Second Sunday of Easter

1  That You May Have Life

Everything they trusted in seemed undone.

Jesus’ disciples had been confident. Their Lord had overcome all foes — even the devil. He had escaped every twisted trap laid in His path. He had done all of this,

while showing them how to love their enemies.

Then Jesus was dead.

One day alive; the next day dead. The night between, He was

betrayed by one of their own, forsaken and forsworn by the rest.

He who had helped them so much

had gone alone without their help, and died.

That morning, the women had come back from the tomb

with alarm and fear, and a strange report: His body missing!

They claimed to have seen an angel, and even the Lord Himself.

But what did they know? Why would He not appear to His disciples?

Something dreadful must still be afoot:

maybe a trap laid by those who killed Jesus, intended to draw His disciples out.

What good could come from these times?

What did God want from them,

God who allowed His Christ to die?

Today we are with the eleven as they learn the answer.

God wants to give us life. Eternal life. It’s not enough for Him

that He blesses us with sunshine and rain, with the fruits of the earth, with the work of our hands and rest at night, with joy in one another’s company, and protection from the evil one.

No, God also wants to give us true life:

like this life, yet different too,

as though we are now dead, but will soon truly live.

Yet God does His work in ways beyond our understanding.

As His disciples did not expect Jesus to die,

so we may not expect God to give life as He does.

Jesus teaches us about God’s way in today’s text.

He does it all, that you may have life.

So Jesus sends His messengers. So Jesus supplies His Word.

2  John 20:19–31

Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, 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.

So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” And when He had said this, 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 retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.”

So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”

And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”

And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”

Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but 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.

2.1  So Jesus sends His messengers.

It was still Easter Day, the Third Day.

The disciples were afraid that they would be arrested,

but locked doors are no bar to Jesus.

He appeared among them,

bringing them the fruit of His suffering and death:

peace.

Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.”

No longer would the disciples have to fear.

Not the threat of arrest or persecution; not the accusation of their consciences; not the unknowable future.

With the peace of God in Christ,

the psalmist wrote (Psalm 118:6),

The LORD is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?

The peace of Christ is what we all need.

There are times when our consciences accuse us;

or at least ought to accuse us.

There are times when we fear what others think or do:

so we may lock our doors at night, we may hit the brakes when we see flashing blue lights, we may keep the phone ready to dial 911.

In fact, all our life is a striving for peace:

peace with God, peace with ourselves, peace with our neighbors.

When Jesus enters,

the first thing He brings is not judgment or condemnation, nor even a threat of those things.

He speaks peace, even to us.

It might seem a leap to you for me to say that.

Our text shows Him bringing peace to His disciples. It doesn’t say anything about bringing peace to us.

Or does it?

Here is what He said to them: Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.

Where was He sending them?

For the answer, we have to look at another text.

At about the same time, Mark records (16:15):

And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.”

As He brought the Gospel’s peace to them,

they were now to bring it to all the world.

Isn’t it Jesus that brings you peace today?

That’s why He appeared in our text! He was sending His apostles for you and me.

You might suppose that this is only a figure of speech.

The apostles were not actually sent

to speak for Jesus Himself,

were they?

When He had said this, 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 retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

Yes, Jesus was sending them to speak for Him.

But still, the apostles have all died and gone to heaven.

They are no longer here to speak for Jesus.

So, how can their ministry still benefit us?

Again, the answer is found in other parts of holy scripture.

First, the apostles found a replacement in Acts 1,

for Judas who had betrayed Jesus and died.

They knew that their ministry was meant to outlive them.

Then Jesus Himself called Saul on the road to Damascus,

making Him another apostle in Acts chapter 9.

After that, the ministry of the Word continued

with the work of Barnabas and Silas, with the calling of Timothy and Titus as pastors, with the ordination of Apollos as an evangelist, with the elders appointed by Paul, Titus, and others

to serve as pastors in their own places.

Again, the apostles understood that their office

was meant to outlive them.

This only made sense,

because eventually the apostles died;

yet Jesus’ promise holds true (Matthew 28:20)

Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

The apostles were really the first ministers

of God’s Word and Sacraments.

It was by this ministry

that they were meant to forgive and retain sins, and that Jesus would bespeak His peace even to us,

as long as the world endures.

God works in ways beyond our understanding.

So Jesus triumphed over sin, death, and the devil

through His cross.

Likewise, God works through this ministry Jesus began

in ways beyond our understanding:

Sinful, struggling men like Thomas or like me,

are privileged to speak His peace upon those who need it.

2.2  So Jesus supplies His Word.

Doubting Thomas stopped doubting

not when the other disciples told him that they saw Jesus,

but when He saw Jesus Himself.

Thomas was skeptical.

Maybe because he was a twin, and knew that two people might look alike.

The cause of his doubts doesn’t really matter.

What matters is that he stopped doubting.

He believed.

Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

How is that possible? How can anyone know about Jesus without seeing him?

We can know by hearing.

For the years of His ministry, Jesus taught the same thing:

“blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

It may frustrate you, as it did Thomas at first,

that you can’t see Jesus, or put your fingers into the nail prints of His hands, or put your hand into His side.

It may try your patience that you can’t see heaven,

and especially that you can’t live there yet, but have to live in the place you find yourself each night.

But this is what God tells us

about that plain old Bible on your bookshelf:

And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but 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.

Holy Scripture, the Bible, is a gift from God

with one purpose: to provide you with faith in Jesus Christ.

It shows us our Savior from Beginning to End.

He wants you to have this faith so that you will have life.

We were in bondage to sin and death:

even on our best and most godly days,

we turn good into evil by placing trust in our goodness.

But now Jesus has willingly suffered and died for us,

taking our guilt upon Himself, and leaving it in the grave.

So the primary message of all holy scripture is love:

God’s love for the world — for you — in Christ.

It’s true that we don’t deserve such a message.

We, who gladly place our trust in anything but God. We, who would rather glorify ourselves

and receive the credit and praise that is due to God alone.

We, who also struggle with each other for pride of place,

like brothers and sisters in the back of a minivan.

No, we don’t deserve God’s favor.

Yet to all who come to Him in repentance, God has mercy.

That was the message of Christ in Holy Scripture, and it’s His message still today —

through Holy Scripture, and through the ministry of His Word and Sacrament.

Instead of judgment and eternal death,

God would give you pardon and eternal life.

The promise is there is His Word. He seals it to you through His sacraments, and He even sends His ministers today

to forgive the penitent and retain the sins of the impenitent.

So let’s thank God for the richness of His grace,

and not receive all of these gifts in vain.

Live redeemed. Live forgiven. Live eternally.

So Jesus sends His messengers. So Jesus supplies His Word.

Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria!