APRIL 19, 2009  SERMON ARCHIVE

Grace, mercy and peace to you, from God our heavenly Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, AMEN

The text for our meditation today is the Gospel Lesson before us from John chapter 20. There we read these words:

19 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." 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 Jesus said to them again, "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 anyone, they are forgiven; if you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is withheld." 24 Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said 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." 26 Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." 27 Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe." 28 Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" 29 Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." 30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 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.

In the Name of Jesus

During the season of Lent, several parts of our Christian liturgy were cut away from the Divine Service. During Lent we did not sing Alleluia prior to the reading of the Holy Gospel. Nor did we sing the hymns of praise: both This Is The Feast and Gloria in Excelsis ("Glory be to God on high") fell silent for the season.

We did not abbreviate our liturgy during Lent so that you could get home a little sooner for a few Sundays. Alleluia and songs of praise get torn from the liturgy as a way of casting a shroud over our worship.

The season is purposely dark. The hymnody is deliberately set in minor keys. These things were taken away from you on account of those things that were first taken away from our Lord. You might even say that the liturgy was stripped of its "garment of praise" (Isaiah 61:3), in the same way that your crucified Lord lost His clothing when "they crucified Him and divided His garments among them" (Mark 15:24).

Cutting Alleluia and the songs of praise from the liturgy has a very good purpose for Lent. These cuts make you notice what is missing, and possibly to desire. These cuts make the entire liturgy seem out of joint (Psalm 22:14) and incomplete and yet-to- be-fulfilled.

Cutting Alleluia and the songs of praise from the liturgy also has a very good purpose for the season of Easter. Christ is risen! The joy of Easter morning is more than the smell of Easter lilies mingled with bacon. Now in the worship service all things are restored to the way they should be!

Now nothing is missing; nothing disjointed; nothing out of place!

Alleluia has been given back to you. This is The Feast swells once again from the pew. The minor keys of Lenten hymnody have now been turned to the brighter tones of Easter praise. That which was once taken away from you has been returned to you with great joy.

Alleluia once taken but now given back again; songs of praise that once could not be sung now echo on high: See in these things a picture of what your Lord Jesus promises to do also for you by the power of His resurrection from the dead. You have each suffered your losses, some more than others. Like the liturgy of Lent, you each have had things taken away from you, things that you loathe losing, but cannot avoid. (Without a doubt, even more will surely be taken away.)

incurred. Sins you commit get piled on top of sins that get committed against you and these things enshroud your days. You all have plenty of things you can count as proof that Luther was right when he described life here on earth as "this valley of sorrow."

Grief stifles Alleluia.

A guilty conscience will choke your hymn of praise.

Sustained conflict and unending struggles suck the air out of those who once felt free to sing but now can find no voice.

Loneliness and depression transpose everything into a minor key.

Lent is more than the remembrance of your Lord's suffering and death. Lent is the season of your lives: disjointed, mournful, and missing more things than you can bear to notice.

Last Sunday was Easter Sunday. Christ is risen!

This resurrection promises you that everything will be set right again. This resurrection is God's oath to you:

Just as Alleluia and the songs of praise have now returned to the Christian liturgy, so also for you:

Everything you have lost will be restored;

Every injustice you have suffered will be set aright and you shall be fully vindicated;

Every lonely hour that you now suffer shall be replaced with a thousand days of companionship and joy;

Every wrong shall be made right; every guilty pang of your conscience fully soothed; every broken bone made strong; every smoldering wick fanned into a bright and cheerful flame.

The liturgy of Easter restores that which was taken away from you in Lent. The liturgy of Easter puts your Alleluias and your songs of praise back where they should be. In the same way, when your God raises you and all the dead on the Last Day, all things shall then be restored for you back to the way they should be! "The zeal of the LORD accomplish will accomplish this" (Isaiah 37:32, NIV).

Here is some Good News for you:

Today's Gospel does not want you to think your Lord's resurrection gifts are only for your future, when you also shall rise.

Today's Gospel wants you to know that the gift of your Lord's resurrection from the dead is for you today, just as surely as it is for your future.

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 withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is withheld."

With these Words, your Lord Jesus wants you to know that even now, even today, He is busy setting straight the things that so easily get messed up in your lives. Here in this worship service, as in every service, Jesus proclaims to you that all your sins are forgiven you.

In this proclamation Jesus restores to you those joyous Alleluias that were once stolen from you by your own sin. In the news of your forgiveness, Jesus sets back into place again that beautiful song of praise that was once toppled over by sins others have committed against you. Christ is risen!

By the power of His resurrection, Jesus promises you forgiveness of every sin-right here and right now. Your sins are forgiven: This promise means that your life shall not forever be lived like the Lenten liturgy-disassembled, disjointed, disappointed, distressed.

Your sins are forgiven: This promise means that the things you now experience and suffer shall not afflict keep dominance over you.

Your sins are forgiven: This promise means that your loving God has already begun to reassemble and restore and repair everything that has become damaged in your life-through your fault or the fault of others around you. Your sins are forgiven: This promise is for you now and it is for you forever, for "where there is forgiveness of sins, there is life and salvation" (Small Catechism, Sacrament of the Altar II).

You are going to walk or limp out of here today, and when you get home you are going to find everything just as difficult as you left it. Your hardships offer you no guarantees that they will become easier for you to handle. Your fears and your doubts will quite possibly continue to increase.

For some of you, your hearts will be broken into more pieces than you dare to count.

Others of you will learn to feel pain in places that you never even knew existed.

Some of you will spend your days longing to hear the voice of your beloved, only to be stuck listening to silence.

For some of you, the world will never again come quite into focus for you on account of the Artesian tears that blur your vision.

There is but one thing for you to do in your waiting.

Latch on to God's Words, holding them fast and refusing to doubt the restoration they promise: Your sins are forgiven.  

Christ is risen!

AMEN