Sunday 29 April 2012
Easter 4 [John 16:16-22] (29-Apr-2012)
This sermon was preached at the parish service at Rawson Village, Rawson at the end of our parish youth camp, 11am.
Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and
from our Lord Jesus Christ.
Text: (John
16:16-22)
So also
you have sorrow now, but I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice, and
no one will take your joy away from you.
Prayer: Let
the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your
sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Jesus is always pointing us forward to look ahead to the next life –
to our life together with him in heaven.
And in our reading today, on the one hand, Jesus says: A little while,
this will happen, and a little while, that will happen. But then on the other
hand, he says: No one will take your joy from you.
On the one hand, Jesus shows us what happens in our life here on
earth: it changes, it’s moody, it’s up and down. But on the other hand, Jesus
shows us what happens in our life to come in heaven: it is fixed, it is stable,
it doesn’t move around. It’s reliable. “No one will take your joy away from
you.”
And so at the beginning of our reading today Jesus says: “A little
while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will
see me.”
And this little expression confuses the disciples. They say to each
other: What is Jesus talking about? What’s he mean when he says “a little
while”?
First of all, here, he’s talking about his death and his burial. Jesus
is speaking these words with his disciples on Maundy Thursday, the day before
he dies on the cross, the Thursday night before Good Friday. So the very next
day, he is going to go and die for them, and he will be buried. And he will
stay there through Friday night, and all day Saturday, and no one will see him
again until Sunday morning when he will be risen from the dead.
So he says: “A little while, and you will see me no longer.” – In a
short time, in fact, tomorrow, I will die, and then you will see me no longer.
Then he says, “And again a little while, and you will see me.” Wait a couple of
days, and then you will see me again on Easter Sunday morning.
But at this stage, the disciples don’t know what Jesus is talking
about. We read: “So some of his disciples
said to one another, “What is this that he says to us, “A little while, and you
will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me”; and “because I
am going to the Father”?” So they were saying “What does he mean by “a little
while”? We do not know what he is talking about.” Jesus knew that they wanted
to ask him, so he said to them, “Is this what you are asking yourselves, what I
meant by saying, “A little while and you will not see me, and again a little
while and you will see me?”
It’s strange that the gospel is so repetitive here! But we see here
just how significant these words are. The disciples had no idea what was going
on the night before Jesus was killed. We know the full story, so we can look
back at what happened and put it into context. But let’s listen to what Jesus
says when he explains himself:
He says: “Truly, truly, I say to
you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be
sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.”
Here he talks to the disciples in a secretive kind of way. He’s
talking about his cross and his resurrection, but at the same time, he doesn’t
mention it explicitly. Instead he says: You
will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice.
When I go the cross and die, it will be sad for you. You will weep and
lament. But when I am killed, those who wanted to get rid of me will rejoice.
Some people will celebrate. The people who wanted Jesus killed will be happy.
But Jesus says: You will be
sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.
He says: You might be sad for a little time, but you won’t be sad
forever. Because I’m going to rise from the dead. And when that happens, then
there will be a time to be happy again.
Now this is what Jesus was telling disciples so many years ago. But he
also says the same thing to us today.
Many people think that to be a Christian, you have to be happy all the
time, and that you’re never allowed to be sad.
But this isn’t true. We are not saved because we are either happy or
sad. We are saved simply because we are baptised, and because God has come and
given us salvation. God has come and covered us with the blood of Jesus Christ.
But in the meantime, we are people who fluctuate with all kinds of
different emotions. We are happy sometimes, sad sometimes, angry sometimes,
gentle sometimes, impatient, patient – you name it! The fact that we might be
in a certain mood doesn’t alter the fundamental fact that God loves us.
Sadness, sorrow, pain, suffering—all these things come about because
of sin. If there were no sin, there would be no suffering in the world. And
each of us is corrupted by sin. Each person who has ever been born into the
world, including you and me, is stuck in sin. Even when we do something good,
there is still some sin in it. If we help someone, or do something good for
someone, we want to take the credit for it, and we want people to notice us.
The catechism says that each of us is a “lost and condemned person.”
So it’s “natural” then for us (in a sense) that we should feel many
times in our life what it’s like to be lost, and feel like we’re a million
miles away from home, and a million miles away from God. It’s kind of “logical”
that sometimes we will feel what it’s like to be condemned, and feel like we’re
stuck in hell and we can’t get out of it.
But not only is it logical or natural that we should feel like this
sometimes, but Jesus actually promises it. He says: “Truly, truly, I say to
you, you will weep and lament. You will be sorrowful.”
And many places in the bible we read about those times in our life
where God hides his face from us, and leaves us in the dark for a while. But he
doesn’t do this because he hates us, he does this because he loves us and he
wants us to look to him again.
And so, just as Jesus promises that we will be sad and sorrowful, he
also says: “But your sorrow will turn into joy.”
Think about when Jesus rose from the dead. All the sadness of the
crucifixion, all the pain of Jesus death was finished. All there is now is joy,
happiness, gladness. Jesus is risen from the dead. He’s never going to die
again. And for the rest of eternity, he will always be risen. Jesus will always
be alive. This joy, this happiness, this gladness that comes with the
resurrection simply never ends.
And so, Jesus says: “Your sorrow will turn into joy.”
In this life, many times we will be sad about something. Sometimes
we’re weighed down by pressure on us, or because someone has died, or because
someone has treated us badly, or something like that. But Jesus always promises
that the sadness will end.
There will always come a time when we turn the corner, and we will
find Jesus waiting for us, with the nails in his hands, and blessing us.
Remember Mary Magdalene when she went to the empty tomb: She was weeping, she
was sorrowful, but Jesus turned her sorrow into joy.
Jesus in fact gives a little example from life about what he’s talking
about.
He says: “When a woman is giving
birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the
baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been
born into the world.”
Sometimes, I’ve walked in on a conversation where some women are
discussing the stories of the births of their children. And one woman will say,
“Oh! You think that’s bad!! I had a 75 hour labour…” And sometimes I say, “Hey!
Jesus says: When she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the
anguish.” Then I get slapped and told to go away!
But honestly speaking, even though some women do remember their labour
stories, and tell them, as the months go on, the years, mothers don’t talk
about that. There’s so much more to talk about! There’s a child, and the child
grows up into the teenager, and then an adult! All this is so much more
interesting that their birth!
In the same way, Jesus has risen from the dead. The time of sadness is
over. The sins of the world have been paid for. Many times in our life we had
sadness, and Jesus wants us to see our sin and acknowledge it. But at the same
time, he wants to forgive it, and he wants to raise us up from the dead, he
wants to lift our heads up high again, and encourage us with his Holy Spirit. And
the joy that comes with the forgiveness of sins far outshines the pain that
came with the sin.
In Psalm 23 we read: “Even though I walk through the valley of the
shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.”
Yes, many times we will experiences the pain and the effects of sin.
Many times we will suffer and be sorrowful. Many times we will walk through the
valley of the shadow of death. But the psalm says: “I will fear no evil, for
you are with me.”
And so Jesus says: “So also you
have sorrow now, but I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice, and no
one will take your joy away from you.”
Many times in our life we will experience some happiness—we are never
sad all the time. We are also never happy all the time either. When the good
times come, we should thank God for them, and realise that they are a little
foretaste of what is to come in the next life. They are a little entrée course
before we enter the great wedding banquet of heaven.
We do have sorrow now. We have sorrow because we live with sin. But
when we die, this will be the first time ever in our whole entire lives when we
will be free from sin. We are baptised. Jesus has given us the Holy Spirit. He
has given us the forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and salvation.
But when we are taken from this life to God in heaven when we die, it
will be the first time when we finally stop sinning. This doesn’t happen simply
because we die—death doesn’t give us joy. Death doesn’t give us any happiness.
Jesus gives the joy, he gives the happiness. He has risen from the
dead. He has passed through death and come out the other side. We will see the
face of Jesus! We will see him again! We will know him, just as he has known us
all of our lives! That’s why we have hope. That’s why he can stare at death in
the face and say to us, “I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice, and
no one will take your joy away from you!”
So as we come into the presence of Jesus today, to pray, to receive
the Lord’s Supper, to present ourselves to him in our sinfulness, suffering and
sorrow, let’s continually remind ourselves: He is risen from the dead! Your
sorrow will turn into joy! No one will take your joy from you!
Amen.
Lord Jesus Christ, we thank you for dying for us on the cross and
taking on yourself all our suffering, sin and sadness. And we thank you for the
joy that comes with your resurrection. Comfort us with the joy of the Holy
Spirit, and keep us strong in the faith. Amen.
Sunday 22 April 2012
Sunday 15 April 2012
Saturday 14 April 2012
Easter 2 [John 20:19-31] (15-April-2012)
This sermon was preached at St Paul's Lutheran Church, Darnum (9am), Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Traralgon (11am), and Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Bairnsdale (3pm).
Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
Text: (John 20:19-31)
Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.
Prayer: Let the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
When it comes to understanding the Christian faith, there is one simple principle that we should hold to: the text, the whole text, and nothing but the text. Everything is given to us in the bible. We don’t have to go poking around for hidden, secret meanings to the clear words of Scripture—what the bible says it means, and what it means it says. And so Christian pastors are not really called to interpret the word of God for people, but simply to speak the word of God, to proclaim it, to give the word of God a voice. And when this happens, one of two things happens—either people are convicted of their sin, or they are comforted with the forgiveness of sin. Either their wounds are exposed, or they are healed. Either the door of heaven is shut in their face, or it is wonderfully opened for them.
This is exactly what Jesus commands his apostles to do today when he says: “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”
We call this the “Office of the Keys”: speaking the law and speaking the gospel. It is a pastor’s job to speak both—to speak whatever Jesus commands—and the Holy Spirit then takes these words and applies them to people who hear it, to convict people of sin and to bring them the comfort of Jesus.
But before we get to that part of our gospel reading today, I’d like us to back up a minute. It’s all very well for Jesus to come into this room today and speak these words to his apostles, but who is this Jesus, and what’s the occasion, and what’s so special about what happens in our reading today?
In the last couple of weeks, with the celebration of Easter throughout the world, the church has come into the forefront of the public media, having the opportunity to say its piece about what Easter means. Also, at the same time, it is also a time when those who want to mock and ridicule Christianity seek to do just that, even though they are often not given an equal platform with the church at this time of year.
But one thing that I have heard a little bit this year is the idea that “Jesus is a zombie!” People say this: “Jesus must be a zombie, because he comes back from the dead.” They also say that his followers must be zombies too because he asks us to eat his body and drink his blood! But there’s little message in the background of this little quip which goes like this: “Nobody is stupid enough to believe in zombies anyway, so who on earth would so be stupid as to believe that Jesus rose from the dead?”
So, once we’ve gotten to the point where the insult has rolled like water off the duck’s back, we’re still left with this accusation (even though it is a silly one) against the Christian faith, that “Jesus was a zombie.” What do you think? Was he a zombie?
In the days before horror movies, this question wouldn’t have been asked, but we really have to know what the difference is between Jesus and a “zombie”.
First of all, it seems that the concept of a “zombie” originally came from West African voodoo. And basically, with horror movies aside, it has to do with a person who has died who is brought to life through witchcraft and is under the control of the person who has used the witchcraft. The word “zombie” seems to have either come from Haiti or from West Africa referring to this sort of witchcraft.
Now at Easter time, there are two words that we describe when we talk about Jesus: firstly, we say he is risen, and also, we say he is alive.
A zombie is not risen, but only merely resuscitated, or having “come back” from the dead.
A zombie is not alive, but still under the power of death.
So let’s go the text, the whole text, and nothing but the text to see what our Gospel reading claims to have happened according to the Apostle and Evangelist St John.
We read: On the evening of that day [that is, on Easter Sunday], the first day of the week [that means Sunday], 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.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when the saw the Lord.
So we see that there is a great miracle that takes place. At the end of John 19, it says that Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus took the body of Jesus to a tomb nearby to Golgotha, and it says: “they laid his body there.”
When it comes to funerals, most people think that a comment like that—“they laid his body there”—amounts to the full stop at the end of the story of a person’s life. There’s nothing more to tell. There’s nothing more that could happen. The body’s in the grave, and that’s it.
But in our reading today, it says that Jesus did two things: he came and he stood.
Normally, anyone who had been killed by crucifixion and laid in a tomb wouldn’t be coming and standing anywhere, but not in the case with Jesus.
So if it says he came, we should understand that he made use of the ability to move. And he wasn’t just passing through, but he came and stood among them. There’s nothing tricky about these words: they are simple enough, and describe this great miracle. The passage doesn’t say that he appeared out of thin air, but that he came—he used his free will to come to this place and to stand there.
Now a zombie, by the way, would not come of his free will—he would simply be moved like a pawn on a chessboard. That’s not what happens here. Jesus is not a puppet on a string.
But we read that he stood in a particular place: he came and stood among them. He could have gone to all sorts of people who were responsible for his death and wreaked his vengeance on them. But he doesn’t—he goes to his disciples, all of whom had abandoned him and fled, and he stands among them, and says: Peace be with you.
What does he do? He forgives them. He brings peace to them. All the let-downs of the past are forgotten. They’re not important anymore. Jesus simply comes to allow his disciples to share in the joy of his resurrection.
And then, we read: When he said this, he showed them his hands and his side.
The words “peace be with you” are great words, but Jesus wants to show his disciples the reason and the basis for that peace: his wounds. Colossians says that Jesus made peace by the blood of his cross. And Jesus comes to show the disciples that everything is now at peace because of those holy and precious wounds. But also, he shows them his hands and side to show to them that it is the same Jesus, and that it is not a ghost, but that it is him in the flesh.
But you see, this is why Jesus is not a zombie. Zombies don’t come in peace: they are the work of the devil at worst, and the figments of people’s dark imaginations at best. They only come to take and attack. Jesus comes and he brings peace, and he brings peace through his wounds. And in the midst of all this, it says: Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.
This gladness was not a forced gladness. They were not in the presence of a bad smell here, something deathly. Jesus wasn't standing there as a resuscitated corpse under a spell, he was not standing there as a walking cadavre, some kind of Frankinstein. He is standing there as their Lord and God, risen from the dead, and the Lord of Life.
In 1 Cor 15, St Paul writes a great chapter there about the resurrection. And he says: “But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what you sow it not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain.”
So Paul compares resurrection to planting a seed. When Jesus died and was buried, he was planted like a seed in the ground. When he rose from the dead, it wasn’t like they dug the seed up again, but rather, the seed grew up into a beautiful plant. So Jesus is not resuscitated, he is risen. His body has no corruption and no rot. He is pure and fresh and clean from death, and he has surpassed death and defeated it. And so, when he shows the disciples his hands and his feet, he brings them peace, he brings them happiness, gladness, refreshment, gladness, rejoicing. That’s why often the butterfly is used as a symbol of the resurrection—resuscitation would be simply breaking open a cacoon and pulling the caterpillar back out again. Resurrection is that the caterpillar breaks out of the cacoon as something new and beautiful. In biology, they call this “metamorphosis”. The same word is used in the New Testament when we talk about Jesus transfigured body. The word for transfiguration in Greek is metamorphosis.
And we see here, Jesus body, beautiful and glorious—there’s something special about what happens, because the doors were locked, but this is not a hindrance to him. He still comes and he still stands among them. Jesus body is full of life and victory. There is no death there. And so when we talk about the Lord’s Supper, there can be no accusation that we are cannibals, because Jesus is not calling us to eat dead flesh and putrid blood, but his own resurrected and living body and his own holy and life-giving blood, through the bread and wine. The Lord’s Supper is planted in us as a down-payment in advance of the resurrection on the last day that we will share with Jesus. “The body of our Lord Jesus Christ and his holy precious blood keep you in body and soul until life eternal.” And so Jesus comes to us in the Lord’s Supper surpassing time and space, just as he passed through the closed doors on that first Easter Day.
But notice that if it weren’t for his words, we wouldn’t know what Jesus’ intention was when he went to his disciples. He says “Peace be with you.” And so just as the Father sent him, he sends out his apostles to bring the same peace to the whole world: the forgiveness of sins. Pastors actually perform this action every Sunday, and also whenever people want it, if they want to receive the absolution privately. This is something that we as Lutherans need to think about and use much more often. The absolution is a great gift of Jesus which he breathes out with his Holy Spirit for the benefit of the church.
But also, we as Christians bring this peace everytime we speak the forgiveness of sins to each other in our homes and among our circle of friends, when someone has wronged us or we have wronged someone else. Every time the forgiveness of sins is spoken in church in the authority of the pastoral office, or in our individual lives and vocations, the peace of Jesus’ wounds is brought to that place.
But you see, the peace of Christ, the forgiveness of sins, doesn’t exist without his wounds. Thomas knew this, and this was the main issue for him. He knew that without the holes in his hands and feet and the slit in his side from the spear, there was no peace and no forgiveness. He didn’t want a ghost, he didn’t want a zombie, he didn’t want any voodoo or magic trick. He wanted the resurrection from the dead, he wanted victory over death, and nothing less than that. And even though he had the greatest doubt, in the end he makes the greatest confession of truth: My Lord and my God!
In the church today, Jesus does not show his wounds to us before our eyes, but he preaches his wounds into our ears. He sends his apostles, evangelists, pastors and teachers into the world to preach Christ crucified. So Jesus says: Have you believed because you have seen? Blessed are they who have not seen and yet have believed.
So as we come into the presence of our Lord Jesus today, let us continually ask him to do what he did to his disciples on that first Easter Day: He came. He stood among them. He spoke his peace to them. And he showed them his wounds.
And when Jesus does those things in our midst, then the words will also be fulfilled in us: Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.
Happy Easter to all of you!
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
Amen.
Lord Jesus Christ, come and stand among us today. Speak your words of forgiveness, the words of peace to us which have made possible through your blood on the cross. Let us come and take refuge in your wounds, from which your blood dropped down for the sin of the world, and also my sin. You have turned my mourning into dancing, you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness! Alleluia! Amen.
Sunday 8 April 2012
Saturday 7 April 2012
Easter Sunday [John 20:1-18] (8-April-2012)
This sermon was preached at St Paul's Lutheran Church, Darnum (7am), Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Traralgon (10am), Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yarram (2pm) and St John's Lutheran Church, Sale (4pm).
Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
Text: (John 20:1-18)
Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these things to her.
Prayer: Let the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
There is one simple thing that we are gathered together here to celebrate today: the fact that Jesus is risen from the dead.
Every year for the around the last 2000 years or so, there has been some place in the world where these words have been said: Christ is risen! These simple words are the backbone of the Christian faith. There is no Christian faith without these words. There is no salvation without these words, there is no eternal life without these words. There is no forgiveness of sins without these words.
And so churches throughout the world have said for centuries this simple little phrase: Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
On Easter Sunday, notice that we don’t say that Christ is alive. Sometimes churches have signs that say, “Jesus lives”, or something like that. Now, it is true: Jesus is alive. But this message is not the clear message of Christianity yet. You see, sometimes when a person dies, people say that they still live on in their hearts, or something like that. That is not what we’re talking about at Easter.
We are talking about the fact that after Jesus died on the cross, they wrapped his body up with cloths and anointed his body with spices. On Good Friday, he breathed out for the last time. And then on Easter Sunday he sat up, stood up and walked out of the tomb. The most important thing for us to come to terms with on Easter Sunday is the simple fact that the resurrection happened. Jesus actually rose from the dead.
Jesus is risen from the dead, he is completely risen from the dead, and nothing less than risen from the dead. Christ is risen, and in this way, and only in this way, can we say that he is alive.
When Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, the angel Gabriel said to the Virgin Mary: “Nothing will be impossible with God.” On this occasion the angel was saying that it was not impossible that Elizabeth, Mary’s relative, should conceive and give birth to a son, when she had been barren all her life and now was old. It was also not impossible that Mary herself, a virgin, not having had any relations with a man, would conceive and give birth to the Son of God.
But this little motto – “Nothing will be impossible with God” – is a kind of summary of the whole of Jesus’ life. Every thing that Jesus says and does is coloured by these words.
And right up to Easter Sunday, we stand here today in the presence of God with the same motto on our lips, with God wiping all tears from our eyes, speaking our faith in the presence of the angels and against the world, confessing with confidence the most impossible thing that could happen: Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
And so in our Gospel reading today from St John, we are put in the shoes of Mary Madgalene. We read: Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”
Sometimes people talk as if there are two types of Christians: Good Friday Christians and Easter Sunday Christians. Basically, this amounts to happy Christians and sad Christians, as if being someone who is sad is a bad thing in the sight of God, and being someone who is constantly happy is what it really means to be a Christian. If you hear this sort of thing, then walk away and let the devil make those sorts of distinctions. It’s all rubbish, and just some silly attempt to undermine your faith because of whatever emotions you might feel.
As I heard a pastor recently put it like this: “Without the resurrection, Jesus is not the crucified one, but merely the one who was crucified and is still dead. But since he rose from the dead, He lives as the crucified one. Jesus risen is Jesus crucified. So every faithful pastor preaches Christ crucified!”
What we notice in our reading here is that Mary did not go the cross on Easter Sunday morning. She went to the tomb. She knew that the cross was empty. But she didn’t know the tomb was empty until she got there.
You see, often Lutheran churches have a crucifix in them. And people say—wrongly—that because Jesus is risen, the cross should be empty. But the symbol of the resurrection is not an empty cross, but an empty tomb. The message of Easter is that this Jesus crucified on the cross is the one who is risen from the dead.
But in our Gospel reading today, we notice that Mary Magdalene is crying, she is worried, she is distressed.
She goes to Peter and John and she says: “They have taken away my Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”
She brings her problems and her distress to Peter and John.
And what happens? We read: So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. Both of them were running together but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must risen from the dead. Then the disciples went back to their homes.
Notice all the detail here: the little race that the disciples have, the linen cloths, the face cloth by itself, Peter looks in first and then John.
Mary leads Peter and John to see what she saw for themselves. But what good does this do for Mary?
We read: But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb.
She is still crying, she is still anxious, she is still distressed.
She is still without comfort. Her soul refuses to be comforted, and so it should.
The apostles by themselves cannot do a single thing for her. They cannot comfort her. Fellow sinners can bring no comfort from their own minds to fellow sinners. No amount of “cheer up”, “it’s all right”, “don’t cry” can stop Mary Magdalene’s tears from flowing.
So it’s very important how we think about Jesus here: do you think he’s just another man, like any other man, like the Peter or John? There are plenty of people today who deny that Jesus is true God and true man in one person. But you see, Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit from a virgin, he was both God and man together. If you don’t believe that Jesus is truly God, then what are you left with? Nothing better than Peter or John—a man like any other man. And then we read: But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. Peter and John can offer Mary no comfort. And you believe that Jesus is simply just another “good man”, a “nice guy”, a “pretty good sort of bloke” like Peter and John, then there is no comfort for you. That sort of Jesus is simply not capable of wiping Mary’s tears away.
Then we read: And Mary saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.”
Here we see also that even angels from heaven are not capable of wiping Mary’s tears away. You would have thought that it was an amazing thing that she had seen such a glorious vision from heaven. But she doesn’t want them. She doesn’t want to see angels: her concern is her Lord: “They have taken away my Lord”.
Jesus isn’t an angel either. He isn’t some sort of ghost, or spirit. He has a real human body. If you think that Jesus is just some sort of wafty, nebulous ghost, then you haven’t met the real Jesus. Jesus didn’t become a ghost after his resurrection. He got up and walked out of the tomb. There are Christians today who say that Jesus didn’t physically rise from the dead. They basically make Jesus out to be some sort of angel, or spirit, or ghost. No! Jesus is truly human, a real man who took flesh and blood from his mum, who had real nails go through his hands and feet. He is a high priest who sympathises with you in your weakness.
Out with Jesus, if he is only just a man like Peter and John! Throw Jesus out, if he is merely a spirit, like these two angels! Chuck Jesus out if he is not true God, and just a “good bloke”! Chuck Jesus out if he is not true man, and is just some sort of spirit! Give the impostors the heave-ho! Any “Jesus” like this is the devil in disguise and is not welcome in our church on Easter Sunday. Even two men and the two angels disappoint Mary and leave her in her tears.
So we read: Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means teacher).
And finally, we read that Mary’s tears dry up and her heart rejoices, not only when she is standing in the presence of her risen Saviour, but when he calls her by name.
Jesus, our risen Saviour, true man and true God, our Lord, our teacher, calls you by name today. He calls you to follow him, to worship him, to trust in him. And when Jesus calls you by name, and when you allows you to recognise him as your resurrected Lord, then he comforts you. Jesus is the one who says, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” No human being can say this, no angel or spirit can say this. Only Jesus can say this, only Jesus can wipe away our tears from our eyes, because only he is the Son of God, only he is our Immanuel, our God with us, only he was crucified on the cross, and only he was risen from the dead. You are in the presence of the risen Lord Jesus in this church today! This is a reality, a fact—don’t mistake him for a gardener, but recognise him for who he is: he is calling you by your name!
Only he can turn our mourning into dancing, as it says in Psalm 30. Only he can loose our sackcloth and clothe us with gladness.
So St Paul says: If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain… If Christ has not been raised, your faith it futile and you are still in your sins… But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
And so Mary says: “I have seen the Lord!”
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
Amen.
Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Friday 6 April 2012
Good Friday [Luke 23:46] (6-April-2012)
This sermon was preached at St Paul's Lutheran Church, Darnum (9am) and Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Traralgon (11am).
And the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and your minds safe in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
Text: (Luke 23:46)
Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last.
Prayer: Let the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
In Genesis chapter 2, we read: “then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.”
Right at the beginning of the world, God gave life. And very soon after this, Adam and Eve brought upon themselves death. And now we come to Good Friday, and it looks like death has won, death has gained the upper hand.
But in actual fact, the person who dies on Good Friday is not just any old man—but he is truly God, and he is the same true God who breathed life into the nostrils of Adam all those many years ago.
And now, Jesus Christ, our Lord and our God, dies. And in this little verse from St Luke’s Gospel we read Jesus’ final words, words from Psalm 31: “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last.
And here we see Jesus Christ, true man, born of the virgin Mary and also true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, die. Here we see our God of God, Light of Light, true God of true God dead, overshadowed with darkness, truly dead. Nothing less than dead.
But this breath that Jesus breathes out—this is our life! This is our hope! With his last breath, Jesus breathes out his living breath into his Father’s hands, and he makes alive a new creation.
Christ is your life… and without Christ, you simply have no power to live. He is the one who has breathed the breath of life into your nostrils and made you a living soul. And on this Good Friday, we see our Lord and our Saviour, breathe out his last breath into the hands of his Father—there is no power to live in you, except this breath which Jesus gives up in his final cry to the Father.
And because Jesus has done this and breathed out this last breath—you are free from death. Death has no power over you. Jesus is there—and he is breathing life into your death.
As St Paul says in Philippians: For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. And in Colossians: For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
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On the other hand, people, human beings, like you and me, breathe out something quite different.
Psalm 27 says: Give me not up to the will of my adversaries; for false witnesses have risen against me, and they breathe out violence.
This is the world we live in: it is a world of sin. It is full of people who are breathing our sin and lies. You are one of them. Jesus dies alone on the cross—all the disciples flee from him and deny him. That includes you. The whole world lines up to bring false charges against Jesus.
Right from our birth, all people who are born into the world are born in sin. Sin is stuck to the breath of everyone. The fault does not lie with God who created us, but with us who sin.
Nice words can’t cover up the damage that is constantly done.
James says: How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
This is the reality of human existence: careless words, empty words – and then suffering, death and sadness.
As Psalm 90 says: For all our days are under your wrath, we bring our years to and end like a sigh. Or Psalm 102: For my days pass away like smoke, and my bones burn like a furnace.
Each member of the human race clings like a magnet to sin and unbelief. As the prophet Isaiah says: The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s crib, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.
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And so around 2012 years ago—a virgin conceives and bears a son. Jesus begins his life as the tiniest of babies, as the tiniest of human embryos—he is born, grows up into a boy, a teenager, a man—and when his hour had come, he goes to the cross for us.
As it says in one of the great hymns:
Thus, when thirty years accomplished, Went he forth from Nazareth, Destined, dedicate, and willing, Wrought his work, and met his death; Like a lamb He humbly yielded On the cross His dying breath.
I have heard it often said: Why would God bother with us? With all the things that God could occupy himself with, and with all the violence and greed and hate that exists in the world, why would God bother with us?
And this exactly what we commemorate on Good Friday: God is bothering with you. Jesus Christ, true God and true man, comes into the world, almost like walking into a tomb that stinks of death, and bothers to stay.
What’s strange is that people mistake the stink. People think that Jesus is the one who stinks of death, but in actual fact, they are the ones who stink.
And we would expect Jesus to simply wipe out this violence, this blood shed, this sin, this corruption that he sees around himself. Instead of speaking judgment against the world, the world speaks judgment against him. Instead of throwing out the stink, the stinkers throw him out. Instead of bring accusation against all the guilty, the guilty bring accusations against him, the innocent lamb of God.
But this is what people always do: they exchange the truth of God for a lie! As it says in Romans 3: Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.
All the might of the world’s curses, the world’s deceit, the world’s lies, the world’s venom, the world’s bitterness—all of this is breathed out and hurled at Christ when it is said: They all condemned his as deserving death.
If there were ever one man in the whole history of the world who was not guilty of death, it was Jesus Christ. And yet, day by day, the entire human race breathes out their lies at the innocent Jesus.
This is the only man who has never lied. He says: I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. And he says: I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He goes out and he seeks us out, he seeks out the lost, and he dies for the lost.
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And so, in the midst of world breathing out curses against God, and raging against God with all their might, Jesus breathes out his last breath. “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!”
He loving and gently places his sacrifice into his Father’s hands. Not long before hand he had said: “It is finished.” Every sin that had ever been committed had been suffered for. Every human life in the world past, present and future was paid for with this holy and precious blood.
And so, Jesus commends this sacrifice into the hands of his father. Hebrews says: We have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
This offering is now placed into the hands of the Father—perfect, holy, sufficient. Jesus commends into the Father his spirit.
Psalm 49 says: Truly no man can ransom another, or give to God the price of his life, for the ransom of their life is costly and can never suffice.
Hear what the Psalm says: Truly no man can ransom another… but Jesus Christ, who is true God and true man, can ransom the entire human life—he is able to offer to God the price of your life, and it does suffice.
As St Peter says: You were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.
This blood is spilt—the price is paid—your guilt is atoned for. All the accusations against you have been nailed to the cross. Every sinful word has been forgiven through Jesus silence before his accusers. Every sinful action has been forgiven through every unjust action that was inflicted on Jesus—his crown of thorns, the spit, the whippings, the nails, the vinegar. Every sinful thought has been forgiven through Jesus’ breathing out his Spirit into his Father’s hands.
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And so, on this Good Friday, our Lord Jesus Christ comes to heal up the broken hearted and bind up their wounds.
With heavy and broken hearts, with wounded and seared consciences, with troubled and confused minds, we come to our Jesus Christ and we stand under his cross.
Psalm 51 says: The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
St Paul says: God made [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might be the righteousness of God.
Jesus commends his broken spirit, his spirit that felt the accusation of the world, his spirit which felt the abandonment of God when he cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me”—Jesus commends this spirit into his Father’s hands.
“Father, into your hands I commit my Spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last.
And he breathes his life, his salvation, his forgiveness, his peace, his healing into your broken heart. He comes and he speaks his death into your life. He has buried you through baptism into his death, so that just as he is risen from the dead, we too might walk in the newness of life.
When comes your turn to die, there is no reason to doubt, there is no reason to be worried. Jesus has breathed out his last breath, and he pours out his life into your death. He is nailed to the cross, and you are set free from death.
This breath of Jesus is the breath of life. This final breath of Jesus breathes out power to all the dying.
As the hymn says: Mine eyes shall then behold Thee, Upon Thy cross shall dwell, My heart by faith enfold Thee; Who dieth thus, dies well.
Let those words also be your last words, at the end of each task, the end of each day, the end of your life: Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.
Your Lord Jesus has died for you. He has commended his spirit into the Father’s hands for you, and simply because He loves you with every fibre of his being, and with every breath.
Jesus says: In my Father’s house are many rooms, and I am going to prepare a place for you.
And when Jesus on the cross realised that everything was set in order, that every house for every believer had been built and prepared with his nailed and bleeding hands, we read:
Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last.
Amen.
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