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INJ
St John 20:19-31
'Christ is Risen to Give Forgiveness and Faith'
Divine Service
Quasimodogeniti | April 14th, 2007
Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed. Alleluia!
Dear Saints,
The benefits of Jesus' resurrection for us are beyond our imagining. His not-staying-in-the-tomb has continued, for almost 2,000 years, to give life and hope and joy and peace in every corner of the world, and will, some day soon, give all of Christ's dear people the benefit of their own, our own resurrection. For when God's dies it means man's life, our life, our eternal life and bliss and perfection and righteousness and more and more. The benefits of the resurrection are uncountable.
This morning we consider two of them. They are given to us in the Gospel text appointed, from ancient times, for the first Sunday after Easter, John 20:19-31. And the gifts Jesus gives are forgiveness and faith.
First, forgiveness. The first four verses occur on the evening of the Lord's resurrection, Jesus bidding His apostles peace, breathing on them, and giving them the Holy Spirit with the promise that the sins the forgive are forgive, and if the bind sins, they are bound.
19 Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20 When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. 21 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send 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 retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
There is a difference between the way that the forgiveness of sins is won, and the say that it is delivered. On the cross and out of the grave the Lord Jesus wins the forgiveness of sins, but He does not distribute them from the cross. It's a good thing for us, too, because we cannot get to the cross, we can't go back in time. But that's okay because Jesus is risen to give out the forgiveness of all sin; He sees to it when He gives His disciples the promise that sins would be forgiven. The forgiveness of sins is distributed in the Gospel, in the Absolution, and in Baptism and the Lord's Supper. In these places the Lord Jesus is seeing to it that the forgiveness of sins is given out in all places and at all times.
When Jesus does this, when He breathes on His disciples and send them out to forgive and retain sins, He is setting His church on her proper mission: to forgive sins.
This is called, as you remember in your catechism, the office of the keys. What is the Office of the Keys? “The Office of the Keys is that 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 the do not repent.” Where is this written? The catechism here quotes of Gospel Text, John 20. Then, What do you believe according to these words? I 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.” So far the catechism, bringing us the truth of this wonderful text, the wonderful gift of the office of the keys. Christ is indeed risen to make sure that we daily and richly receive the forgiveness of all of our sins.
Most of you know that when I started paying attention in church my theology was not Lutheran, and that when I first visited a Missouri Synod congregation when I was about to graduate from college. There were a lot of things that struck me as strange, including chanting, singing from the hymnal, kneeling, etc., but among the strangest was that pastor up there saying, “I forgiven you all your sins.” “Who is he,” I thought, “to forgive my sins? Who does he think he is? I don't need a man between me and God.” But I was far from understanding what was happening in the liturgy, far from understanding confession and absolution, far from understanding the text before us.
It's not the pastor who is forgiving you. If that were the case you would say, “That's nice, but so what if you forgiven me, are you going to judge me on the last day?” In the absolution something much more incredible is taking place: Jesus is forgiving you. That's why these words matter so much: “in the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ.” It is His forgiveness, the only forgiveness that matters, that is proclaimed in the absolution and the Gospel.
And this is good new, for we daily sin much, and need much forgiveness, and Jesus has it for us in His Word, His promise, His absolution, which is as sure and certain as heaven itself. Jesus is risen from the dead to give us forgiveness of sin.
Jesus is also risen to give us faith. The next six verses in our text occur on the Sunday after Easter, eight days after the resurrection. St Thomas was not with the disciples when Jesus had come the first time, and he did not believe them. It's not “doubting” Thomas, it's “unbelieving” Thomas. But still Jesus comes, even to Thomas, and presents His hands and His side that Thomas would believe.
24 Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” 26 And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” 27 Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.” 28 And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
See how tenderly Jesus treats Thomas, that Thomas would not doubt, but believe. He comes to him and offers him His hands and His side, “Touch and see. Thrust Your hand into My wounds.” Jesus is risen that we might believe Him, trust in His promise and know with absolute certainty that He is our life. Jesus is risen to give us faith.
Jesus does not bid us to look upon His wounds. He does not command us, like Thomas, to thrust our hand into His side. We will not, until He calls us to Himself, touch His scars. It is the unique vocation of the apostles to be eye-witnesses of Jesus resurrection. Instead, He directs not our eyes to His wounds but our ears to His word, to the preaching of the Gospel, to the Absolution, the forgiveness of sins, to water and His body and blood connected to the promise, to the comforting conversation with our brothers and sisters in Christ, as we speak to each other about Jesus' death and life and love for us. To these Jesus points as He says, “Be not doubting, but believe.” Jesus is risen to give us faith.
All this He does for us, His church and dear lambs. He gives us the Gospel which is the power of God unto salvation for all who believe. That not seeing, but hearing, we would believe, and be blessed, that all of our doubt and fear would be conquered by the confidence of faith, and that we would confess with Thomas 'My Lord and My God'; that we would have fellowship with the Father and with His Son, the fellowship that comes from the forgiveness of all of our sins, the fellowship that gives life and salvation.
Dear Saints,
It is the holy will and desire of the Lord Jesus that we “Be not unbelieving, but believing.”
May God grant that it would be so, that we would, by faith, have this fellowship with the dear Lord Jesus, fellowship with His death and in His resurrection and life, all by these words: “Your sins are forgiven.” Amen.
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Amen.
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Pastor Bryan Wolfmueller
Hope Lutheran Church | Aurora, CO