Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed. Alleluia!
Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Isn’t odd for Christian churches to talk about the resurrection of Jesus, but not to talk about His cross?
The disciples were hidden away in the upper room, likely the same room they had been with Jesus on Thursday evening for their last supper together, the same place that He had condescended to them and took up the role of the servant and washed their feet. The same room in which Peter and Jesus discussed the washing, and how important being washed by Jesus was. “Without this washing, you have no part in me.”
Perhaps you have been in places that bring back a flood of memories. Maybe its an old barn where you threw haybales with Grandpa before the days of round bailers. Maybe it’s Grandma and Grandpa’s old farm house kitchen where you and your cousins got to sit again for Easter brunch. We associate memories with places. The memories associated with the upper room were likely still vivid for the Disciples. The upper room, the place that Peter valiantly swore He would not betray Jesus. That they all would rather die than fall away from Jesus. And here they are, sitting around in fear in the evening.
The men had heard the news. They saw the empty tomb. The empty tomb did not give them joy. The idea of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus was not something joyful to them. And the resurrection of Jesus is nothing to glory in, in and of itself. The disciples were wallowing in self-pity because they failed Jesus. They did not live up to their word. They played a good game with words, but their actions could cash the checks their mouths wrote. Think about how many times the disciples failed Jesus. How often they argued over who would be the greatest among them. How often they didn’t pay enough attention to Jesus as He patiently taught them. And of course, how horrible of them to have run away from Him when He needed their aid the most. How pitiful and disgraceful.
Throw in fear they had for the Jews, who had overseen the crucifixion of Jesus, and you can begin to understand what was going on. Heck, you already had another disciple leave the company. Thomas wasn’t even gathered with them when the Lord first came. He had left the company, gone back to whatever life he had before Jesus.
Fear all around, thick enough to cut with a knife. They feared because of sin all around them and even in them. Their hearts heavy with grief and fear.
And then the risen Lord Jesus Christ shows up. And He stood among them. I bet when they recognized him, the room was suddenly hushed, if it wasn’t already. The hair on the back of their necks likely standing. What would Jesus say?
‘Peace be with you.” “Peace be with you.” That is what He said, and when He said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Only then, where the disciples glad when they saw the Lord. Why might you ask?
Well, they saw the nail marks and the thrust of the spear, they knew and believed that Jesus took those blows for them. That Jesus went to the cross for their sins. That Jesus still bears the marks of His cross for them that He might bring them peace. Peace that comes only from the forgiveness of sins. This is a peace which is offered nowhere else. Jesus shows up in His resurrected body bearing the marks of His cross here to bring peace to those disciples, soon to be sent out to proclaim this peace to all the world. Just as the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.
And when He said this, He breathed on them, 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.” Jesus gives them the Divine mandate, the great commission of John to go out and preach forgiveness in the Name of the crucified and risen Lord Jesus Christ, who is as Thomas finally calls Him, “my Lord and my God.”
The marks of the cross matter. Being in worship on Good Friday matters. Pondering the work of Jesus on the cross matters. Seeing His marks as the marks of love for you, that you might have peace matters. Those marks are the only way you have forgiveness of sins. And it is because of those marks that the disciples are glad. So we too should be glad.
From those marks flow the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ as He went to cross gave up His Spirit, and thus in His resurrection breathes upon His beloved and gives the Holy Spirit. Just as He does for you. See here the connection to the beginning of Genesis. The man was created, and the Lord God breathed into the man the breath of life. Jesus breathes the breath of life, that is the Holy Spirit, into His disciples on that first day of the week, the evening of His resurrection from the dead.
But 2 were missing that day. Judas who did not believe that he could be forgiven, who killed himself out of his despair, and Thomas who seemed to have gone back to his life before Jesus. He was not there with his brothers in the upper room. And He would not have been there the next Lord’s Day either. But someone cared enough to tell him, “We have seen the Lord.” I want to believe that the same man who told Nathaniel, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph,” that would be Philip, also came to Thomas to tell him, ‘Come and see.” Come to the upper room, come to the church and see the crucified and risen Lord for yourself. He is not here to hurt you. He is not here to destroy you. You may be afraid but Jesus is not here to cause you harm. He is here to give you peace.
But that peace comes with a bit of price. Not to you, but to Him. Christ bears the marks of the cross that you may have peace. And its in those Holy Wounds that we find healing. Fear is vanquished. Sin is atoned for and forgiven. We are given new life. And when we are confronted again with fear and the accusations of sin which would cause us worry, we can and should be unafraid to come to the Lord Jesus where He promises to be, and confess them, but also confess, “Christ for me was wounded.” And rejoice and be glad like the disciples were that first Easter evening and every Lord’s day ever since. Do not miss. And do not forget to pray for those who are long absent. We all have failed our brothers and sisters. I am chief among you in this regard. I am your pastor, undershepherd of the Good Shepherd Jesus. Many of our flock have wondered, going their own way. It hurts to see, and it hurts me to see how I have failed, just like the disciples hurt when they saw their own failings to keep their word to the Lord. The vows made at ordination and installation confront and give direction. It also acts as mirror like the 10 commandments. Your pastor fails. But the gospel is the same for me as it was for the disciples this day. And it is the same for you now.
Whatever failing you have committed. Whatever opportunity you had and blew in the past for speaking up about the importance of Christ and being where He promises to be to bring peace in a chaotic world. Where sin is forgiven. Do not fear. Christ forgives you. He loves you. He wants you here. He wants you look upon his wounds and know He went to the cross for you. Be renewed in the knowledge of His love for you, he bore the cross for you. And His marks still bear His love. And now His love is given you in His supper, you are brought to His table, welcomed as His own. And He speaks His peace to you, He wipes your tears away as He says, “Take and eat, take and drink. Your sins are forgiven be at peace.”
And having been filled with His peace and His love, we pray that we be motivated to speak the proclamation of the disciples, “we have seen the Lord.” No, we have not seen the physical Lord Jesus in His resurrected state, but we do see Him with the eyes of faith in His Supper. And Christ calls us the blessed ones. So we do the best thing we can do for those who in the world walking about as if they have no hope. We say, “Come and see.” Yes, come and see the grace and mercy of our Lord in those holy wounds which our Lord still bears for us. Those wounds are glorious to us, and they make us glad, for they are what tell us Christ comes to bring us forgiveness and peace everlasting.
Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Rev. Jacob Hercamp
St. Peter’s Lutheran Church
La Grange, MO
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