2nd Sunday of Easter [John 20:19-31] 7 April, 2013

This sermon was preached at St. John's Lutheran Church Karoonda at 9 am and Trinity Lutheran Church Tailem Bend at 11 am.  

Sometimes a personalised gift is one of the best things you can get. Sometimes it's like the money clip I keep in a box of junk. I never use money clips, but I can't get rid of it, because it has my name on it. So when somebody tells you “Hey, you know you're mentioned in the Bible”, you never know if it's a really great thing with a promise attached to it, or if it's as lifeless as a mass produced knick-knack that just so happens to have your name on it. So when we come to today's Gospel reading

Jesus has proved his resurrection, and you have the words by which you are blessed!

Transition: But a lot of things happen in the text before we hear this promise. First, a lot of things just plain happened in these short verses: Jesus appears to the disciples in the locked room, proves his resurrection, institutes absolution, which they report to Thomas who refuses to believe that their words are Jesus', and when Jesus backs it up, Thomas confesses him rightly, but Jesus says that the people who don't get that same experience but believe these words are blessed! That's a lot. And it means there's a lot of things that needed to be addressed.

The disciples remained in the locked room, even after Mary Magdalene's words, out of fear of death. They were afraid of suffering the same fate as Jesus, but in the end they did receive the same fate as Jesus (all except John), but after seeing Jesus risen from the dead they're too glad to worry about that fear of death business, because they all receive the same eternal life that Jesus has in victory over the grave.

Our fear of pain and death need to be addressed as well, because they make gods out of our pleasure and enjoyment and out of life on this earth. Neither are gods who can give eternal life.

Thomas remained in disbelief even though he had Mary's and the disciples' words. Mary Magdalene had told the disciple what Jesus gave her to say “but go to my brothers and say to them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'" ”; the disciples had told Thomas what Jesus had said and done: “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you." ²² And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³ If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”. The problem was in rejecting Jesus' words, not that he missed out on seeing Jesus like the disciples did. (So it's a comfort that Jesus deals with Thomas so gently. He lets him also put his finger in Jesus' hands and side.)

When we look for something more than Jesus' words, we end up with so much less. When we look for more than Jesus' words, we end up with our own opinions, the world's unbelief, and the devil's lie (and when we say it like that it seems so easy, 'of course Jesus' words are better', but in real life is where it is so hard).

Jesus had something else to address in that locked room. Sins remain in need of forgiveness according to the Lord's way. Jesus appeared because he had something to address that was outside of the room where the disciples were (as well as inside it): sin. He's pretty consistent that way: born to destroy sin, died to destroy sin, says to his apostles “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you” to destroy sin.

Sin separates us from God, so whether we feel fine or not, the problem doesn't go away. Now when Martin Luther preached on this text, he quoted Romans 7:8-10 “For apart from the law, sin lies dead. ⁹ I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. ¹⁰ The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me.” Listen how a good preacher explains this text: “In other words, sin is always in us, but when the Law does not come, sin is for all practical purposes asleep, for it causes no pain; it does not bite or gnaw at us. As long as sin lies dormant and dead, we do not ask how to repent and be converted, but when God's law strikes the heart like a bolt of lightning, it arouses your conscience and manifests God's judgment. Because of your sin he is about to punish you and damn you. Sin now springs immediately to life; you see what a powerful thing sin is, separating you from God, delivering you into the hands of the devil, and casting you into hell. And neither emperors nor kings can do anything about it.”

The end result is that Jesus addressed all these things with a promise for you that mentions you (and with promises for you all along the way). Jesus broke the disciples fear with a triple “Peace”, the peace which he has gotten by his death and resurrection and dispenses. Three times Jesus says “Peace be with you” in today's reading: twice when he appeared to the 10, once when he appeared to the 11 (Thomas being there too). It's more than a greeting; it's what he has and gives.

The word of Jesus' death and resurrection is the speaking of that peace. Nowadays, peace means “no war”, meaning the absence of bad things. But in the Bible it means the presence of everything that is good, as God intended his creation to be. So the same Jesus who greeted his disciples here is the Jesus who said in John 16 “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world." ” These words are a promise.

Jesus broke Thomas' unbelief by backing up the disciples words (his words), and brought about this amazing confession of Thomas. It's not so much that Jesus proved that he was alive to Thomas; it's that he confirmed that what the rest of the apostles had said to Thomas is what he himself had said to them. He backed up his words.

And thanks to Thomas we have the phrase “Doubting Thomas”, which means a sceptic. But Thomas is first Disbelieving Thomas and then Believing Thomas. Believing Thomas said something really good to Jesus, calling him “my Lord and my God!”

It's a comfort to us when we hear of even the apostles falling into disbelief and needing to be restored. It reminds us that all Christians are to repent daily, and are restored not by anything they do but by the Father restoring them through the word of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus brought about Thomas' great confession of faith, and the Triune God brings about both forgiveness and faith in you.

Sins don't just go away. Sins get forgiven, as the only way to take away the terror when the Law awakens sin.

And these words of forgiveness are put into an office, the only one the Church has from the Lord, and the authority of this office is the authority of the forgiveness of sins, the authority that Christ has given to the apostles and those who come after them. When they do it, they're doing what Jesus through the Church has given them to do.

This reading does mention you, but in a surprising way – for something you haven't done, and for a promise you've received. The promise that Jesus gives is a promise for you who receive these words even though you don't see Jesus the way Thomas got to –

This is a promise that is for sure placed into mouths because without Christ making sure of this, we can't do it, we can't get it (we can't earn or obtain forgiveness; Christ must bestow it, and he has provided that this happens.)

Here is the true authority of the pastor, and kings can't match it, as Luther reminded us, because it's the forgiveness of sins. Jesus doesn't call Thomas blessed (though he is), but calls you blessed, that you may rest assured that putting your hands in Jesus' hands and side isn't the way you receive faith, but by his words.

And just to prove that this is the preaching of the apostles, even in the face of pain and death, we have to look no farther than the first reading of the day from Acts 5. The Jewish ruling council told the apostles not to teach in Jesus' name, and Peter, speaking for all the apostles, says “We must obey God rather than men. ³⁰ The God of our fathers raised Jesus [resurrection], whom you killed by hanging him on a tree [crucifixion]. ³¹ God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior [ascension], to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins [the Church]. ³² And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him [there's the office of pastor, an office given by Jesus to the Church, those who come after the apostles, not as apostles, but come with the same authority to absolve and retain sins.] There's the preaching of the apostles, and all for the purpose that John ended this reading with: “ 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.”." ”

Conclusion: The promise that mentions you by name in this reading (it just doesn't say your name) is “blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed”. It's not a lifeless word, but a life-giving promise. But it's based on what Jesus has done for you through absolution, forgiveness of sins, and not based anything you have done. And forgiveness is placed in the Church to be used in an office: the office of pastor. That's of much more value than a money clip with your name on it. Amen.