship the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. For their refusal, they faced the grim specter of death. These three men – Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego – were to be thrown into a fiery furnace for their uncompromising faith in the God of Israel, a faith that would not allow them to worship the golden image of their king.

 

But their king did not wish them to die. He wanted them to live. So, he gave them a chance to recant their faith saying, “Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up? If you would change your mind and fall down and worship the golden image, then you may live. But if you don’t, you will be cast into a burning fiery furnace.”

 

What would you have done? Today’s fallen world has grown more hostile to the one true Christian faith. So, if you were told that you must renounce your Christian faith to live, would you do it? Would you think about it? Or would you just say “no”?

 

For these three young men, they said they would never renounce their faith. They had faith that their God could save them, if it was His will. Were they not afraid? Could they not see the certainty of their doom? How could they be so bold in the face of death?

For us Christians, there are times when it is not God’s will to rescue His faithful from danger or death. Genuine faith, to which we receive by the Holy Spirit, trusts in God whether or not He preserves us when we face trials. And we will all face trials. I’m sure, you have gone through many with many more trials to come.

 

For these three young men, they were thrown into the furnace and fell down in the midst of the flames. These flames were so hot that the men who escorted them died.

 

So, what did Nebuchadnezzar wish to accomplish from this? He wanted to prove that with the additional heating of the furnace and with the strength of his mighty warriors that no one, and not any other god, could save Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from his power. Not only that, these three men were not only bound, but were wearing flammable material – their cloaks, their tunics, their hats, and their other garments, which serves as additional fuel for the flames. But Nebuchadnezzar was wrong, and now everyone was about to know the truth.

 

As the king watched, he noticed something odd. Normally, those who go into the furnace are immediately scorched. But Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were walking in the furnace unharmed! They bore no burns, not a hair of their heads had been singed; and their flammable clothing was not scorched! And I’m sure those three men were equally shocked! Yes, they had faith that the true God would save them, but as it is with faith, it’s God’s will, not our will that is done. The fire could only destroy the ropes that hindered them.

 

Then Nebuchadnezzar notices a fourth man. “Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?” … “But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods” (Daniel 3:24, 25).

 

These men walked through the furnace and back into the land of the living, unscorched, not even smelling of the fire. These men had passed through certain death and had come out alive. In faith, they did not fear the flames, but trusted in their God, as they confessed to Nebuchadnezzar.

 

Tonight, we recall that our Lord Jesus Christ entered into death for us as well. He who is God Almighty entered into our humanity and took the curse of death upon Himself. On Good Friday, the purpose of His incarnation was fulfilled as He was crucified and died upon a tree. Then they laid Him in the tomb and sealed the door.

It appeared to be over. Jesus was dead. But death could not contain Him. He conquered death. He did not lay in His tomb defeated, but triumphantly rose from the dead!

 

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

 

Christ, who once entered the fiery furnace to save the three young men, who spent that Passover in the grave, now enters into the holy waters of Holy Baptism to bring you from death to life. Baptism saves you! In Holy Baptism, your sinful flesh was put to death, and you were made alive in the Holy Spirit. On this day, Christ destroyed the power of death. Its sing is removed, and its power is gone. For Christ will also open our sealed tomb, and by His Word will call our bodies forth to eternal life. Christ has removed the fear of death. He is risen and so by repentance and faith in Him, you will also rise! Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! Amen!

 

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,

 keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.  

+ SOLI DEO GLORIA +

"The Source of Eternal Salvation" (Hebrews 5:7-9)

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In Jesus’ Name. Amen. Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

“Although He was a Son, He learned obedience through what He suffered. And being made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him” (Hebrews 5:8-9).

 

What is it that we are gathered here tonight to celebrate – the death of an innocent man? Is that truly a cause for celebration? Is it that the Lord knows what we go through because He has tasted the bitterness of extreme suffering and death? Why are we here tonight?

 

The reading of the Passion tells us the facts of tonight, but it is tonight’s epistle that opens our eyes to see what these facts mean. These are the facts: Jesus of Nazareth is nailed to a wooden cross. He suffers. He lacks breath. He speaks, “It is finished” (John 19:30). He dies. What makes Good Friday, good? What is there to celebrate? Why should there be any joy in the death of Jesus?

 

To this question, the Book of Hebrews gives us the answer: “[Jesus] was heard because of His reverence. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience through what He suffered. And being made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him” (Hebrews 5:7-9).

 

If we want to truly understand what Good Friday meant to Jesus, it is “reverent submission.” Jesus is clear that the events of Good Friday came to Him from His Father. He received the gifts His Father gave, even the gift of suffering and the gift of death. As He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will”(Matthew 26:39). 

 

Now, Jesus is fully and completely God, but even as God, He learned as He became fully man. He learned obedience from what He suffered. And what does God require of all of us? He requires obedience. He requires the obedience that we refuse to render.

 

God loves you. He loves you so much that He sent His only Son so that you could have eternal life by faith in Him. Jesus came in human flesh so that He would be the Man who would be man enough to be obedient to God the Father.

 

The eternal Son of God took on our human flesh knowing that He would suffer and die for all of humanity. He took on our human flesh knowing that the only way for mankind to be reconciled to God was through the perfect atoning sacrifice for our sins. So, Jesus said to His Father: “Your will be done.”

 

Tonight is a day of celebration, because God provided us Jesus as our substitute, who was perfectly obedient to God the Father, even through extreme agony. So, all of the obedience we have failed to render to God the Father, our Lord Jesus Christ goes forth to render on behalf of all – for you, for me.

 

As Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, the darkness of the world’s sin wrapped around Him and the horror of the world’s damnation washed over Him, but He remained completely attuned and perfectly submissive to His Father’s holy will for us. Jesus learned the full cost of that obedience, carrying it beyond anyone else has ever taken. “He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8). And “being made perfect” through the cross and tomb, He “became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him” (Hebrews 5:9). The high priests of old had to offer sacrifices year after year, but Jesus, the Great High Priest, His blood “cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).

 

But is there a caveat here? Salvation is only for those who obey Jesus? Yes. But you and I are poor, miserable sinners. How do we obey Jesus? Well, we keep His commandments and do what pleases Him and “This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ” (1 John 3:23). Faith is obedience to God and is worked in us by God’s grace through His Means of Grace – Word and Sacrament. Just as our faith is not our doing, but God’s. So is how we obey. We learn to obey as God’s gift through the Holy Spirit so that we can live with God and for God through faith’s obedience.

 

This is the joy of Good Friday. God has given us the source of salvation – the only source of salvation – and that is faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus is God’s gift of salvation for you! Through the Holy Spirit’s indwelling in you, you know that your sins have been completely paid for on the cross of Jesus, that your death has been destroyed in His dying, and that you will pass with your Lord through the gate of death to a joyful resurrection. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,

 keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.  

+ SOLI DEO GLORIA +