The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God, and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
John 20:19 “When therefore it was evening, on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst, and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ 20 And when He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side. The disciples therefore rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus therefore said to them again, ‘Peace be with 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, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.’
24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 The other disciples therefore were saying to him, ‘We have seen the Lord!’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I shall see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.’ 26 And after eight days again His disciples were inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst, and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ 27 Then He said to Thomas, ‘Reach here your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand, and put it into My side; and be not unbelieving, but believing.’ 28 Thomas answered and said to Him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ 29 Jesus said to him, ‘Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.’ 30 Many other signs therefore Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.” (NASB)
Dr. Bernard Nathanson was America’s leading abortionist. He died in 2011. He was cofounder of National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws. By his own admission he was an abortion propagandist and was responsible for 75,000 abortions. It took some time, but eventually he came to recognize the evil that is abortion and his hands were as bloody as any. Along with those realizations came the guilt. Where could he go to get rid of the guilt? He went to the Roman Catholic Church because as he said they were the ones who provided so many ways of being forgiven and provided a man who could speak the Lord’s forgiveness to the guilty. He went there because the Roman church is the church most known for Confession and Absolution. It is unfortunate that the Lutheran church didn’t come to mind where confession and absolution is untainted by the works-righteousness, but Lutherans bear some responsibility for that oversight.
This forsaking of private confession and absolution is particularly sad because the entire person and work of Jesus Christ and the primary and exclusive work of the Christian church is to deliver the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. “As the Father has sent me,” Jesus said, “even so I am sending you. . . . If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them.” (Jn 20:21, 23).
It is still Easter day in the assigned reading for this morning. It is evening. The disciples are locked away in a room out of fear for the Jews. The Gospel of John uses the label “Jews” to refer to a theological party that follows a doctrine of works-righteousness and was hostile to Jesus.
John 20:19-23 “When therefore it was evening, on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst, and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ 20 And when He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side. The disciples therefore rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus therefore said to them again, ‘Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.’”
The disciples were living in fear. They lived in fear of what the religious leaders would do to them. They could be stoned to death as Stephen would be. They could be excommunicated from their synagogues and banded from making a living among other jews. Then there was the fact that they had failed Jesus. They had sinned. They hadn’t kept the Law and they were all bearing the guilt.
Suddenly behind locked doors, a man appears in the room and says to them “eirēnē hymin,” “peace to you.” It is the opposite of what they expected to hear. They expected banging on the doors and temple authorities yelling to let them in.
Instead, the man that appeared in the room didn’t yell. He didn’t accuse them. He did not come with a cohort of temple guards. He did not come to speak a word of judgment on their betrayal, cowardice, and denials. He showed them who He was and what He had come to do. He comes to forgive them and speak peace to them.
Since before the foundation of the world was made, everything concerning the Son of God, His incarnation, birth, His name “Jesus,” which means “He will save His people from their sins,” teaching, miracles, healing, eating and drinking with sinners, suffering and death were all undertaken and ordered toward the forgiveness of sins. None of what Jesus did was for temporary purposes. The peace that Christ gives is not the absence of conflict and trouble in this life. The Greek word “eirēnē” means the same thing as the Hebrew word “shalom.” Of the Messiah’s peace it the word means “the way that leads to salvation. The tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ and so fearing nothing from God and content with its earthly lot, of whatsoever sort that is.” (Strong’s Greek Lexicon)
When Jesus entered a town, a house, or a room, it was to give gifts to the sinner. Even the conflicts between Jesus and the religious leaders was for the sake of the Gospel and the forgiveness of sins. There is no forgiveness of sins in systems of works-righteousness. There is no forgiveness of sins in the Law. The Law always accuses. It never vindicates.
On Easter Sunday the disciples were hiding in fear. Jesus entered the room to forgive sins. They belonged to Christ, but the apostles cowered in a locked room. They bore His name. They were already clean because of the Word Jesus had been spoken to them. Jesus told them in John 15:3; “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.” So Jesus comes to them and the first order of business– to speak peace to them. The second order to show them that the resurrection was true. When the disciples heard the greeting of peace and saw that Jesus had really risen from the dead they rejoiced.
One week later Jesus did it all again. This time with special attention given the disciple who was struggling with unbelief, Thomas. 26 “And after eight days again His disciples were inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst, and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ 27 Then He said to Thomas, ‘Reach here your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand, and put it into My side; and be not unbelieving, but believing.’ 28 Thomas answered and said to Him, ‘My Lord and my God!’
Jesus enters the room a second time again speaks peace and gives to Thomas what He gave to all the other disciples a week before. Jesus shows Thomas that He had risen from the dead, and the testimony of the others was true.
Even Thomas who was stuck in unbelief, was greeted with “peace.” Now think about that for a minute. The only thing that had changed was Jesus stood among them forgiving them. Now the resurrection is no small thing. Jesus’s sacrifice on Good Friday and resurrection on Easter morning changes everything between God and sinner. We have eternal peace with God through Christ.
What hadn’t changed was the devil, world, and the old sinful nature. The enemies of Christ remained. The devil, his demons, the old sinful nature, and religious leaders and their thugs hadn’t changed. In the days following the crucifixion they were every bit as hostile to Jesus and to Christians as they had ever been. They thought that Christians were on their heals. All that was left to do was to hunt them down, break up their church services, and hall Christians off to be tried and punished by the local tribunals. It is into this context that Jesus comes to forgive sins and to give the peace that surpasses all understanding standing.
Up until Jesus came saying, “eirēnē hymin” “peace to you” the disciples were gripped by fear. Easter is the season of the resurrection. But the resurrection is victory over fear, death, and the devil. Several of our Easter hymns sing of the end of fear and victory over death.
We are entering the era of rule by fear. People, those who live in the church and those who don’t are living in fear. People are afraid to speak freely. They are afraid to bear witness to the truth, any truth. They are afraid to call good things good and evil things evil. Corporate CEOs whither before the woke crowd. We are afraid to talk about certain things in certain ways not because we want to be kind while speaking the truth in love, but because Christians we are afraid to speak the truth about the world around us to the people around us because we are afraid of incurring the wrath of the woke and those who live in fear of the woke. We are afraid of what truth telling would mean for our jobs and careers and our relationships with family members and friends. Living in fear is a bad way to live. In fact the Bible defines it as a violation of the First Commandment. Thou shall have no other gods before Me. We should fear, love, and trust God above all else.
It is into this fear that Jesus speaks peace even to Thomas, the peace that comes as a result of our justifications. This is what the church is to do. The apostles did not stay in the room. Jesus sent them out: “As the Father has sent Me, even so I am sending you” (v 21). The gift of the forgiveness of sins is sent forth into the world of sinners. The word of Jesus’s crucifixion and resurrection is proclaimed. Sinners are gathered into the Church, confess their sins, and are forgiven. You live in peace with God and as far as it depends on them at peace with your neighbors.
All things in the church are to be ordered toward the forgiveness of sins. The Lutheran Confessions explain, “God is superabundantly rich in His grace. First, through the spoken Word by which the forgiveness of sins is preached [He commands to be preached] in the whole world; which is the peculiar office of the Gospel. Secondly, through Baptism. Thirdly, through the holy Sacrament of the Altar. Fourthly, through the power of the keys, and also through the mutual conversation and consolation of brethren, Matt. 18:20: Where two or three are gathered together, etc.” (SA III IV).
The church is not a philanthropic organization. It is not a gymnasium to urge and train members to do good works to get into spiritual shape. The church is Christ at work in the world. All that the church does is ordered toward the forgiveness of sins or one sinner at a time. “For where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation” (Small Catechism, Sacrament of the Altar). “Everything, therefore, in the Christian Church is ordered toward this goal: we shall daily receive in the Church nothing but the forgiveness of sin. . . . For we are in the Christian Church, where there is nothing but continuous, uninterrupted forgiveness of sin.” (LC II 55)
And once again that brings us back to properly ordered and conducted church services. Everything from the time we walk in until the time we walk out is so ordered that the Word and Sacrament ministry is executed so that all who confess their sins will receive the forgiveness of all their sins.
The modern evangelical, church growth, contemporary church service, and liberal church service is not so ordered. These kids of services are designed/ordered to create a religious euphoria, certain emotions, and motivation to do certain kinds of “good deeds.”
Jesus appeared on Easter Day and one week later for the purpose of forgiving the disciples sins, showing them that He had risen from the dead, and speaking peace to you because your sins are forgiven you.
Amen.
May the peace that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.