Sunday, May 22, 2011

Easter 5A Sermon -- John 14:1-14 (LSB Easter 5A)

May 22, 2011 at Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church – Mechanicsburg, PA


[Jesus said:] “Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own authority, but the Father who dwells in Me does His works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.”


For the next several Sundays, the Church will be hearing Jesus’ words spoken on Holy Thursday during His Passover Meal with the Twelve. In His discourse, Jesus speaks about Himself, about His relationship to the Father, about His work, and about promises that His followers will have fulfilled for them. All of this leads up to the events of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit is given to Jesus’ apostles, so that they can perform the duties of their commission.


This morning, you heard Jesus speak to His disciples about going away from them and returning: “In My Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go and prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to Myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.” Jesus’ departure from His disciples was imminent. It happened just hours later, as the Temple guards and Sanhedrin leaders arrested Jesus, hauling Him away for trials before the High Priest and the Roman governor. Jesus was going away. But He was leaving with a particular objective: to “go and prepare a place for you.”


Through His departure, going away to die, Jesus fulfills the purpose for which His Father had sent Him. His leaving was to accomplish what His Father had assigned Him to do. In John’s Gospel, many of Jesus’ words include references to His divinely-given mission. Words to that effect are found in the Gospel Reading for today. Speaking about Himself, Jesus says: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Jesus is the One who grants access to the Father. Through His going away, the disciples have a place in the Father’s household. Jesus can make the promise of preparing places in the Father’s house because He has divine sanction: “The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own authority, but the Father who dwells in Me does His works.” What Jesus accomplishes through His going away is the Father’s work to bring salvation.


The unity that Jesus has with the Father is important to note. Because it is so, the descriptions of the Lord in the Scriptures apply to Him. In the psalm that you prayed this morning, those descriptions read: “Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, who keeps faith forever; who executes justice for the oppressed, who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free; the Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous. The Lord watches over the sojourners; He upholds the widow and the fatherless, but the way of the wicked He brings to ruin.” That description includes statements made about what the Lord does. That is what Jesus is speaking of when He says: “The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own authority, but the Father who dwells in Me does His works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.”


The unity that Jesus has with the Father allows Him to make the great statement of promise that He gave to the disciples: “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to Myself, that where I am you may be also.” The disciples in the Upper Room had troubled hearts and souls. They were shocked by the prediction of Jesus’ betrayal by one of their own. Peter was told that he would deny Jesus. Their Master had said He was going away, and they could not come with Him at that moment. But through these events, Jesus earns for them a place in the Father’s household. This is the outcome of the work that the Father’s will desired to be done for the Twelve and for sinful humanity.


Jesus’ relationship to the Father and His fulfillment of the Father’s will is what gives you hope, even in the midst of all that troubles your hearts. Like the disciples in the Upper Room, you await what Jesus accomplished for you. He has gone away, but has promised to return. He has said that you will be with Him wherever He is. He has told you that you know the way. But what is that way? It is the path that travels to suffering and dying with Jesus. It is the way that takes you to the grave, to death. That is the way Jesus traveled. It is the way that His disciples followed. It is the way that led Stephen to martyrdom.


But if death is the final destination, even if it be the death of Jesus, then that is of no comfort for you. That would be like what the psalmist described: “Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. When his breath departs he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish.” Only because the Father has done His work through Jesus, including the raising of Him from death, can you have hope. Jesus is no ordinary man, but is the Lord—the “who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, who keeps faith forever”—in the flesh. What He says is true: “The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own authority, but the Father who dwells in Me does His works.” Those works include raising Jesus to life.


The way that Jesus went included His rejection and betrayal, suffering and dying. But this is what the Lord had prophesied: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in Him will not be put to shame.” and “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” The way that Jesus went also included His resurrection and exaltation. That is what gives you hope. So then, Jesus words are comforting: “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to Myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.”


So then your hearts have something to cling onto in the midst of troubling that comes as you wait for Jesus’ arrival. The events that happen in this world bring plenty of troubling. There is the sorrow felt when beholding the disasters that sin has brought into creation. Righteous anger and frustration because of the futility of sinful mankind abounds. There is contrition for the evil works that you have wrought. Guilt and remorse linger in hearts and souls. Questions arise concerning the ability to walk in the way that Jesus laid out. And there is the mind-haunting doubt over whether all this is true. All of this troubles the hearts of Jesus’ followers here on earth. That is why the words of Jesus come to you: “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in Me.”


But the words of Jesus are not a mantra. His words are not meant to distract hearts, minds, and souls away from thinking about what troubles them. Rather, they are to put forward what can be trusted, believed, and hoped for—the answers to what causes the troubling. Jesus says: “Believe in God; believe also in Me.” And what He means is: “Believe in who I am. Believe in what I have done for you. Believe that I have died, yet I live again. Believe that My sacrifice has atoned for all your sins and overcome all your faults. Believe that I have conquered what can truly harm you. Believe that I hold the keys to Death and Hades, chaining them so that they can no longer enslave you. Believe that I have prepared a place for you in the Father’s household and that I will return and take you to Myself.”


Jesus’ words are spoken with His divine commission and the acts that He performed undergirding them. That is why He says: “The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own authority, but the Father who dwells in Me does His works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.” Trust in the authority that Jesus bears. Trust in the works that He has done, including His dying and rising again. For that is what gives you access to the Father and has opened a place for you in the Father’s household.


As you wait for Jesus’ return, you can also believe those whom He has commissioned. For they also speak, but not on their own authority. Rather, they carry the authority of the Father given through the Son who has died, risen, and ascended and delivered by the Holy Spirit. So when they baptize you, you were crucified and raised with Jesus. When they proclaim the works of Jesus, you believe what has been done to save you. When they absolve you, your guilt is removed. When they present the Body and Blood of Jesus to you, you eat and drink for the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. These are the way that Jesus brings you His comfort for your troubled hearts.


So then, you look forward with faith to what awaits you. You believe that Jesus is in the Father and that the Father is in Him. You trust that the Father’s will for your salvation has been fulfilled, seeing it in the works of grace and compassion that Jesus has done for you. You rely not on yourselves, but on the Lord who made heaven and earth, who keeps faith forever, who acted for you. And you hope in what it all means for you, as Jesus has revealed: “In My Father’s house are many rooms. . . . If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to Myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.”


T In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Easter 4A Sermon -- John 10:1-10 (LSB Easter 4A)

May 15, 2011 at Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church – Mechanicsburg, PA


Jesus said: “But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.”


By now, it is quite evident that today is Good Shepherd Sunday for us in the Church. That theme was clear from the readings for today, including the most famous 23rd Psalm that we prayed this morning. But for us in the English District of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, this morning has an added dimension: it is the centennial anniversary of the day when our forefathers in the faith were brought into union with the German-speaking Lutherans based in Missouri. May 15, 1911, was the day when a group of pastors and congregations serving 26,000 members became part of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.


Much had separated these two groups. Practical and sociological factors were at issue, language being the foremost. But what these two groups had in common was what Jesus described in His famous illustration about shepherds and sheep: “The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.” The voice of the Good Shepherd was heard by the sheep of both groups. In fact, they had a truly multi-lingual shepherd: the Lord Jesus Christ. He has sheep of many breeds—not Cotswald, Hampshire, or Merino, but Brazilian, German, Japanese, Malagasy, Papuan, Swedish, and Zulu.


Jesus’ sheep are those who have been obtained by Him. This is what the apostle Peter made known to the flock that Jesus set him over: “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. 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. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” Through death and resurrection, Jesus has purchased sheep for Himself.


You who have been purchased by Jesus have been marked by Him. You have no notched ears or brand burned into your hide, but you did have His cross traced on your heads and etched in your hearts. The Divine Name has been given to you. And you have been brought into an assembly, a flock of fellow Jesus Sheep. Jesus is your Shepherd, the One whose voice you know and follow. You follow Him, as He calls you by name and leads you out.


But to where does Jesus lead you? That was a question that the pastors and congregations knew the answer to back in May 1911. The destination was not St. Louis, Missouri; that was just a stop on the way. The true destination is salvation and life in eternity. That is what Jesus makes known to His sheep: “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” Jesus’ purpose was to bring abundant life to His sheep; it is a purpose that He fulfills.


The destination of salvation and life in eternity is a place that Jesus went to first. The Shepherd can lead His sheep to that destination because He knows the way. Jesus has traveled the way to salvation and everlasting life: He has walked perfectly in the way of the Lord, has died, and has risen again. Now He leads you on that path, giving you His righteousness, taking you through the grave, and guiding you to your dwelling places found in His Father’s house. Following this Shepherd, you will reach the destination that He has for you.


The words of the shepherd’s psalm that you prayed this morning put this truth in poetic form: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for His Name’s sake. 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. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” This well describes what Jesus does for you, including taking you from death to life everlasting. Because His Name is on you, Jesus leads you. Because your Shepherd has overcome death, you do not fear it. Because He knows the way, Jesus can guide you. Because your Shepherd lives eternally, you will have His goodness and mercy given to you without end.


The destination of salvation and eternal life is meant for you. Jesus’ purpose is to lead you to it. So Jesus says: “The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.” But His statement includes another word: “A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” Jesus speaks about two voices—one voice that is followed, another that is ignored. The two voices lead sheep to two different ends—one for good, the other for evil: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” One voice is spoken by the Shepherd, the other is spoken by the Shepherd’s ancient enemy.


Thanks to our forefathers in the faith, we have the voice of the Shepherd spoken in our own language. The English District’s long-standing motto had been: “The faith of the fathers in the language of the children.” You can receive what Jesus speaks. It is available in your language. You can truly know His voice and recognize it. But to reach the blessed end that He has for you, you must hear it. That means actually having His words spoken and taught to you. It means gathering in the places where that is taking place. It means following the example of the fathers in the past, taking part in the activities that you heard described: “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” What took place in the first days of the Church was happening among the English-speaking Lutheran congregations in 1911 and happens here and now. What happens? Jesus’ sheep gather to hear what He has done and said, to offer worship in thanksgiving for His actions, to receive forgiveness of sins in the Lord’s Supper, and to ask for His continued help and guidance. All this is done, so that Jesus’ sheep may follow the Shepherd’s voice to safety.


As you hear the Shepherd’s voice, you receive what He possesses and gives. But this cannot be done when and where other voices are listened to. Jesus’ description of His sheep is correct: “A stranger they will not follow, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” But there are plenty of sheep that wander away. There are sheep that do not gather together. There are sheep that have drifted so far, that they cannot hear the Shepherd’s voice calling out. For such sheep, the end is disastrous. They are the victims of the thieves and robbers that Jesus’ words describe: “All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. . . . The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.” Jesus’ sheep are not to listen to those thieves and robbers, but sadly there are many who fall victim to them. They believe the lies and false promises, the teachings of death instead of life.


But for you who are hearing the Shepherd’s voice, for you who are devoted “to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers,” you are not victims. No, you are the recipients of the salvation and eternal life that Jesus has won for you and freely gives to you. Peter’s words truly describe your Shepherd and you: “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. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” You have become part of the flock through the way that Jesus has opened for you: “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.”


So on this Good Shepherd Sunday, you can give thanks for what your Shepherd has done for you: giving His life, so that you may live eternally. As it is the centennial anniversary of the English District’s formation, you can give thanks that the Shepherd’s voice is heard by you in your own language and that you have been united with the other Jesus Sheep in The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. But there is also the opportunity to speak of what is present and in the future. You are now gathered together, “devoted to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” And there is the same happening, as it was in the past: “the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.”


This is what is given for you, but only if you are hearing the Shepherd’s voice and following it. Do not tune out that voice. Do not wander off, so that you are out of earshot. Rather, be those who “have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” That Shepherd Jesus speaks truly about Himself and you: “He who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.” And following Him, you will receive what He desires to give: “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” It is meant for you, the English-speaking Lutherans who have been made part of the Shepherd’s flock of sheep from all tribes, races, and languages. So hear the Shepherd’s voice. Bear the Shepherd’s mark. Follow the Shepherd’s way. Then you will be eternally united with all of Jesus’ sheep that heard and held the faith of the fathers in their own language.


T In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Easter 3A Sermon -- Luke 24:13-35 (LSB Easter 3A)

May 8, 2011 at Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church – Mechanicsburg, PA


Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered [Jesus], “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” And He said to them, “What things?” And they said to Him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered Him up to be condemned to death, and crucified Him. But we had hoped that He was the one to redeem Israel. . . .”


The two disciples trudged along the road to Emmaus. Much had happened in the past couple of weeks. Jesus had raised Lazarus from the grave. Jesus had entered triumphantly into Jerusalem. Jesus had taught one final time publicly in the Temple. And then the unthinkable occurred: Jesus was betrayed by one of His confidants, He was arrested and condemned by the religious leaders, He was sentenced to death by the Roman governor, and He died by crucifixion. Centuries later, these events intrigue people. For the two disciples, these events depressed them.


The Gospel writer describes these two disciples of Jesus: “That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing Him. And He said to them, ‘What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?’ And they stood still, looking sad.” Why were they sad? Because of what had happened in Jerusalem, because of the demise of Jesus.


These two disciples had been devoted to Jesus. When pressed by Him to make known what had happened in Jerusalem, the disciples revealed what they had believed. Hear again what they said about Jesus: “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered Him up to be condemned to death, and crucified Him. But we had hoped that He was the one to redeem Israel.” In that answer are several statements of belief. The two men believed that Jesus was a prophet sent by God: His mighty deeds and mighty words had shown that to be true. In fact, Jesus’ mighty deeds and mighty words had caused these two disciples to really believe that Jesus was the Messiah, the Redeemer that the Lord had promised through the centuries to send to Israel.


But this faith was shattered, upended by the events that took place in Jerusalem: “Our chief priests and rules delivered Him up to be condemned to death, and crucified Him. . . . Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened.” For these two disciples, the events that they had witnessed led to two conflicting conclusions. The mighty words and deeds of Jesus showed Him to be a prophet, even to be the Promised Christ. But the rejection of Jesus by the religious leaders and their handing Him over to the Gentile authorities to be crucified were leading them to believe that He was not the Promised Christ. And what took place that Sunday morning further confused the matter: “Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, and when they did not find His body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that He was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but Him they did not see.”


But note how Jesus responds to them: “And He 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?’ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.” Jesus’ response is to explain the events that these two disciples had witnessed. Jesus confirms their conclusion that He was the Promised Christ: the two disciples had rightly interpreted His mighty words and deeds. But they had missed what Moses and the Prophets had said about the Promised Christ: “it was necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into His glory.” These two disciples had seen what Moses and the Prophets had foretold. Yet when they did, they doubted Jesus’ identity.


Jesus’ response to the two disciples was meant to restore their faith in Him. But that faith restoration was accomplished by restoring their belief in what the Lord had promised before, the promises that Jesus fulfilled. In many ways, the Emmaus Road event is similar to an event that we heard during the Advent Season, when the imprisoned John the Baptizer sent the question to Jesus: “Are You the One who is to come, or should we look for another?” Like the two disciples, John had his faith upended by the events that were taking place. But Jesus restores that faith by directing John to what was happening and how it coincided with what the Lord had promised through Moses and the Prophets. And when that was done, faith was restored. So it was also with the two disciples.


Jesus’ dialogue along the road to Emmaus shows that it everything that transpired in Jerusalem was meant to be. It was what the Lord had promised. It was the way that Israel would be redeemed. He is the Promised Christ who had necessarily suffered death. But He is also the Promised Christ who had now entered into His glory. What the two disciples had seen was according to plan; what the women had reported to them was true. And note how the two disciples received this: “They said to each other, ‘Did not our hearts burn within us while He talked to us on the road, while He opened to us the Scriptures?’” When Jesus had demonstrated that Holy Week events in Jerusalem fulfilled the Scriptures, these two disciples believed.


This is how Jesus continues to work in all His disciples. You believe in Jesus’ identity as the Promised Christ. You believe that the events that took place in ancient Palestine bring salvation to you. That is what you state, when you pray the creeds and say, “I believe.” It is what has been delivered to you, as you received salvation in the way that Jesus authoritatively gave through His apostles: “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to Himself.” It is what you have been given because of Jesus’ actions: “You were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for your sake, who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.”


But there are many confounding things that rise up during your pilgrimage on earth. Like the two disciples traveling the road to Emmaus, there are events that stick in your mind. They are the events that seem to contradict the conclusions that you have made concerning Jesus’ identity and the salvation that He gives. There are things that happen that do not seem to be right. They keep your eyes from recognizing Jesus’ presence. They lead to the questions that depress and sadden hearts: “Why do I participate in the Church’s life, yet my children who were raised in the Church do not? Why am I ridiculed for my faith and life of discipleship? Why must I suffer through this disease or illness? Why is my congregation faced with conflict and fellow believers don’t get along? Why aren’t there many other people my age who believe the same I do? Why am I always tempted to break certain commandments of God that I really do want to keep?” There are many others that could be asked. But often the mind thinks: “I had hoped that Jesus was the One who saves and that all would be restored like He promised.”


Like the two disciples who trudged along the road to Emmaus, you have your own conversations about the events that you witness. But as you travel that road, Jesus is present with you. He is there, even when His presence is hidden. He comes with the same answer to your questions, directing you to what had been promised and fulfilled by Him. Jesus points out what He has done for you and what He has promised for you, His disciples. And He tells you about the necessity for you also to suffer these things and then enter your glory. For following Jesus includes taking up your cross, bearing your burdens in this world, yet always doing so with the eyes pointed toward what awaits when He comes again in glory to judge the living and the dead.


Jesus’ response to your questions of doubt and uncertainty is to direct you to what stands eternally true: “the living and abiding word of God” that He has had preached to you. “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.” He takes you back to what stands sure, even amidst everything in this world that is easily upended. What stands sure is the salvation that Jesus has accomplished for you. Just as Moses and the Prophets said, Jesus has suffered death and has entered into His glory. So He can give to you the sure and certain hope in your own resurrection from the dead. He extends to you a share of the life that He has earned.


But until you receive the fullness of your salvation, you continue your journey in this world with all its doubts. You urge Jesus to stay with you. So He makes Himself present with the pledges of forgiveness, life, and salvation based on what He has accomplished for you. You are led to remember your baptisms and birth from above each time that you hear the name that your foreheads and hearts have been marked with: “the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” You gather together to hear the record of the mighty words and deeds of Jesus and what they have achieved for you. You proclaim Jesus’ death for your salvation every time that you eat the bread and drink the wine that He takes, blesses, breaks, and gives to you.


All of these events are done in response to the things that happen in your lives that jar your faith and sadden your hearts. Through them, the gift of the Holy Spirit is given again. Through them, your eyes of faith recognize Jesus’ presence. So your hearts will once again burn with joy, knowing what is true and what has been done for your salvation: Christ has suffered death and entered into His glory, so that you may also do so when your journey with Him to Paradise is complete.


T In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Easter 2A Sermon -- John 20:19-31 (LSB Easter 2A)

May 1, 2011 at Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church - Mechanicsburg, PA


“Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent Me, even so I am sending you.’ And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of anyone, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of anyone, they are retained.’”


Jesus’ words are familiar. That is so, because they are read every year on this Second Sunday of Easter. But they are also familiar from another source: they are taught in the Small Catechism when speaking about the Power of the Keys—“the special authority which Christ has given to His Church on earth to forgive the sins of repentant sinners, but to withhold forgiveness from the unrepentant as long as they do not repent.” Jesus’ words are read at the ordination and installation of pastors in the Lutheran Church, so that the congregation may hear about what these men are authorized to do.


Jesus’ words speak about His relationship to the Father: “As the Father has sent Me. . . .” The Father had sent His Son to accomplish a particular task. He was sent to bring salvation to the world. This is what you heard of during this past Lenten Season. When speaking to Nicodemus, Jesus said: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.” But Jesus’ purpose also includes retaining sins, binding the guilt of those who would not believe in Him and His identity. This is why Jesus spoke about the Pharisees after healing a blind man: “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind. . . . If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.”


This purpose is what Jesus accomplished in His death and resurrection. Through His sacrifice, the world’s sin was atoned for. Through His resurrection, new life was given to the world that was bound in futility because of sin. As the Father sent Him, Jesus accomplished the task given. Those who believe in His identity and work receive the benefits: forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. But those who will not believe are left in their guilt. So Jesus says in another place in John’s Gospel: “The one who rejects Me and does not receive My words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. For I have not spoken on My own authority, but the Father who sent Me has Himself given Me a commandment—what to say and what to speak. And I know that His commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told Me.”


This relationship that the Son has with the Father is extended to the apostles. Jesus says: “As the Father has sent Me, even so I am sending you.” The men in the Upper Room are sent. But they are not sent aimlessly. They are authorized and assigned to do what Jesus, the Son of God, did: to bring forgiveness of sins to the world: “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of anyone, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of anyone, they are retained.” That is their task. They are to testify about what Jesus has accomplished through His death and resurrection. And they are to bring the forgiveness of sins that He has earned to those who need it. In fact, they are to bring to the world what they themselves received, since Jesus absolved the apostles prior to sending them out. The ones who abandoned Jesus in the Garden, who were not found at the cross, who hid behind locked doors out of fear—even Peter who denied Him in the high priest’s courtyard and Thomas who at first refused to believe—are all forgiven. In His greeting, Jesus gives to His apostles what He has earned for them: “Peace be with you!” Then He sends them out to the world to speak that same forgiveness.


The beginnings of that are seen in the record of the apostolic work. You heard the statements of Peter to the Sanhedrin that wanted to prevent their proclamation: “We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging Him on a tree. God exalted Him at His right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him.” Peter’s words express the reality of what Jesus accomplished. There is forgiveness of sins found in what He has done. They will proclaim it regardless of what the people think. For those who receive their message, the apostles will forgive their sins; for those who will not receive it, the apostles will retain their sins.


This is what the Risen Jesus authorized His apostles to do. That same power is handed down to the subsequent generations of the Church, to the ministers who follow in the apostles’ footsteps. They are given the Holy Spirit. They are given the authority to forgive and retain sins. It is not a power found in themselves, just as it wasn’t found in the first apostles. Rather, it is what the Risen Jesus bestows to them through His word, through the Holy Spirit that is given to them. They are commissioned and authorized, sent with a power from Him who has all authority in heaven and earth, who was exalted by the Father as Leader and Savior.


This is why you believe “that when the called ministers of Christ deal with us by His divine command, in particular when they exclude openly unrepentant sinners from the Christian congregation and absolve those who repent of their sins and want to do better, this is just as valid and certain, even in heaven, as if Christ our dear Lord dealt with us Himself.” It is valid and certain because Jesus has sent them with His authority, just as the Father had sent Him with His authority. Your faith is not in the apostle or the apostles’ successors. Instead, your faith is in the One who has sent them. It is the same way that your belief in Jesus is actually placed in the Father who sent Him to bring salvation to the world.


So why do you believe this? Because you have received the words of those who first saw and heard Jesus. Jesus says: “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” Your faith is created by the Holy Spirit who comes through the proclamation of those who have been authorized by Jesus. Their testimony and witness have come to you. This is what John the apostle declares: “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.” The apostle Peter speaks similarly to his audience: “Though you have not seen [Jesus], you love Him. Though you do not now see Him, you believe in Him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”


Through the reception of the apostles’ testimony, the words through which the Holy Spirit works, you have been made Jesus’ disciples. It is what the Father desired to happen for you. It is the outcome that the Father sent His Son to achieve: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” Jesus has achieved this for you. You did not see it happen, but you believe that it did. You trust the words of those whom Jesus sent, those who bear His authority. Because of their testimony, you make the confession about Jesus that He is your Lord and your God. And so you have life in His name.


As you live in this life, “grieved by the various trials” that this world brings, knowing what the Lord’s will is but not keeping it fully, you still have access to forgiveness, life, and salvation. That is what Jesus has authorized His apostles and their successors to bring to you. You are tempted to forsake Jesus, to abandon the life of following Him, to not believe that His work was really for you and your sin. Tempted to sin, you fall victim over and over again. But in those times, Jesus’ greeting is spoken to you: “Peace be with you!” He calls you back to Himself, saying: “Be not faithless, but faithful.” Those words that He speaks through His apostles reach your ears, enlivening your hearts and restoring your souls. They are the words of forgiveness. They accomplish what they say.


So now, as you are turned back to faith like Thomas, as you are repentant and contrite for your sins and failures, as you are brought into reconciliation by your Lord and your God, Jesus’ sent ones say to you: “You are forgiven. You are restored. You are blessed.” You believe them and the One who sent them with that message. Jesus does not hold your sins against you. He does not bind them to you. Instead, He reminds you that you are truly freed from your sins because your guilt was bound to Him and fastened to His cross. But now, He lives and has put that guilt behind Him: “God exalted Him at His right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.”


The sent ones have made known to you what Jesus has done for your benefit: “Though you have not seen [Jesus], you love Him. Though you do not now see Him, you believe in Him. . . .” Love of Jesus and faith in Him is what the apostles’ proclamation has brought to you. So you are freed. You are absolved. You are reconciled. So again on this day, your Lord and your God, crucified and raised from the dead for your sake, speaks to you His valid and certain words of forgiveness: “Peace be with you!”


T In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

May 2011 Parish Letter

“Almighty God, Your Son revealed Himself to Philip and James and gave them the knowledge of everlasting life. Grant us perfectly to know Your Son, Jesus Christ, to be the way, the truth, and the life, and steadfastly to walk in the way that leads to eternal life; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.”

[Collect for SS. Philip & James]


The Lutheran Church reserves May 1 for the Commemoration of SS. Philip and James the Lesser, two of Jesus’ apostles. These two have been linked together in commemoration since A.D. 561, when the remains of these apostles were placed in the Church of the Apostles in Rome. While they were neither related nor traveled together in missionary endeavors, Philip and James are connected by being called to witness to Jesus’ words and works, including His death and resurrection.


The New Testament speaks little of James the Lesser. He is simply listed ninth in the roll of apostles found in the Synoptic Gospels.(Mt 10:2-4; Mk 3:14-19; Lk 6:13-16) His name appears as helping to identify one of the Marys who were followers of Jesus. Other than that, nothing is written of him. (Some biblical scholars posit that James the Lesser and James the Just, the first Bishop of Jerusalem, are the same individual.)


The New Testament tells much more about Philip. He is always listed fifth in the roll of apostles found in the Synoptic Gospels. He also figures somewhat prominently in John’s Gospel. His being from Bethsaida, the city of Peter and Andrew is mentioned.(Jn 1:43-44) Philip is the one who brings Nathanael to Jesus, so that his friend would believe that Jesus is the Promised Messiah.(Jn 1:45-51) He is the one whom Jesus asks about where to get bread to feed the five thousand in the Galilean countryside.(Jn 6:1-14) When Greek visitors are in Jerusalem at the Passover when Jesus triumphantly enters Jerusalem, Philip interacts with them.(Jn 12:20-26) And in the Upper Room on Maundy Thursday, Philip’s desire to see the Heavenly Father leads to Jesus’ teaching about His revealing the Father to His disciples.(Jn 14:1-14)


Part of Jesus’ Upper Room discourse is read as the Gospel Reading for the Commemoration of SS. Philip and James the Lesser. Jesus’ words are familiar, read often in the Easter Season and at funerals. Jesus said to Thomas: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also. From now on you do know Him and have seen Him.”(Jn 14:6-7) Those words led Philip to reveal his desire, what he truly wants: “Philip said to Him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.’”(Jn 14:8) Note what the apostle says. He does not ask for great treasure or a position of authority. Just a glimpse of the Father would be enough for Philip.


But Jesus’ answer tells Philip what he already has received: “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? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own authority, but the Father who dwells in Me does His works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.”(Jn 14:9-11) Philip has already witnessed the Father: he has seen Him in what Jesus has done; he has heard Him in what Jesus has said. And now, because Jesus will be going to His Father in heaven, Philip and all of Jesus’ disciples will see the Father face to face in the places that Jesus prepares for them.


Jesus’ statement shows the unity that He has with the Father. It is a statement about His divinity. His statement also speaks of where salvation is found. To come to the Father in heaven, one must be granted access by Jesus. That access is given through what Jesus accomplishes in His life: revealing the Father’s will in what He teaches and appeasing the Father’s wrath over sin by His sacrificial death. You see the Father’s consideration of you by how He considers Jesus, His Son—raising Him from death after He laid down His life to redeem sinful humanity. Through Jesus’ work, you are made part of the divine household, sharing in the unity that He has with His Father in heaven.


That is what Philip and James bore witness to. It was the heart of their apostolic preaching, just as it was for all the others called to be Jesus’ witnesses to the world. The Epistle Reading for the day describes this well: “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In Him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”(Ep 2:19-22) Through Christ—“the Way, the Truth, and the Life”—you are given access to the Father. You are made the Father’s children, whether you are well known like Philip or simply one of the list of disciples like James.


On the commemoration day of these two apostles, the Church prays: “Almighty God, Your Son revealed Himself to Philip and James and gave them the knowledge of everlasting life. Grant us perfectly to know Your Son, Jesus Christ, to be the way, the truth, and the life, and steadfastly to walk in the way that leads to eternal life.” Because of the testimony of the apostles, you know what that Way, Truth, and Life is. Continually hearing the apostolic witness and being guided by it, you will walk in the way that leads to eternal life. For the Spirit works in you, speaking through the word that you hear and believe: “Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it,’ when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.”(Is 30:21) Walking straight in the path that Jesus established, you are given access the Father’s favor. On the Last Day, you will see the Father face-to-face with your own eyes. And that will be enough and plenty for you, just as it was for Philip, James, the other apostles, and all who have gone before you.