2nd Sunday of Easter 4/7/13

Second Sunday of Easter 4/17/13 Text: John 20:19–31 Title: God is patient. Well, today is the annual pick on Thomas day. Good old doubting Thomas. He missed the disciples getting together just one time and picked up a nickname that will follow him around until the Lord returns. It’s really not fair. It’s not fair because all the other disciples doubted just as much as he did. In fact, last week’s Gospel told us about the disciples’ reaction when the women came and told them about the empty tomb and the angels. It said, “The women … told these things to the apostles, but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.” You see, if Thomas is doubting Thomas, then Peter is doubting Peter, James is doubting James, John is doubting John, and so on. Every one of the disciples doubted, but we like to pick on poor Thomas. It would be more accurate to call the whole group the doubting Disciples. In fact, it would be even more accurate to call them the unbelieving Disciples. Then again maybe we pick on Thomas, because in him we recognize our self. The many times that we doubted that God would care for us, as he has promised. Or, truly forgive us for past sins that burden us. Maybe deep down we are not really sure that Jesus is alive. Maybe we too need proof of Jesus resurrection to truly believe. Each of us knows how we struggle at times in our faith life and that is why today’s Gospel reading is so important for us today, for in so many ways Thomas is us. We naturally focus on Thomas, but that is not who we should focus on, for the text is about Jesus and his presence in their midst. The subject of this story is not doubting Thomas or the other doubting disciples, for their doubts which is really unbelief does not change Jesus; who he is, what he did, or what he will do. It is like the Lord’s Supper and Baptism. So many Christians believe that those things are about what we do, but they are not, as the Bible clearly teaches. They are about God working through the bread and wine of his supper and the water of his baptism to give us his wonderful gifts of love, forgiveness, and thus salvation. This gospel reading for today, if you can get past focusing on doubting Thomas is an incredible testimony to the love and patience of Jesus. Jesus would have been well within His rights to criticize all of the disciples, to actually condemn them, for only one of his chosen disciples, John, stayed with him at the cross. Peter denied Jesus three times swearing on an oath that he did not know Jesus while Jesus was on trial. Even though Jesus had repeatedly told them about his resurrection on the third day, none of them believed the women when they came with the good news of the resurrection. Jesus would have been perfectly within his rights to say, “You know what? I’ve had it with all of you. You’re all a bunch of doubters who just don’t get it. I’m going to wash my hands of all of you and find me some believing disciples. You’re through!” Jesus had the right to say that, for they certainly doubted his words before he was arrested and killed. Instead, Jesus was incredibly loving and patient with them. Consider the first words out of Jesus’ mouth when he appeared in their mist. “Peace be with you.” These words were a common greeting at the time of Jesus, but coming out of Jesus’ mouth they were no simple greeting. They were life giving, for when Jesus talks things happen. He said rise to the little girl and she came back to life. He told demons to leave a person they were in and they did. Jesus talks things happen, for Jesus is not just a man, but is also God; his word makes things happen. When Jesus says, “Peace be with you,” he is giving you the peace of God that is above all human understanding. Jesus’ patience is incredible. He did not fuss at them, ridicule them, or condemn them for their unbelief. He showed them his hands and side. He allowed them to poke, prod, and otherwise examine his crucifixion wounds. In his glorious state of exaltation, these wounds are now signs of his identity as savior. The Apostle John would recall this experience in his first epistle, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life.” 1 John 1: Then Jesus said, “Peace be with you,” a second time. This time he gave them his peace so that they could give it to others. Then he said the most amazing thing, “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” Jesus moved those doubting unbelieving disciples into being apostles which means “the sent ones.” They are now going in his place, as his representatives; given the power to heal, drive out demons, and proclaim the good news of Jesus saving act on the cross. Jesus then gave these new pastors, the Apostles a special gift. “He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.” With these words, he gave them the authority to administer the very forgiveness that he earned for the entire world as he hung on the cross. Think about this for just a moment. These men all doubted just as much as Thomas did. They were basically cowards. Their own writings confess that they were weak, and to be honest most of them were uneducated men; men who worked with their hands. All their authority, their standing, their reputation, the honor we bestow on them, rests not on them, but entirely on Jesus. The power of everything that they say and do rests entirely on the works and promises of Jesus. I hope that everyone here believes that when I consecrate the bread and wine in the Lord’s Supper and baptize with water that I am only the instrument being used to declare God’s words. This should be a marvelous comfort to all Christians, for you don’t have to ever worry whether are not you are receiving what God has said he will do. I know that there are many who after hearing me say each Sunday after we confess our sins, “I forgive you your sins.” are thinking “You cannot forgive my sins, only God does that.” You are right. It is not I, but God that forgives you your sins. It is not I, for I know better than you how sinful I am. I need the forgiveness of God myself. I am not worthy in any shape or form to forgive any sin. I personally do not forgive your sins any more than I change the water into Baptismal water or the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. I am just a sinful person, desperately in need of God’s patience, love, and forgiveness that God is using for God’s patience, love, and forgiveness to come to you through his Word, the words of God. That is why it is such a joy for me to speak those words every Sunday morning, for they also speak to me. Having said that, my words are still his words. It is as if he were standing right in front of you and said, “Peace be to you.” for on the cross he made peace between you and the Father. So it is on that day that Jesus gave the Apostles, the first pastors the right to forgive or retain sins, that pastors in God’s Church still have the authority to forgive and retain sins in God’s name. Martin Luther once said that in a sermon he preached, “It is a great and excellent thing for the mouth of every honest minister and preacher to be Christ’s mouth, and for his word and forgiveness to be Christ’s word and forgiveness. If you sin and confess it, believing on Christ, then your minister and preacher will forgive you the same sin in Christ’s place, and the words which he speaks on God’s behalf you ought to accept as if Christ himself had spoken them to you.” But let’s get back to the story of doubting unbelieving Thomas, for there is more that we can learn from it. Thomas wasn’t there Resurrection Sunday, for whatever reason, but Jesus is not through with him. Jesus is patient, for he knows their struggles in believing. He comes back the following week to his disciples. He did not condemn Thomas for doubting. He lovingly and patiently said, “Peace be with you.” “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” Jesus gently brought Thomas back into his Church where forgiveness is proclaimed, the Word taught, and the Sacraments rightly administered. There is great comfort for us in this Gospel account, for we deserve condemnation from God. We all sin. We all murder when we hate. We all hold forgiveness back unless someone makes what they did right. We all steal what is not ours with our coveting. We all lust with our impure sexual thoughts. None of us love our neighbors as ourselves. And, as the poor attendance show we do not always love God above all things. We, as we proclaimed in front of each other most certainly deserve God’s punishment in time and in eternity. We, as hard as we might not want to admit it, must admit that in front of God we have no redeeming qualities within ourselves. Never the less, Jesus is patient with us. He comes to us, Sunday after Sunday saying just as he came to the disciples so long ago, “Peace be with you.” Jesus suffered great violence so that we could have that peace. He submitted to mocking, beating, whipping, and crucifixion. He felt the abandonment of God for you, as he cried out in an agony we can’t begin to fathom, (AY-lo-ee, AY-lo-ee _LAH-mah_sah-BAHK-tah-nee) "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" that is, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" He earned in that moment, what we cannot earn, forgiveness for all people. He earned peace with God. It is through Jesus Christ that we can live with God in peace, the peace the angels proclaimed at his birth. Jesus delivers that peace to us in many different ways. He delivers it in his Holy Scripture. He delivers it in the waters of Holy Baptism. He delivers it in the bread and wine of the Sacrament of the Altar. He delivers it through the mouths of sinful men, like myself, who are, never the less, called to be pastors when we in the name of God forgive your sins. What an amazing peace. What an amazing forgiveness. What an amazing grace. What an amazingly loving and patient Jesus. Amen