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4th Sunday of Easter – A LSB #’s 740, 569 tune 348, 711
Text – John 10:1 Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief & a robber. EVERY WHICH WAY BUT LOOSE It’s an English idiom describing a state of being thrown, turned, or manipulated in many different directions – often in a chaotic or disorienting way – while still being tethered or held back from being completely free. As I think about it, it’s a rather appropriate description of what sin has done to our lives, & to the world in which we live. You & I are being torn in many different directions all at once. Our world is in chaos. No matter how hard we try, we can never truly break free of our own sinful nature. The corrupting & destructive effects of sin turn our lives every which way but loose. In the sermon text, Jesus warns us that thieves & robbers try to enter every which way but the door. The Creator of the universe was describing how sin had corrupted the religious leaders who were supposed to be caring for the people of God’s kingdom. In the verses immediately preceding the Gospel reading for this morning, Jesus healed a man who had been born blind. You’d think everyone would be happy with that, but Jesus healed him on a Sabbath. Not that the Pharisees were backing Jesus anyway, but healing the man on a Sabbath baited them right into the test Jesus had put before them. Instead of caring for the man who was healed of blindness, the Pharisees condemned him & cast him out of the synagogue. They did so because the man was now following the Good Shepherd who did care for him. After Jesus found the man again, He did encourage & care for him. At that point, Jesus said, “‘For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, & those who see may become blind.’ Some of the Pharisees near Him heard these things, & said to Him, ‘Are we also blind?’ Jesus said to them, ‘If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, “We see,” your guilt remains.’” (John 9:39-41 ESV) If the Pharisees would have admitted that they were blind, that would’ve been the equivalent of confessing their sins. Then, Jesus would have removed them & they’d be clean. Instead, by claiming to ‘see’ they are denying their guilt, & therefore, that guilt remains. Jesus highlights the religious leaders in stark contrast to the man who was born blind, yet came to faith in Jesus. This sets the stage for Jesus’ teaching on how to enter the sheepfold, that is, how to enter eternal life & live abundantly in Christ: “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief & a robber.” (John 10:1 ESV) Jesus calls the Pharisees thieves & robbers because their teaching is false. They lead people away from salvation. Four chapters later Jesus explains, “No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6b ESV) Jesus is the door to eternal life. As the letter of Hebrews puts it: “…we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new & living way that He opened for us through the curtain, that is, through His flesh.” (10:19-20 ESV) The body & blood of Jesus are the door, the way, the entrance to perfect glory. Any other teaching, no matter how sincere or logical, is a lie that leads to eternal death. Our sinful nature always chooses the wrong way – the broad & easy road. That’s why Jesus came to earth to open that new & living way through the curtain. We needed God to deliver us, not just from sin & death, but from our very selves. The journey that God’s people are on has many detours & exit ramps. And just like driving a car, we sometimes don’t realize we took the wrong exit until we’re far off the path. That’s why the repentant heart that the Holy Spirit works in us is so vital to our spiritual & physical health. When we’re going in the wrong direction we need to turn around. Last night we saw another example of the lawlessness that seems to be overtaking our nation. Our political & religious leaders are leading our people down a road of violence with their thoughts, words & deeds. Only the work of the Holy Spirit can turn this nation around in repentance. However, too many of our current leaders are like the Pharisees & believe they know the way when in fact they are terribly lost & deceived. Their sinful nature is turning them every which way but loose & they remain blind to their sin. What shepherd are you following this morning? Only Jesus is leading anyone to eternal life with no more pain, sorrow or tears. Are your leaders trying to climb in by a way other than Jesus? Are your leaders going every which way but loose? If you turn back to Jesus, the world will reject you & label you a fool. The world crucified Jesus because He was pointing out the lies that were leading people down the broad & easy road. The world cannot tolerate truth & light because they reveal sin. Yet, we shine the light of Christ onto our world not to condemn the world, but to save it. The only attitude I can change, & that only with the power of the Holy Spirit, is my own. And that’s where shining the light of truth must always begin is with me. The only way you can change the world is to change yourself, again by the power of the Holy Spirit. Through our baptism, the Holy Spirit works each day to drown the old Adam, the sinful nature in each of us. It must be put to death every day in order to live the abundant life that Christ promises at the end of today’s Gospel reading. Then, we are not tossed every which way but loose because Christ’s promise does set us free. Those who think they can free the world of evil by cancelling or even killing other people, only bring more evil into our world. Self-righteousness never makes our world a better place. Jesus highlighted the self-righteousness of the Pharisees by telling them their guilt remains. Then, He called them thieves & robbers by describing how they try to enter the sheepfold by any way but the door, which is Christ Jesus. Keeping the law cannot save us, but breaking the law can condemn us. Many of the people acting in such lawless ways today seem to think they are free while in reality they are slaves to sin & don’t even know it. To sing “I am Jesus’ little lamb” may sound too naïve & innocent even for ourselves, let alone for people of the world, but it is our true reality if we are children of God. It takes humility to sing those words from the heart. That’s the kind of humility that Jesus offers us along with faith & all the fruits of the Spirit. Jesus is our Good Shepherd who loves His sheep enough to die for our sins. We are all prone to wander, but He constantly searches for us to bring us home. He’s the Shepherd who feeds & protects His sheep, & rose from the dead that we may have a perfect future uncorrupted by sin. It is His voice of comfort that we hear when we are weak & weary. His voice is one of love & forgiveness whenever we turn back to Him, no matter what we have done. The voice of our world only makes demands. It never makes sacrifices for the sheep. In the sheepfold of Christ, life with God is not restrictive because our hearts are made new by God’s creation of the new man through the resurrected flesh & blood of Jesus. Amen. In Adam we have all been one, one huge rebellious man; we all have fled that evening voice that sought us as we ran. We fled Thee, & in losing Thee we lost our brother too; each singly sought & claimed his own; each man his brother slew. But Thy strong love, it sought us still & sent Thine only Son that we might hear His Shepherd’s voice &, hearing Him, be one. Send us Thy Spirit, teach us truth; Thou Son, O set us free from fancied wisdom, self-sought ways, to make us one in Thee. Amen. LSB 569:1-3, 5. 3rd Sunday of Easter – A LSB #’s 469, 476, 478
Text – Luke 24:31a And their eyes were opened, & they recognized Him. THEIR EYES WERE OPENED “They said to each other, ‘Did not our hearts burn within us while He talked to us on the road, while He opened to us the Scriptures?’” (Luke 24:32 ESV) After Jesus opened their eyes to recognize Him, then they understood. Everything was suddenly intensely clear. The reality of the risen Jesus was making itself known to the disciples as He spoke to them, but they were struggling to put that reality into conscious form. They only recognized what their burning hearts were trying to tell them after Jesus opened their eyes to know Him. Up to then, Jesus wanted them to focus on His teaching instead of on who He is. The Son of God was taking these two men back to the basics, because, even though they didn’t realize it, they had gotten lost on their journey back to the heavenly Father. In Luke’s Gospel, these two men represent all human beings, including us right here, right now. Did you realize that you too are on a journey back to your heavenly Father? Along the way, you also have gotten lost at various times & in various ways. Maybe you’ve thought that God will allow people into heaven if they just try hard enough? Another detour is thinking that people who are sincere in their beliefs, whatever religion they follow, will be accepted into heaven based upon their sincerity. Since The Fall, the entire human race has been on a journey back to its Creator. That journey is taking each of us to the Last Day. There, we will all face the heavenly Father, as Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.” (5:10 ESV) On that day, some people will be covered by the blood of Christ. They will be saved. Others, will stand naked before their Lord & Creator. They will be condemned. Do you remember what Adam said once he realized he was lost on his journey? “I heard the sound of you in the garden, & I was afraid, because I was naked, & I hid myself.” (Genesis 3:10 ESV) There will be no hiding from Yahweh on the Last Day. Until then, each of us is on a journey to judgment. Jesus spoke about the road people choose for their journey in Matthew 7: “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide & the way is broad that leads to destruction, & there are many who enter through it.” (7:13 NASB1995) Because of the dangers, on our journey there will be many times when it is in our best interest to go back to the basics, back to the Word of God, both the OT & the New. Listen to where Jesus took the two men on the road to Emmaus: “…beginning with Moses & all the Prophets, He interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.” (Luke 24:27 ESV) In other words, the entire OT is about the One who makes possible your journey home to the heavenly Father. It’s while Jesus was taking the two men back to the basics that their hearts subconsciously began to burn. Prior to this road trip, these men had been blind to what the OT is teaching. Once they returned to Jerusalem, while telling the disciples what had happened, Jesus appeared among them all. After showing them the scars in His hands & feet: “…He said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses & the Prophets & the Psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then He opened their mind to understand the Scriptures.” (Luke 24:44-45 ESV) In a span of 15 verses, Jesus opened their eyes, the Scriptures, & their mind. What was the point? Jesus “…said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer & on the third day rise from the dead, & that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.’” (Luke 24:46-47 ESV) And why did Jesus need to do all this for the men who’d been following Him for three years already? Verse 21 of the Gospel reading tells us as the men respond to Jesus’ questioning: “…we had hoped that He was the one to redeem Israel.” (24:21a ESV) ‘They had hoped’ means they hope no longer. After the death of Jesus, they mistakenly believed that He was not the one to redeem Israel. Their conclusion couldn’t have been further from the truth, & as Jesus opened the Scriptures to them, He showed that to them. The death over which they despaired was the very instrument through which Jesus did redeem Israel. In our journey back to our heavenly home, you & I also get lost along the way. We take detours & what we think are shortcuts. For a time, we won’t even notice that we’ve lost our way. Eventually though, the disconnect between our perception of things & God’s promises becomes too discouraging to ignore. God promised a Savior, to redeem Israel, yet, Jesus of Nazareth was dead. Did God’s promise fail, or did these men have the wrong perception as they walked to Emmaus? In this case, their perception was wrong because, although Jesus did truly die, He was no longer dead. But not knowing that, the disconnect these men felt, & the help of Jesus, got them back on to the correct path. Sometimes God allows the struggles in our lives, the disconnect that we feel, to wake us up to the fact that we’ve strayed from the journey to our heavenly Father. So, looking at the sermon title, Their Eyes Were Opened, where else do we hear similar words? At Genesis 3:7, we read, “Then the eyes of both were opened, & they knew that they were naked.” Just as sin brought death into our world, it also brought knowledge of evil. Once they ate of the forbidden tree, they saw all kinds of horrible things that sin brings into what was God’s perfect creation. In the Gospel reading from Luke, by opening the eyes of the two men, Jesus is reversing the curse of the Garden. Now, that’s not a one-time thing. Every time we are personally forgiven of our sins, Jesus is reversing the curse. Every time we come to a true understanding of Holy Scripture, Jesus is reversing the curse. Every time we allow God’s mercy to influence us to be merciful, the Holy Spirit is reversing the curse. In fact, because of that, everything about our lives is connected to Easter, because the resurrection is about reversing the curse of sin & death. Yet, the routine details & busyness of life easily distract us from that reality. Jesus knew that before the foundation of the world, so the plan has always been that He needed to take on human flesh, die & rise in order to reverse the curse for us. We cannot reverse it by ourselves. Here’s how Jesus’ reversing the curse affected the people in Acts 2: “Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, & said to Peter & the rest of the apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’ And Peter said to them, ‘Repent & be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, & you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’” (2:37-38 ESV) You & I are people on a journey, from death to life – everlasting life. For many, it is a long & difficult journey. We have not yet arrived, so we keep putting one foot in front of the other. Christ promised to meet us on the road, even if you don’t see Him. We too are those disciples on the road to Emmaus. Amen. Who are you who walk in sorrow down Emmaus’ barren road, hearts distraught & hope defeated, bent beneath grief’s crushing load? Nameless mourners, we will join you, we who also mourn our dead; we have stood by graves unyielding, eaten death’s bare, bitter bread. Who is this who joins our journey, walking with us stride by stride? Unknown Stranger, can You fathom depths of grief for one who died? Then the wonder! When we told You how our dreams to dust have turned, then You opened wide the Scriptures till our hearts within us burned. Amen. LSB 476:1-2. 2nd Sunday of Easter – A LSB #’s 465, 472 tune 461, 470:1, 4-7
Text – John 20:25b But he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the mark of the nails, & place my finger into the mark of the nails, & place my hand into His side, I will never believe.” I WILL NEVER BELIEVE It’s only been seven days since we celebrated Christ’s Easter resurrection from the dead. The lilies are still blooming & strains of the Agnus Dei may still be echoing in your mind. Yet, throughout the world, & in our own hearts & minds, the challenge, “Did God really say…” also continues to echo across the millennia. Thousands of years of God’s history have not dimmed the struggle of doubt in our hearts & minds. Those doubts may not be as broad as those of Thomas, “I will never believe,” yet each of us still has those moments when the promises of Christ seem to fall short of our expectations. St. Peter wrote in the Epistle lesson that God the Father has: “…caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” (1 Peter 1:3b ESV) However, because we are emotional creatures, corrupted by sin, that living hope often feels more dead to us than alive. Satan is not taking time off just because Jesus rose from the dead. Lurking in our hearts & minds are troubling questions about life, suffering, death & destiny. Given our sins, can we ever hope to be at peace with God in heart & mind? Can we even pray, “Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief?” Thomas may not seem like a shining example, given his attitude which demanded proof before he would believe. However, if Jesus can turn his heart, is it possible that He can turn yours & mine? Seeing his risen Savior liberated Thomas from the despair of crushing unbelief, such that he exclaimed, “…My Lord & my God!” (John 20:28 ESV) Another promise of Christ is given right in the Gospel reading, “Blessed are those who have not seen & yet have believed.” (John 20:29b ESV) Maybe you’ve been praying for someone, or some blessing for years, & have not seen the results you’re praying for. Do you feel blessed in that “not seeing”? Jesus said you are more blessed than Thomas who saw Jesus in person. That is, as long as you believe in Christ as your Lord & Savior. That believing is the Holy Spirit’s gift to you. It was the Holy Spirit’s gift to Thomas. It is a gift that is so easy to take for granted especially because it’s nothing that we can see or touch. Adding to the uniqueness of the gift of faith, it is something you cannot explain to an unbeliever. Without the Holy Spirit, they cannot understand it, as Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 2, “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, & he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” (2:14 ESV) Yahweh created each of us so that He could enjoy our company. Faith is a gift not of our doing. It is a gift we cannot manage or control. Either we have faith or we don’t. There is no middle ground. We either belong to God or we have rejected Him. He does not jam religion down our throats, yet He desires that we accept the gift of eternal life that He offers to us. Faith is unlike anything else in all of creation. Faith is complicated & confusing, until it isn’t. Thomas wanted facts. He wanted evidence. He wanted proof, until he didn’t. One look at the risen flesh of Jesus & the unbelief of Thomas evaporated, “…My Lord & my God!” (John 20:28 ESV) There are times in life when faith is simple & other times when it’s complicated. Thomas had been tempted to work from the worldly standard for acceptance & trust. He would only believe that which could be proven. Then, he met the crucified & risen Son of God. All of Thomas’ human reasoning was destroyed. In this world, in this life, believers still struggle with unbelief. Each & every day it attacks & tempts us to demand proof & evidence. Our sinful & fearful nature wants to remain in control. This incident is the 3rd time in the Gospel of John that fear is a motive. Each time, that fear gets in the way of something positive. It blocks positive things for us, & it blocks positive things for the people around us. Fear is a lack of belief in God’s goodness & in His ability to protect us. Fear always springs from unbelief even if it’s only momentary unbelief. Love that comes from God always drives out fear in those who believe in Him. Fear never leaves people who refuse to trust Jesus as Lord & Savior. For them, everything then depends upon their ability to manage life. In the modern narrative “I” am the center of “my” universe. This means it is up to me to make all things right in my world. I must justify myself, to myself, through my achievements at home, work, in the community, online, wherever. Living as if God is not God leads people into a story that appears to be total freedom. It’s what Satan tempted Adam & Eve with. It’s what they were drawn to. Instead of freedom, it brought the death that Satan desired for Adam & Eve. Luther did not call him the old evil foe for nothing. The problem of freedom from God is that I cannot possibly live up to my own standards. Being my own hero, my own god, turns my story into a tragedy. Jesus came to be the hero of the story of all the personal stories that end well. Jesus overcame sin, death, & the Devil, even while we are mired in sin, buried in the ground, or daily assaulted by our ancient foe. Yet, in order for Jesus to help us be recreated, we need to acknowledge that we need it. Thomas was sinking into the despair of unbelief & Jesus confronted him not to embarrass Thomas, but to save him: “Do not disbelieve, but believe.” (John 20:27b ESV) Yes, Jesus calls out the sin of Thomas, but we hear that Jesus effectively recreated the faith of Thomas, as Thomas responds, “…My Lord & my God!” (John 20:28 ESV) Thomas had been frustrated by the death of Jesus. Though it was God’s plan, it made no sense to Thomas. Jesus relieved all of Thomas’ frustrations by appearing to him – alive. If all of life is about me, or about you, then there is no hope for any of us. If we are the center of our universe, then on the day we die, the universe dies. Obviously that’s not true because billions of people have died & the universe is still here. We may not appreciate being called out for our sins, nor for being called out for unbelief, but Jesus does so because He is not just our Savior, but also our Lord. When He calls us to faith, He’s called us into His kingdom. He is God & anyone who believes in Him belongs to Him. We are not our own. If we were our lives would be miserable because all of us, even together, are powerless to save ourselves, let alone anyone else. Jesus demonstrated His power through doing miracles, or signs as the apostle John calls them. Jesus’ resurrection from the dead was a mind-blowing demonstration of His power to recreate life out of death. Throughout the Gospel of John, we are given glimpses into a variety of ways people encounter Jesus & struggle with their faith in Him. The example of Thomas reveals that Jesus can & will reach to us even when we’re being crushed by the despair of unbelief. Twice in the Gospel reading Jesus says to His disciples, “Peace be with you.” Jesus knows our struggle with unbelief & evil foe behind it. Jesus came not to make our lives easy here on earth, but to make our lives in heaven perfect & eternal. Until then, He is with us even to the end of the age, bringing us forgiveness, life & salvation. Amen. These things did Thomas count as real: the warmth of blood, the chill of steel, the grain of wood, the heft of stone, the last frail twitch of flesh & bone. The vision of his skeptic mind was keen enough to make him blind to any unexpected act too large for his small world of fact. May we, O God, by grace believe & thus the risen Christ receive, whose raw imprinted palms reached out & beckoned Thomas from his doubt. Amen. LSB 472:1-2, 4. Easter – A LSB #’s 457, 861, 474
Text – Matthew 28:6a He is not here, for He has risen, as He said. AS HE SAID Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! I told you so! They are some of the least appreciated words in the English language. The problem is, especially if the speaker is correct, those words are often spoken with a smug sense of superiority & self-righteousness: “I told you so!” In the sermon text, rather than translating it, “…as He said,” we could read the Gospel of Matthew in this way, “He is not here, for He has risen, as He told you so!” Now, it was a sinless messenger of God who spoke those words. No smug sense of superiority & self-righteousness there. God’s angel was simply stating the facts, as unflattering as they were. The truth often hurts, & yet, Christ Jesus is the truth. In our Easter joy, we often overlook the facts because of how unflattering they are. Not a one of His disciples understood that Jesus told them He would rise from the dead. At Matthew 16:21, we read, “From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem & suffer many things from the elders & chief priests & scribes, & be killed, & on the third day be raised.” (ESV) A chapter later, Matthew wrote, “And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, ‘Tell no one the vision, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.’” (17:9 ESV) In Matthew 17:23, it states, “…& they will kill Him, & He will be raised on the third day…” (ESV) At Matthew 20, Jesus clearly laid it out: “And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests & scribes, & they will condemn Him to death & deliver Him over to the Gentiles to be mocked & flogged & crucified, & He will be raised on the third day.” (20:18b-19 ESV) Four different occasions when Jesus told His followers & disciples He would rise from the dead. They were so confused & frightened by any discussion of Jesus’ upcoming death that none of them processed that Jesus also predicted He would rise from the dead. For that reason, after Jesus’ crucifixion, none of His followers & disciples were waiting for the rest of the plan & promise to be fulfilled. The truth is, all the followers of Jesus had failed to believe His promise. Since they had rejected even the premise of Jesus being killed, His prediction of His resurrection got lost in the darkness of their fear. Sadly, many blessings that our Lord offers get lost in the darkness of our fears. I used to be deathly afraid of public speaking. It was an excuse I used to avoid applying to seminary. The darkness of my fears were blocking the blessings God has prepared in advance. Now that I’m approaching retirement, I have to drown Satan’s temptation to fear running out of money. Those of you with children likely face temptations to fear what will happen to them as their years go by. Fears of illness, hospital stays, nursing homes, all of those bring darkness into the lives of God’s people. If we allow that darkness to stay, if we wallow in it & obsess over it, it dampens or even destroys the blessings that our Lord offers to us each day. If you follow the news, no matter what the source, you will be tempted to fear for your well-being. In the political realm, there are elections coming up this year & many politicians will be telling you literally to fear for your life. That darkness suffocates the blessings our Creator has in store for each one of you. This morning, it is tradition for the pastor to say, “Christ is risen!” In the tradition, you respond, “He is risen indeed! Alleluia!” But as your pastor, I have to ask, “Do you really believe that?” If you say, “Yes,” then I’m going to ask, “Do you live that way?” If Christ is truly risen from the dead then you have nothing at all to be afraid of ever – not the nursing home, not the cancer diagnosis, not the wayward children, not even your own suffering & death. And in comparison, to that list, a fear of public speaking is downright silly. So, when the women show up at the tomb on Easter morning, there’s a great earthquake, because “…an angel of the Lord descended from heaven.” (Matthew 28:2 ESV) “…for fear of him the guards trembled & became like dead men.” (Matthew 28:4 ESV) And what does the angel say to the women? “…Do not be afraid…” (Matthew 28:5 ESV) Jesus has risen, as He told you so! Mary Magdalene & the other Mary had come to see the grave of Jesus. The angel invites them to see the almighty God’s new creation begun with Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. Death has been conquered. Perfect & eternal life is now available to all. Coming to the grave, the women were bringing the darkness of the past week along with them. They expected to see a dead Jesus. How often do we allow some darkness from our past to influence how we think, feel & act? Instead, a messenger of God showed them the future! The task of the angel was to enable the women to see something they never anticipated. God’s Son knew His closest followers would fall away. To the end (26:35) they denied that they would, but their denial didn’t matter. They did fall. Jesus was left alone & that was the plan. He died all by Himself as the singular representative & summary of the human race. Even the heavenly Father abandoned His Son. Jesus is dead. The disciples are gone. The authority of Rome & the prominent leaders of Israel are in place. Everything looks hopeless for the followers of Jesus, but the stage has now been set for God to act. Then, a great earthquake happens. On easter morning, the Father undoes His own forsaking of His Son by raising Him from the dead. Sin’s corruption is being reversed, creation is being restored & the Creator’s authority over sin & death is being declared with finality. We commonly preach that the good news is this: Jesus died for your sins. But Jesus also rose from the dead to grant us holy & eternal life. The resurrection of Jesus is the goal & climax of all earthly history. For the first time since Cain killed Abel death is conquered! The resurrection of Jesus is the beginning of the new creation. It all flows from this event, & we are living in that time & with that knowledge. By the Holy Spirit’s power we are able to live as if we believe that Jesus is risen from the dead. By the Holy Spirit’s power we are able to live without being afraid. As the women approached the tomb that morning, living in the past, living in their fear, they had no idea how their heavenly Father would resolve their struggle. As we live our lives, often in fear & in our past, we too have no idea how our loving God will resolve our struggles. However, living by faith, living in faith, we can be certain that He will. With that certainty we can reject living in the darkness of fear. Christ was crucified for everything we are afraid of. Our guilt & shame have been buried, & when we dig them up again, Jesus will bury them again. Easter does not make this life a walk in the park, but it does give us a sure & certain hope that can never be our permanent end. Jesus has overcome our fears. He has forgiven our sins. He has made our coming death temporary & weak. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed, just as He said! And the Word of God has told you so. Amen. Christ be my teacher in age as in youth, drifting or doubting for He is the truth. Grant me to trust Him; though shifting as sand, doubt cannot daunt me; in Jesus I stand. Christ be my Savior in calm as in strife; death cannot hold me, for He is the life. Nor darkness, nor doubting nor sin & its stain can touch my salvation: with Jesus I reign. Amen. LSB 861:2-3. Good Friday – 2026 LSB #’s 430, 451
Text – Luke 23:4a “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” FATHER, FORGIVE THEM… In the world, forgiveness is rare. You have to earn forgiveness. If you don’t, instead of getting your debt cancelled the world will cancel you. When prisoners serving jail time receive pardons, we hear from elected officials about the justified reasons for the release. Often, the person given a pardon has shown that he earned it through good behavior or enough suffering. Do you want forgiveness? You have to earn it. Or take a look at those investigative crime shows on TV. A suspected killer is finally charged with murder, & family members of the victim tell the killer: “I hope you burn in hell!” The nicer ones might say, “God may forgive you. But I never will!” Forgiveness is hard to come by in a dog-eat-dog world. We might think that as Christians we’re better at this forgiveness thing. Except we too prefer that people work toward being forgiven. Have you been at a restaurant when your food service is off the mark? The waitress says, “I’m sorry,” while you remind her, with your lips or more often with your eyes & thoughts, how bad the service has been. Later on, she says again, “I am really sorry about that!” By then you say, “It’s alright,” but you haven’t really forgiven her. You want her to do something right, or better – bring out a complimentary drink or dessert. Then, you may look favorably upon her again & give a nice tip. Corrupted by sin, Christians are no better at forgiving than the world. It’s Good Friday, the day we are tempted to give the Romans & the Jews a skeptical attitude for killing Jesus. We may go to passion plays & wonder how people can be so unforgiving to God’s Son. Would we forgive those people? That’s God’s problem. It’s easier to forgive good people, those who earn it. Are we better than the Romans & Jews of that day? Had we lived in Jesus’ time, would we have been just as unforgiving as we are now? Would we have yelled, “Crucify, crucify Him!”? Pilate would have delivered Jesus also to our will. And if you don’t think you would have done this to the Lord, then, go out & forgive that neighbor you do not get along with, the family member or coworker you have a grudge against, that person who hurt you. We know too well that real forgiveness is difficult. But enough about us, about our struggles & our sins. Good Friday is not “good” because of you or me. It does not require our goodness to be good for us. Good Friday is good for us because God is good to us. Good Friday is all about the goodness & mercy of a gracious Father who has not counted our sins, our failures, our unforgiving hearts, against us. Good Friday is good because Jesus is good to us. Good Friday is all about a God who became our suffering Servant, the One anointed with the Holy Spirit to take upon Himself our sins, the sins of an unworthy people, the sins of His enemies. Forgiveness might be rare for us, but it is not rare for God. Forgiveness is what Yahweh does all the time, over & over again! God does not have to give explanations about why He forgives or whom He pardons. God is not an elected official who needs to justify His choice to forgive the unworthy based on their good behavior or their having suffered enough. God just forgives & remembers our sins no more. Plain & simple: God says the word of absolution & it is done for you! And why does God forgive? Why does our Creator look favorably upon us even when we mess up like that waitress who just can’t get your order right? The answer lies in the words of Jesus, as He hung on the cross: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” That is why God looks favorably upon sinners who in their blind anger turn against His Son. It is solely because Jesus prays to His Father. It is because God the Father hears the prayer of His beloved Son who intercedes for sinners like you & me: “Father, forgive them.” At that moment, two great themes dear to St. Luke come together: prayer & the cross. Luke the evangelist likes to present Jesus as the Son who prays. He likes to speak of Jesus as the Son of Man who fulfills His destiny by going to Jerusalem to die. Prayer & the cross are inseparably united in Jesus’ life. At the Jordan River, Jesus had been baptized & was praying, when suddenly the heavens were opened & the Holy Spirit descended upon Him. At that point we hear the voice from heaven saying “You are my beloved Son; with You I am well pleased.” Those words, “with you I am well pleased,” are none other than the words Yahweh speaks to His suffering Servant in the book of Isaiah. The Son prays to the Father & the Father responds by anointing His Son to be our suffering Servant, to die at Jerusalem for us. Prayer & cross together are God’s design. Likewise, the Transfiguration is set in the context of Jesus’ praying to His Father. He goes to the mountain for no other reason than “to pray” & it is “as He was praying” that He was transfigured before Peter, James & John. There too, the Father’s voice echoes from heaven as heard at the Jordan: “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to Him!” What the disciples are supposed to listen to is precisely what the Son said to them before they went to the mountain. But they did not want to hear it. They did not want to hear that “the Son of man must suffer many things & be rejected by the elders, chief priests & scribes, to be killed, & on the third day be raised.” (Luke 9:22) The Son of Man who prays to His Father, seeking to do His will, putting His mission & life in the Father’s hands, must come down from the mountain & go to Jerusalem. Prayer & the cross are inextricably linked in the life of Jesus. All of which leads to the crucifixion. Jesus reaches Jerusalem, His destiny. There, the world believes it has cancelled Jesus. Yet, as death approaches – hanging on the cross – Jesus has another prayer He wants His Father to hear. What love that Jesus does not think of Himself in that great moment of suffering, but thinks only of the needy, thinks only of sinners like you & me: “Father, forgive them.” For the world, we have to earn our forgiveness or we will be cancelled. Jesus cancels Himself to earn our forgiveness. Our heavenly Father sent His only begotten Son to be cancelled for your sins & for mine. In that, Jesus demonstrates what it means when He said, “And behold, some are last who will be first, & some are first who will be last.” (Luke 13:30 ESV) It is Good Friday. It is time we look to Jesus on the cross, to His passion, to see in His sacrifice, & prayer on our behalf, how big the heart of God is. On the cross, we see how good Jesus is to sinners. See what Jesus has done for you. See His blood shed for you! Hear His prayer given for you! “Father, forgive them.” And so it is. For Jesus’ sake, God the Father says to you this evening: “I forgive you all your sins.” You are no longer enemies but friends of Jesus, & children of God. That is what enables you & me to forgive our neighbor as Christ has forgiven us. Amen. Stricken, smitten & afflicted, see Him dying on the tree! ’Tis the Christ, by man rejected; yes, my soul, ’tis He, ’tis He! ’Tis the long-expected prophet, David’s Son, yet David’s Lord; proofs I see sufficient of it: ’Tis the true & faithful Word. Here we have a firm foundation, here the refuge of the lost: Christ, the Rock of our salvation, is the name of which we boast; Lamb of God, for sinners wounded, sacrifice to cancel guilt! None shall ever be confounded who on Him their hope have built. Amen. LSB 451:1, 4. |
AuthorRev. Jeff Heimsoth Archives
August 2026
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