Category: Easter 2

The Risen Christ Dwells with His Church

4/10/2024

Quasimodo Geniti (Easter 2)
John 20:19-31
Pastor James Preus
Trinity Lutheran Church
April 7, 2024

In 1 Timothy 3:15, St. Paul calls the Church the Household of God. Jesus Christ is the Lord of the Church (Hebrews 3:6). When Christ rose from the dead, He did not appear to Pontious Pilate or Caiaphas the chief priest to say, “Hey, look what I did! Boy, were you wrong.” No, Christ appeared to His Church, the household of God, His holy believers and lambs, who gather to listen to His Word. On the Sunday on which He rose from the dead, Christ went to be with His disciples who listen to His Word. He went to be with them the next Sunday as well. And every Sunday since, the Church gathers to hear the Words of Christ and Jesus gathers with them. In our Gospel lesson for this Sunday, we learn about the risen Christ’s activity in His Church on earth.
First, the doors were locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, yet Jesus came and stood among them anyway. Jesus is always with His Church. He is her head. She is His body. A head and body cannot be separated from each other but are one flesh. So is Christ with His Church. Wherever the Church is, there is Christ in her midst. This is why He said at the Great Commission before He ascended into heaven, “And behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20) How do we know that Christ is with us? He promises to be where His Word is taught and where His Sacraments are administered. The promise, “I am with you always,” followed His instruction to make disciples, baptizing them, and teaching them. Likewise, Jesus said in Matthew 18, “Wherever two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” We take comfort that when we gather to worship in Christ’s name, hearing His Word and receiving His Sacraments, Christ is with us. When a person is baptized, Christ Himself is there.
But how is He there? Is His divinity there, while His human body is far away? Is he present with His Spirit, but His body is far away from us? No. Christ is here with us, body and soul, flesh and bone! If He is here only as God, then He is not here as our crucified one, which is a terrifying thought. Then He is not here as our Savior! Though we cannot see Him, Christ is with us. This is why we confess that Christ’s body and blood are present in the Sacrament of the Altar. “That’s impossible,” people say. Well, it is also impossible for a man to appear in a locked room, yet there Jesus is, flesh and bones and all.
Christ showed His disciples His hands and His side where the nails and spear left the marks of His crucifixion. This teaches us that in the Church, the crucified and risen Christ is always preached. St. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 1, “But we preach Christ crucified!” When Christ was raised from the dead, His body was glorified. While remaining human, His body was no longer in a state of humility, but He had entered His exaltation. Yet, the marks of the nails and spear remained in His body, so that He may always be proclaimed as the crucified one. This is the message of the Christian Church for all eternity. Christ Jesus, who was crucified to saves sinners is risen from the dead. All who believe in Him have eternal life.
“Peace be with you,” Jesus said to His disciples. Having paid for the sins of the world, and proven the payment was made by rising from the dead, He proclaims God’s peace to His Church. In the Church of Christ, which is the Household of God on earth, there is constant peace with God, because our sins are forgiven, and we are justified by Jesus’ blood.
“As the Father has sent Me, even so I am sending you,” Jesus told them. By doing this, Christ instituted the Office of the Ministry. The Office of the Ministry is the way by which Christ distributes the fruit of His cross to His Church. “This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God,” St. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 4. By dying on the cross, Christ won forgiveness of sins, peace with God, and eternal salvation to all who believe. He has given all this to His Church. Yet, for His lambs to receive what He has won for them, He created this office and put men in it. No one should assume the duties of the Office of the Ministry without a rightly ordered call, as St. Paul writes in Romans 10, “How can they preach unless they are sent.” (vs. 15)
Ministers are stewards. They deal with that which is not theirs. Christ won salvation and He tells His ministers to give it to His people through preaching, teaching, and administering the Sacraments. As Jesus told Peter to feed His sheep, so pastors give to Christ’s sheep what He has prepared for them. This is what St. Paul told the pastors of Ephesus in Acts 20, “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the Church of God, which He obtained with His own blood.” (vs. 28)
This is why Jesus said to His disciples, “The one who hears you hears me. The one who rejects you rejects me.” (Luke 10:16) When ministers baptize, forgive sins, administer the Lord’s Supper, and preach God’s Word, the hearers should consider that it is Christ Himself speaking. Faith comes from hearing the Word of Christ. Proclaiming the Word of Christ is the purpose of the Office of the Ministry. Where the Church is, there is the Office of the Ministry with pastors doing the work of their Chief Shepherd.
“Receive the Holy Spirit,” Jesus says. With these words, Jesus teaches us that the Church is the field in which the Holy Spirit works. Those in the Office of the Ministry are charged with proclaiming Christ’s Word and administering Christ’s Sacraments. Through the Word and Sacraments, as through instruments, the Holy Spirit works to create faith where and when it pleases God. This is why we say in the Creed, “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Christian Church, the Communion of Saints, the forgiveness of sins...” It is within the Holy Christian Church, which is the community of holy people, set apart by God, that the Holy Spirit forgives sins by creating and sustaining faith in the Gospel. When children are baptized, when the pastor absolves sinners, when the Gospel is preached, when the Sacrament of Christ’s body and blood is administered, the Holy Spirit works in the hearts of hearers to believe the promises and receive forgiveness and salvation through faith. On the Last Day, this same Holy Spirit will raise all the dead and give eternal life to all believers in Christ.
“If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.” With these words, Jesus gave His Church the Office of the Keys, which is that special authority to forgive the sins of repentant sinners, but to withhold forgiveness from the unrepentant, as long as they do not repent. This is the greatest power on earth. To have your sins forgiven, means that the kingdom of heaven and eternal life is opened to you. To have your sins bound to you because you will not repent, means to have the kingdom of heaven and eternal life closed to you. This tremendous power Christ has given to His Church. So, you should believe that when the minister of Christ, who exercises this power, deals with you by his divine command, in particular when he excludes openly unrepentant sinners from the Christian congregation, and absolves 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 delt with us Himself. While the binding key angers those who cling to their sins, the absolution proclaimed by the pastor grants the believer great comfort and peace knowing that God Himself has forgiven all your sins. The Office of the Keys summarizes the entire mission of the Church, to proclaim God’s wrath against sin, but free forgiveness and salvation to all who repent and believe in the Gospel.
In the Church of Christ, Jesus rebukes unbelief. “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” Jesus said to Thomas, who had doubted His resurrection before he saw Him. Yet, this statement about believing without seeing is misunderstood. Many think that this means that faith is just blindly believing something without any witnesses to its truth. They think faith is just trusting your feelings. But saving faith is not trusting your feelings any more than it is trusting your reason or your sight, which corrupted by your sinful nature can lead you astray. You shouldn’t trust your feelings, but the clear Word of God. Scripture says that every truth should be established by two or three witnesses (Deuteronomy 19:15; John 8:17). Thomas sinned, because He did not believe the testimony of the ten disciples, who saw Jesus risen from the dead! He also didn’t believe Jesus’ own words that He would rise from the dead. Saving faith is not simply believing without seeing. Saving faith is believing the trustworthy testimony of Scripture, which is the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets, Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone (Ephesians 2:20).
Our faith cannot be compared to that of the Muslims or Mormons, who blindly follow Mohamad or Joseph Smith. Mohamad was one man, who wrote the entire Koran. Joseph Smith likewise was just one man, who claimed that an angel spoke to him and gave him a book. No one else saw what Mohamad and Joseph Smith claimed to have seen. But Jesus’ resurrection was witnessed by hundreds of people, recorded by nearly a dozen more, and predicted by dozens of prophets in the Old Testament. St. John wrote, “These things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing you may have life in His name.” And John’s testimony is not alone. He witnesses with all the Apostles, the women, the five-hundred, and all of Scripture.
So, the Church is not built on feelings. Our faith is founded on the trustworthy testimony of Holy Scripture, written by the Apostles and Prophets, and inspired by the Holy Spirit Himself. John writes, “If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater.” Holy Scripture is God’s testimony that Jesus Christ His Son, the crucified and risen one, is our Savior. On this testimony the Church is built.
Finally, Thomas confessed Jesus to be His God and Lord. This is his creed. And it is our creed too. In the Church, we confess the creed in unity. Jesus said, “Whoever confesses Me before men, I too will confess before My Father in heaven.” (Matthew 10:32) And Ephesians 4 states, “There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism.” We confess together the one faith. That is why we confess the creed together today.
All this Christ gave to His Church on earth when He rose from the dead: His abiding presence, the preaching of the Gospel, God’s peace, the Office of the Ministry, the Holy Spirit, the Office of the Keys, the testimony of Holy Scripture, and His approval of the Church’s Creed. For all these reasons, we believe although we do not see Him, that the crucified and risen Lord Jesus, our God and Lord is with us His Church here today. Amen.

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The Greatest Power on Earth

4/19/2023

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Incredulity of Saint Thomas, Caravaggio, circa 1600.

Quasimodo Geniti (Easter 2) Sunday
John 20:19-31
Pastor James Preus
Trinity Lutheran Church
April 16, 2023

When Jesus appeared to His disciples that first Easter evening, He showed them His hands and His side. He did this to prove to them that He was indeed the same Jesus who had been crucified and buried. The doors were locked, yet Jesus appeared before them without anyone letting Him in. They assumed He was a ghost. But a ghost does not have flesh and bone as Jesus does. Moreover, by showing them His hands, He proved that He was the same Jesus who was nailed to the cross. And by showing them His side, He proved that He was the same Jesus who was pierced after He had died on the cross. St. John recorded, “But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. He who saw it has borne witness—his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth—that you also may believe.” (19:33-35) This is the very Jesus who was crucified, died, and buried. And now, in His exalted state, which cannot be restricted by the laws of physics, He stands before His disciples alive.
The teaching that Jesus was punished in the stead of mankind and suffered for the sins of the world has become very unpopular, even among many who claim to be Christian. They call the vicarious atonement of Christ barbaric and archaic, a remnant of primitive theology, which looks at God as an angry deity who must be appeased by sacrifice. They call the Father forsaking His Son on the cross “divine child abuse.” And so, many have rewritten the reason Jesus died and rose to simply be an expression of God’s love for us.
Yet, Jesus throws that theory in the trash when He meets with His disciples on the evening after He rose from the dead. Jesus shows them the marks of the nails in His hands and the mark of the spear in His side and says, “Peace be with you.” Why did Jesus suffer and die? It was to win peace for us with God. How was this peace obtained? Jesus won for us forgiveness of sins by paying for our sins by suffering and dying on the cross for us. He makes this clear by saying, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven. If you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”
Jesus won the victory over sin, death, and hell for us by bearing our sins on the cross and dying for them. His blood makes propitiation for the sins of the whole world. The Father vindicated Jesus, accepting His sacrifice for our sins when He raised Jesus from the dead. When Jesus gave His disciples the authority to forgive and withhold forgiveness of sins, He gave to His Church what He had won for them on the cross. The evening before Jesus suffered on the cross, He told His disciples, “[The Spirit of Truth] will take what is mine and declare it to you.” (John 16:14) And here, after Jesus has risen from the dead, He says to His disciples, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven.” The Holy Spirit works in the Church by taking what Christ earned on the cross, that is, the forgiveness of sins, and giving it to sinners.
This is called the Office of the Keys, which the children learn is the special authority, which Christ has given to His Church on earth to forgive the sins of repentant sinners and to withhold forgiveness from the unrepentant as long as they do not repent. The Office of the Keys exercises its power with words. A man tells a sinner that his sins are forgiven, and they are forgiven. The Church is able to exercise this immense power with words, because Jesus has already done the work to earn our forgiveness. The Church does not earn your forgiveness. The Church does not offer up propitiatory sacrifices to God to appease His wrath. The Church takes what Jesus gives Her, the authority to forgive sins, and she wields this power with words.
When Christ gave His Church the authority to forgive sins, He instituted the Office of the Holy Ministry. He did this so that His Church may call men to preach the Gospel, baptize, administer the Lord’s Supper, and yes, forgive sins. We call these men pastors, which means, shepherds. When a pastor forgives sins, he is not exercising his own authority, but the authority of Christ, which He has given to His Church on earth. St. Paul, who Himself was a pastor, wrote of pastors, “This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.” (1 Corinthians 4:1) The job of a pastor is to manage the mysteries of God, which Christ has given to His Church on earth.
There are some, who claim that pastors cannot forgive sins, because men cannot forgive sins; only God can forgive sins. In fact, there are very few churches you could go to where the pastor will forgive your sins either publicly or privately. Yet, to deny that pastors have the authority to forgive sins is to deny that the Church has the authority to forgive sins. And to deny that the Church has the authority to forgive sins is to deny Jesus’ clear words, which say, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven. If you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.” (John 20:23) and, “Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” (Matthew 18:18) To deny that the Church has the authority to forgive sins is to deny that Jesus truly won forgiveness of sins for everyone on the cross. When the Church forgives sins, she simply declares what Christ has done. She simply exercises the authority which Christ has given to her. Because Jesus has won our pardon, the Church has the right to declare that pardon to us.
Finally, to deny that the Church has the authority to forgive sins is to deny that the Church is the bride of Christ! A husband gives everything that He owns to His wife, even His own body. Christ did no less for His bride, the Church. And since Christ has won the power to forgive the sins of the world, the Church has this power, because everything her Husband has belongs to her. Furthermore, Christ Jesus, her Bridegroom, explicitly gave His Church the authority to forgive sins.
Without the forgiveness of sins, the Church is not the Church. We confess in the creed, “I believe in the Holy Christian Church, the Communion of Saints, the forgiveness of sins.” The Holy Christian Church is the community of saints whose sins are forgiven. The Holy Christian Church is where sins are forgiven. And there is forgiveness of sins no where on earth except in the Christian Church, where the Gospel is proclaimed! If you separate yourself from the Christian Church, then you separate yourself from the forgiveness of sins and from Jesus who won forgiveness for you.
What troubles people more than the claim that the Church can forgive sins is the claim that the Church can withhold forgiveness. Yet, it is essential to believe that the Church has the authority to withhold forgiveness. The Church has the authority to withhold forgiveness, because a sinner can only be forgiven through faith. Jesus gave the Church the authority to forgive sins by speaking words. He did this, so that sinners could receive forgiveness freely, as a gift, through faith. Yet, if a sinner does not have faith, then he cannot be forgiven.
The reason the Church will refuse to forgive sins, is because a person publicly shows that he does not have faith. The goal of the Church is for everyone to believe the Gospel, receive the forgiveness of sins, and be saved. But those who continue in sin without repenting do not have faith. They may think they have faith, because they know some basic facts about the Christian religion. But that is not faith. Faith is trusting in God’s mercy for Jesus’ sake to forgive sins. But if you are not sorry for your sins, then you do not have faith.
For this reason, pastors should not only preach the Gospel that Jesus has won forgiveness for all people, but they should also preach the Law, that sinners deserve to go to hell and that they must repent. And for this reason, pastors should not only forgive the sins of repentant sinners, but withhold forgiveness from the unrepentant as long as they do not repent. They should do this for the sake of their faith, so that they may be saved.
Thomas is criticized, because he doubted Jesus’ resurrection. He wasn’t there when Jesus first appeared to His disciples, and He didn’t believe the disciples’ report. For this reason, Thomas is often called doubting Thomas. So, there are two things you need to know about Thomas and his doubting.
First, by doubting, Thomas did what every other disciple would have done and did do. All the Gospel accounts of the resurrection report that the disciples doubted Jesus’ resurrection when they first heard of it. Thomas did what they all did. Thomas’s nick-name was the Twin. St. John records Thomas speak four times in his Gospel. In each time, Thomas says what the other disciples were thinking, whether he is confessing his faith or doubt.
Second, Thomas’s doubt was a damnable sin. Thomas cannot defend himself that he simply did what all the other disciples did when he doubted Jesus’ resurrection. Thomas deserved to go to hell for his doubt and he would have gone to hell had Jesus not graciously revealed Himself to Thomas and opened the sceptic’s eyes to faith. Thomas doubted the report of Jesus’ apostles that He had risen from the dead. By doubting their report, he doubted Jesus Himself, who had multiple times predicted His own death and resurrection in Thomas’s hearing. And by doubting, he disbelieved the Scriptures of the Old Testament.
Jesus rebuked Thomas for his unbelief, telling him, do not be an unbeliever, but a believer. He then said, “Blessed are those who have not seen, yet have believed.” Those words are meant for us. We have no less of a certain witness of Jesus’ death and resurrection than Thomas did. We have the writings of the holy Apostles, who witnessed Jesus’ death and resurrection, and recorded it by inspiration of the Holy Spirit Himself. St. John wrote, “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.” (John 20:31) The purpose of Holy Scripture is so that you may believe in Jesus Christ and have eternal life from Him, having your sins forgiven. The purpose of the Church is so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, who forgives your sins and grants you eternal life. The Church is built on the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Christ Jesus being the cornerstone.
So, we find Jesus in His Church. And we find His Church where the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed. And we find the proclamation of the forgiveness of sins only where Holy Scripture is followed. Where the Church is built on Holy Scripture, we have certainty in her words. And these words speak forgiveness and salvation to all who will believe.
The story of Thomas’s doubt is a dire warning to us. Thomas wasn’t the only one who doubted. Don’t take comfort in that. That means that doubt can find you. Doubt damns. We learn from Thomas that we should not doubt, because Holy Scripture gives us certainty in our salvation by giving us certainty in Christ. And where the Church is founded on Scripture, we have certainty that the Church is founded on Christ. The Office of the Keys is the most powerful authority wielded on the entire earth; greater than the authority of Congress to declare war or of the president to launch a nuclear weapon. It is the authority to open the very gates of heaven. And Christ has given this authority to His Church on earth, so that you may not doubt, but firmly believe that your sins are forgiven before God in heaven. Amen.

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The Preaching Office

4/25/2022

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Incredulity of Saint Thomas, Caravaggio, 1602. Public Domain.

Quasimodo Geniti Sunday (Easter 2)
John 20:19-31
Pastor James Preus
Trinity Lutheran Church
April 24, 2022

Twice in this Gospel lesson St. John points out that the doors were locked, yet Jesus came and stood among them. How did Jesus do this? Was it just a spirit that looked like Jesus? No. Jesus showed them his hands and his side still bearing the marks of the nails and spear. St. Luke reports that Jesus ate food with them. Spirits do not have scars. Spirits do not eat. Spirits do not have bodies you can touch and feel. So, how does Jesus do this? Jesus is God. He can do whatever he wants. Nothing is impossible with him. And Jesus’ human body does not limit his divine power. The Son of God did not become weak when he became flesh. Yes, he hid his divine glory for a while, as he was swaddled in a manger, as he hungered in the wilderness, as he languished on the cross. But Jesus never ceased to be God. Yet now, after his resurrection, his glory is no longer hidden. Jesus’ body is not limited to space and time the way our bodies are limited, because Jesus is true God. This is also how he was able to exit the tomb with his body without removing the stone. And this is how Jesus is able to be present in the Sacrament of the Altar with his body and blood, even though this seems impossible to us. Jesus is able to do far more than we can either ask or think (Ephesians 3:20).

Why then the scars? Scripture tells us that Jesus’ body is raised in glory. All things are placed under his feat. And all who believe in him will be raised to new life with bodies formed after the image of this risen Christ. Why then the scars? If in Jesus’ resurrection his body is changed so that it has no imperfections or weaknesses, so that it is even able to be in more than one place at one time and enter into closed and locked rooms without opening a door, why do Jesus’ scars remain? Why does his body still bear the marks of the nails in his hands and the mark of the spear in his side, if he has been raised to incorruptibility? For two reasons: 1. To show them that he is the same Jesus whom they saw crucified and 2. To show them what they must preach in order to save sinners.

This risen and glorified Jesus is the same Jesus, who covered in blood, bore the sins of the whole world on the cross, died, and was laid dead in a tomb. He is now risen. Our sins are forever banished. Jesus has conquered death. He shows them the nail marks in his hands and the scar of the spear in his side to prove that he is the same Jesus who suffered for the sins of the world, and he has won. The man who suffered and died for the sins of the world is the same God, who is exalted above all things. Those scars prove that he has won our salvation for us.

Jesus bears the scars to show his disciples what they must preach. It is in this setting that Christ institutes the Office of Preaching the Gospel, so it is in this setting that he shows his ministers his hands. It is as if Jesus is saying, “You must preach the way to eternal life, but that way is not accomplished by works done with your hands. Rather, look at my hands. My hands have done the work needed to be done. See their scars!” And indeed, Jesus has accomplished the work needed to be done to save our souls. That is the content of the Gospel. Preachers of the Gospel do not point sinners to their own hands in order for them to work their own way to heaven. Preachers of the Gospel point sinners to Jesus’ hands, so that they may see who has worked for them and earned their way to eternal life.

This Gospel lesson gives us the best proof text for the Office of the Keys. What is the Office of the Keys? Our Catechism answers, “The Office of the Keys in 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 they do not repent.” It then quotes John 20:22-23: The Lord Jesus breathed on his disciples and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”

This is why our church teaches that when the called ministers of Christ deal with us by Christ’s 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. We believe that when a minister forgives sins, what is called the absolution, that Christ himself is forgiving those sins in heaven. We also believe that when a minister withholds forgiveness, that forgiveness is withheld by Christ himself. The Church is supposed to withhold forgiveness from sinners, who openly refuse to repent of their sins, because they show that they do not have true faith in Christ. You cannot have saving faith while continuing in sin without repenting. Christ commands that His Church withhold forgiveness from unrepentant sinners, so that they learn to repent, so that they may be saved through faith. Yet, Christ commands his Church to forgive the sins of repentant sinners, so that they may know that their sins are forgiven before God in heaven and may be saved through faith.

The Office of the Keys deals directly with confession and absolution as well as excommunication, which is the practice of removing openly unrepentant sinners from the Christian congregation until they repent. Yet, the Office of the Keys really teaches the entire ministry of the Church. Christ has given his Church the authority to forgive sins. The forgiveness of sins is given through the proclamation of the Gospel, that is, through words. Jesus said to his disciples, “The one who hears you hears me. The one who rejects you rejects me.” (Luke 10:16) This is because Jesus has accomplished all that needs to be done for our salvation. He died for our sins. He rose for our justification. We are saved through faith alone. Jesus told Thomas, “Blessed are those who have not seen, yet have believed.” Yet, how are they to believe? John tells us in this very chapter, “These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.” (John 20:31)

Jesus won for us salvation through his bitter suffering and death for our sins and his glorious resurrection. We receive this salvation as a free gift through faith. Yet, there can be no faith without hearing the words of the Gospel. Many people think that they can come to true faith or keep the faith without the word of the Gospel, but it is impossible. Jesus designed for us to receive saving faith through his Word. That is why he gave his Church the Office of the Keys, so that through words spoken by the minister, sinners may believe that they have a gracious and forgiving God. This is why Jesus instituted the Office of Preaching the Gospel, so that sinners may believe the Gospel and be saved.

God planned our salvation; we did not. Jesus, our God and Lord, who became our brother by taking on human nature, died for the sins of the whole world. He is risen from the dead, having made satisfaction for all our sins. God’s plan is for us to receive this salvation as gift through faith, that is, by believing and trusting in the promise that our sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake. God’s plan is that we receive this faith through the proclamation of the Gospel. Jesus showed his disciples his hands and his side, demonstrating that only through the preaching of the cross can sinners be saved. We will not find another way to salvation. There is no other message that can create faith or keep faith alive. Do not be fooled into thinking that you can strengthen your faith in Christ by meditating on your own sinful thoughts or by getting in touch with nature or your garden, or that you can become closer to God by the work of your own hands. No. You can only come to true saving faith by hearing the Gospel of what Jesus’ nail-pierced hands have done for you.

Faith is a gift from God. Because of our sinful reason, no one can believe in Christ unless the Father grants him faith by the Holy Spirit. Thomas proved this by denying the testimony of over a dozen eye witnesses of Jesus’ resurrection, after he himself heard Jesus predict his resurrection, the same Jesus, whom he had witnessed raising the dead. After Thomas confessed the true saving faith, declaring Jesus his God and Lord, Jesus said, “Blessed are those who have not seen, yet have believed.” Those blessed are those whom God has granted faith as a gift. This faith is given through the Gospel message alone.

We speak of the fruits of faith coming after faith, yet they really often happen instantaneously with faith. When the doubting disciples came to faith, having seen the risen Lord, they received two fruits of faith: Peace and Joy. Immediately Jesus declared to them, “Peace be with you.” Having been justified through faith, they had peace with God. And having seen the risen Lord, they had joy.

This is peace, which the world cannot give, which surpasses all understanding. Notice that the threat against the disciples, which compelled them to lock their doors, is still there. In fact, nearly all of them will eventually be killed at the hands of Jesus’ enemies. Yet still, they have peace. God is not angry with them. He has forgiven them and looks favorably at them. And this means that they have peace with their fellow Christians. The Office of the Keys doesn’t give authority to forgive sins to the pastor alone, but to every Christian. Through faith in the Gospel, Christians have peace with one another by forgiving one another their sins.

This peace can only be found in the nail marked hands and the spear scared side of Jesus’ Christ. This is why the pastor says, “The Peace of the Lord be with you always,” as he holds up to the congregation the bread and wine, which is the true risen body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. In Christ alone do we find peace. In Christ alone do we find the ability to be at peace with one another. Saving faith is knowing that true joy can only be found in the scars of Jesus. And no trial, not even the whole world going up in flames can take that joy away from us.

That man nailed to the cross by his hands and feet with a spear thrust in his side is our God and Lord. In his resurrection he gives his Church the power to forgive sins and grant eternal salvation to all who believe. Where Christians gather around Jesus’ Word, there is Jesus in their midst, not simply in spirit, but bodily present. Do not doubt it or deny it. He is our Lord and God. Nothing is impossible with him. Christ is risen. He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!
Amen.

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Real Resurrection, Real God, Real Salvation

4/12/2021

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Doubting Thomas, Karl Heinrich Bloch, 1865-79. Public Domain

Quasimodo Geniti (Easter 2)
John 20:19-31
Pastor James Preus
Trinity Lutheran Church
April 11, 2021

Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed. Alleluia!
Last Easter Sunday, the following was posted on the Twitter account of the Georgia Senator and pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Raphael Warnock, “The meaning of Easter is more transcendent than the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Whether you are a Christian or not, through a commitment to helping others we are able to save ourselves.” The post was later deleted and Warnock’s office stated that a staff member posted it without authorization. Warnock declined to state whether he agreed with the statement or not. However, many did defend it. And as a matter of fact, it expresses the belief of a growing religious and political cult, which is present in many religious denominations, a cult which denies the truth of the Bible, ignores Christ’s work of salvation, and devotes itself to earthly pursuits, such as environmentalism, social justice, and other social, economic, and political activism.
Now, to any orthodox Christian, the statement above is absurd and obviously heretical. How can the meaning of Easter transcend the resurrection of Jesus Christ? Scripture says, “[Christ Jesus], though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:6-11)
So, to say that anything transcends the resurrection of Christ is contrary to Scripture. By his resurrection, Jesus was exalted above all things. His Ascension, which we will be celebrating in a few weeks, is simply delayed while Jesus gives final instruction to his disciples. But it is in Jesus’ resurrection from the dead that Christ is victorious over death and hell and gives us this victory. The only way a person could claim that the meaning of Easter transcends the resurrection of Jesus Christ is if he denied that Jesus bodily rose from the dead and that Jesus is truly God.
And that is exactly what this religious and political cult, which I mentioned earlier, does. You’ve heard of higher criticism, which claims that the events in the Bible did not actually happen and judges all supernatural events in Scripture against observed science. Higher critics deny the miracles of the Bible. They frequently deny the virgin birth of Christ, Jesus’ divinity, the doctrine of the Trinity, and Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. Yet, these same higher critics preach sermons in churches! Well, what do they preach if they do not believe in the Trinity or that Jesus rose from the dead? They preach a religion of works. This is why that Twitter post said that both Christians and non-Christians could save themselves through the commitment to helping others. According to this cult, faith in Christ does not save, but rather, your own works save you.
Now, this is not simply beating up on some silly tweet. Jesus teaches us to mark and avoid false teachers, who come to us in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. In churches throughout our country, there are ministers who will preach about the resurrection of Christ and about salvation when they don’t actually believe that Jesus bodily rose from the dead or that he won salvation for us by his death and resurrection. How can they do this? Equivocation. Equivocation is when the same word is used with different meanings. When they say, “Jesus’ resurrection,” they do not mean that Jesus’ dead body came back to life, but a spiritual resurrection or even a metaphorical resurrection, that is, a pretend resurrection. When they say, “salvation,” they do not mean that you ascend into heaven to live with Christ or that your body is risen from the dead, renewed after the image of Christ. They mean a very earthly and temporal salvation that you experience here and now, a temporary and superficial liberation of sorts.
This liberal religious cult is more palatable to modern people, because it does not ask you to believe in miracles or other difficult to accept teachings in the Bible, like the Trinity and the divinity of Christ and Jesus’ resurrection. What’s more, it doesn’t condemn many popular sins of the flesh like fornication, homosexuality, or abortion. Yet, the acceptance of these sins does not mean there is no law. This religion has a salvation based on works, yet not the works of God. Yet, in this religion there is no real forgiveness nor any real salvation. Rather, you must obey their rules obediently with the false promise of salvation here and now.
Of course, the Bible makes clear that we cannot save ourselves by our own works. No human being will be justified before God by works of the law, for through the law comes knowledge of sin. (Romans 3:20). All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:24). For by grace you have been saved through faith and this is not your own doing, it is a gift from God, not of works. (Ephesians 2:8-9). Yet, if Jesus did not rise bodily from the dead and if Jesus is not true God, then our faith in salvation through Jesus apart from works is a sham. We are of all people most to be pitied.
Yet, our Gospel lesson makes clear that Jesus both rose from the dead bodily and that he truly is our God and Lord. Thomas declared that he would not believe that Jesus rose from the dead unless he saw the nail prints in his hands and placed his hands in the mark of the nails in his hands and in the mark of the spear in his side. Why did Thomas say this? Because he saw Jesus nailed to the cross. He saw the spear driven in his side and blood and water pour out of it. The disciples watched from a distance when Jesus was taken down from the cross and Joseph and Nicodemus wrapped his body in linen clothes and nard and laid him in the tomb. Thomas knew for a fact that Jesus was dead. And it is an indisputable historical fact today that Jesus was crucified and killed and laid in a tomb.
Yet, when Jesus appeared to his disciples, he showed them his hands and his side. He did the same thing to Thomas, even bidding him to stretch out his hand and touch him! Jesus is not a ghost. This is not a metaphorical resurrection. The man who was dead is now alive!
When Thomas saw that Jesus was raised from the dead, he confessed Jesus to be his Lord and his God. He did not only confess this because Jesus rose from the dead. Thomas witnessed Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead, but he didn’t think Lazarus was his Lord and God. But Jesus taught Thomas that he was his Lord and God. Jesus confessed, “Before Abraham was, I AM.” (John 8:58) Jesus taught his disciples that he was one with God the Father (John 10:30). Jesus taught his disciples that he came from the Father and was going back to the Father. That Jesus, whom Thomas saw dead, is now alive, proves that all his teaching is true. It proves that Jesus is indeed Thomas’s Lord and God.
Both that first Easter Sunday and the Sunday after when Thomas was present, the doors were locked and Jesus suddenly appeared to his disciples. Jesus did not come as a ghost, but in flesh and bone, as we just heard. Yet, he defied the laws of physics and appeared in a closed room. How did he do this? Because Jesus is God. Since Jesus’ human body is united to the same person as Jesus’ divine nature, Jesus’ body is God’s body. This means Jesus’ body can do whatever God can do. This is also why he was able to exit the tomb before the angel rolled the stone away. And this is why Jesus is able to be present on many altars in his flesh and blood while simultaneously being present at the Father’s right hand in heaven. Jesus is able to do far more than we can either ask or think. All things are possible with Jesus. Jesus is God.
So, why does it matter that Jesus both bodily rose from the dead and that he is truly God? It matters, because this is how he saves us. Before Jesus told his disciples that whosever sins they forgive are forgiven, he showed them his pierced hands and side. He does the same thing today. Before we can have forgiveness of sins, we must see Jesus’ pierced hands and side, that is, we must hear the Gospel of how he won for us forgiveness of sins. Those marks on his hand and side declare to us that he suffered and died for our sins. By his wounds we are healed of sin and death.
This is why the Church has the authority to forgive sins, because the Church preaches the Gospel that Jesus died for sinners and rose again from the dead. The reason why this modern social and political cult does not forgive sins, is because it does not proclaim Christ’s atonement for sin. Only the Christian Church, which preaches that Jesus, true God and true man, died on the cross for our sins and bodily rose from the dead, can forgive sins. And Christ has given his Church the authority to forgive all sins.
By proving himself to be God, Jesus proved that he had the power to forgive our sins. He was able to bear our guilt. He is able to declare peace from God to us. He is able to breathe on us the Holy Spirit and give us his victory over sin, death, and hell. This all proves, that we are saved apart from our works, but rather through faith in Him, who conquered sin and death for us.
Jesus showed his disciples his pierced hands. It was as if he said, “Not by your works, but by mine are you saved. I have labored for your salvation. You can only receive it as a gift from my hands.” Our hands cannot earn our salvation. Neither can our feet or tongues or brains. We can only receive salvation as a gift from him who won it, Christ Jesus who was crucified, who was raised bodily, and who is exalted to the Father’s right hand, who is our Lord and God.
When we doubt the biblical account that Jesus is both God and man, that he truly suffered and died for our sins and rose bodily from the dead, then we doubt our salvation. We must guard against such doubt and against such teaching that would say that the historical truth of Jesus’ resurrection does not matter. Thomas doubted. He wasn’t the only one. Yet, when he saw his risen Lord, he confessed him as such. Jesus says blessed are those, who have not seen, yet have believed. But Jesus doesn’t leave us without a witness. St. John writes, “These things 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.” These things that are written are not fables or cleverly devised myths. They are the historical, eye-witness accounts that carry the power and authority of the Holy Spirit himself. These truths give us confidence in our salvation, because Christ Jesus has won it for us. Amen.

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Quasimodo Geniti (Easter 2): Jesus Gives Us the Ministry of Reconciliation

4/30/2019

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The Doubting Thomas, from The Small Passion,ca. 1510 Albrecht Dürer. German metmuseum.org Public Domain

Quinquagesima 2019
The Cross of Christ Reveals the Glory of the Holy Trinity
Luke 18:31-43
Pastor James Preus
Trinity Lutheran Church
March 3, 2019

Natural science seeks to determine how the world and universe around us work through observation and experimentation. The natural scientist uses his senses to observe and test nature in order to come to conclusions. When I was a young student my science teacher told our class that we were all scientists, because we all made observations in order to obtain knowledge. And of course, using the scientific method and employing the senses, which God has given you to learn about creation is a good and useful task. We live in the most scientifically advanced civilization in history, because of the well-cultivated pursuit of scientific observation.
Science is very useful for learning about the creation, but what about the Creator? What can you know about God through observation and experimentation and gathering of information through the senses? I’ve recently been following the lectures of some prominent scientists, who argue in favor of intelligent design. They argue that through what we can observe in the natural world, we can conclude that an intelligent designer designed life and other phenomena in the universe. One scientist said that you could see the designer’s signature in the DNA of each cell. We of course, would call this designer, God, the Creator.
And even Scripture tells us that we can know something about God through natural observation. St. Paul writes in Romans chapter 1, “For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.” (vss. 19-20) This learning about God through nature is called natural theology. Yet, it is important to note that although one can learn somethings about God through observing the universe, the universe will not reveal to you the way of salvation or the truth of the holy Trinity. Natural theology will not teach you the Gospel. Rather, St. Paul uses the argument that God’s invisible attributes are clearly perceived in the things that have been made to show that the ungodly are without excuse. We can find evidence of God’s wrath in the natural world, but we cannot find God’s grace.
God’s grace and the glory of the holy Trinity can only be known through revelation of God’s word. Yet, God’s word must not be treated the same way as we do science with testing and experimentation, trying to understand something before we say that it is true. That is the stumbling block that Jesus’ disciples stumbled across when they did not understand his plain words. Jesus spoke clearly that he would be delivered over to the Gentiles to be mocked, mistreated, and killed, and on the third day rise again in order to fulfill the Scriptures.
Yet, his disciples did not understand. This is because the revelation of God’s word is not understood through the scrutiny of our senses, but as a gift from the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 2:12-14 states, “Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.”
You will not learn the truth of the one true God; the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, by observing nature. You will only learn of the true glory and mercy of the Triune God through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In John chapter 14 his disciple Philip said to Jesus, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus responded, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” God the Father will not be seen apart from his Son, Jesus Christ. We see God the Father when we see Jesus crucified on the cross for our sins.
On the cross we see the Father’s righteousness, love, and mercy. The Father is righteous. Sin cannot dwell with him. In Jesus, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, we see the Father’s righteous wrath against sin as Jesus suffers the turmoil of our sin. We see the Father’s wonderous love, who loved us so much that he did not spare his own Son, but made him to be the propitiation for our sins. In the crucifixion of Jesus, we see the will of God the Father carried out on account of his deep love for us. God the Father will not be known and cannot be known apart from Christ’s crucifixion for us.
Christ Jesus, the Son of God, will not and cannot be known apart from his crucifixion. In John chapter 12 our Lord in great anticipation for his crucifixion said, “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” (vss. 27-28) The crucifixion of Christ was the purpose for which he became a human being and was born of the Virgin Mary. Jesus did this to save us. And in saving us through his crucifixion, the Father glorified his name in Christ.
It was necessary for Jesus to be crucified, so that we could be saved. Isaiah 53 articulates the necessity of Christ’s passion some seven centuries before it took place, “But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one --to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (vss. 5-6) In Christ’s crucifixion he gathered all people to himself by removing that which separates us from our holy and righteous God. This is why Christ Jesus will not be seen as our victor as we see him on Easter Sunday, unless he is first seen in his passion on Good Friday.
God the Father will not be known apart from Christ and his cross and Christ Jesus will not be known apart from the Holy Spirit, who delivers the revelation of Christ crucified to us. Natural science cannot explain the value of Jesus’ crucifixion nor can it convince us that it takes away our sins. According to scientific scrutiny the crucifixion of Christ is of no value. This is because only the Holy Spirit can grant faith in Christ. 1 Corinthians 1 states, “For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” (vss. 22-24) The Holy Spirit teaches us what we need to know about the Triune God by first teaching us of Christ’s death for our sins and his resurrection. And he calls us to believe these truths without seeing them or feeling them or testing them.
The blind man in our lesson is a great example to us. He is blind, which demonstrates a lack of the senses. But he doesn’t trust in his senses. He trusts in the promise of Scripture. That is why he calls Jesus, the Son of David, the title of the promised Christ, who would give sight to the blind (1 Chronicles 17; 35:5). Jesus tells the man that his faith has saved him before he receives his sight. The man believed that Jesus would heal him of his blindness before he could see any evidence of it. This is how faith works. Faith trusts in the promise. The Holy Spirit does not give you something for your senses to scrutinize, but for your faith to receive with hope.
To truly know God, you do not start by searching the stars or examining microorganisms under a microscope. To know God, you must look to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. There is the greatest manifestation of the divine essence. In the historical event where God saves sinners, who God is, is most clearly revealed to us. And this event and its meaning are revealed to us by the Holy Spirit in the holy Scriptures.
The crucifixion of Christ identifies for you who God truly is. The crucifixion of Christ also identifies who you really are. The cross of Christ defines you as a Christian. There you see God’s wrath against your sin and the tremendous distance between the righteous God and your sinful self, closed only by the blood of Christ. There you see God’s mercy and love for you, the extreme measure he goes to save you. There you recognize your worth purely through God’s grace. Through faith the Holy Spirit has joined your identity inextricably with the crucifixion of Christ. You are forgiven by Jesus’ suffering and death. You are joined to his death and resurrection. You are a recipient of God’s boundless grace revealed in Christ’s cross. When you call yourself a Christian or baptized you are saying that you are one redeemed by the blood of Christ. You cannot know yourself for the rest of eternity without knowing yourself in connection to Christ and his cross. Forever you are a recipient of God’s boundless grace.
And you can’t know your neighbor apart from Christ’s crucifixion; especially your fellow Christians, who put their faith in it. Jesus shed his blood for everyone here. This should draw us to treat each other with love and patience and forgiveness. When you look at your fellow Christian you see someone, for whom Christ shed his precious blood, whose identity is inseparable from the same event in which you set your hope.
Faith is different from scientific knowledge, because it is dependent on revelation, not observation. The revelation of Christ’s death and resurrection determines what our faith believes is true, not the observations of our senses. This is indeed comforting, because what we experience in this world often hides God’s grace from us, as we suffer pain, doubt, and guilt. But the revelation of Christ’s suffering and death for your sins remains the same. Your Baptism remains the same. The Sacrament, which gives you the risen body and blood of Christ to eat and to drink for your forgiveness remains the same. And by this you know that your God; the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit remains the same, as does his forgiveness and love for you. This Wednesday we will begin to pay special devotion to the passion of Christ and to examine ourselves according to it as we begin the season of Lent. May our eyes be fixed on Christ and his passion beyond these forty days and into eternity. Amen.

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"For faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ." ~ Romans 10:17

The Risen Christ Dwells with His Church

The Greatest Power on Earth

The Preaching Office

Real Resurrection, Real God, Real Salvation

Quasimodo Geniti (Easter 2): Jesus Gives Us the Ministry of Reconciliation

Rev. James Preus

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