Life through the Word of Christ

Sermon for Quasimodogeniti – Easter 1

1 John 5:4-10  +  John 20:19-31

At our Easter Vigil this year, we listened as the prophet Ezekiel, referred to as the “son of man,” spoke life into a whole valley full of dry bones. Those bones didn’t just represent death. They represented fear, despair and hopelessness on the part of Israel. Israel was destroyed. Judah was in exile. And there was no possible way they could come out of it – no solution, no plan of action. And they despaired. And that was wrong. They had a faithful God who had promised to help them and who had never lied to them. But the devil got them to forget all about God’s faithfulness and kindness and turn inward on themselves, on how bad things looked for them. Humanly speaking, there was no hope for them. No human solution could save them. They were dead.

But where there’s death, that’s where the Spirit of God goes to work, on dead things, on hopeless things that can’t move a muscle to help themselves. A valley full of dead, dried up bones? Perfect! Prophesy, son of man! Prophesy to the breath! And by the simple words spoken by God’s called spokesman and prophet, Ezekiel, the dead, dry bones – those hopeless, fearful Israelites—lived. There was death in that valley. But then, there was life.

There was death in the upper room on Easter Sunday evening. There was dead, dried up faith on the part of Jesus’ ten apostles who were there. There was fear and hopelessness. They despaired. And that was wrong. They had a faithful God who had promised to defeat death and who had never lied to them. But the devil got them to forget all about Jesus’ faithfulness and kindness and turn inward on themselves, on how bad things looked for them – and for Jesus. As far as they were concerned, their God was dead.

But then He wasn’t. The women had seen Him. Peter had seen Him, and the Emmaus disciples. Life was breaking into the upper room by the word of Jesus’ resurrection. And then Life stepped into the room. Right through the locked doors. And He spoke words of life, “Peace be with you.”

That’s a powerful word when it’s spoken by the very Son of God, the crucified and living One. Wouldn’t you like to hear it from His lips? But that’s just the thing. If you want to believe in Jesus at all, then you have to take Him at His word. And what does His word say? 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.”

How could Ezekiel bring dead bones to life? Because God put His words into Ezekiel’s mouth, so that when Ezekiel spoke life into those bones, it was really the Almighty God speaking. In the same way, Jesus wants to come to you today, not with a personal, visible appearance, but in the words of the one whom He has sent. It’s the same life, the same peace, the same forgiveness. He gives authority on earth to declare peace to repentant sinners, to forgive sins and to bring the dead to life with a word.

And those who believe are comforted. And whoever does not believe will be condemned – unless the Lord of life brings life to the unbelieving before it’s too late, as He did with Thomas.

Stubborn Thomas. Whose fault was it that he didn’t believe all the eyewitness reports he heard? Whose fault was it that he didn’t believe Jesus’ own words promising his resurrection? None but Thomas was to blame. Stubborn and unbelieving. Stubborn and needing to be convinced by reason, by science. I won’t believe unless I see and touch and handle. That’s death. That’s hopelessness and despair. Because that is unbelief.

Now, maybe you’ve disbelieved and lashed out like Thomas, too. Even lifelong Christians can fall into the grievous sin of despair. But your despair or your disbelief doesn’t change the truth. Jesus was crucified, whether you believe it or not. He died and paid for all sins. He was buried. He rose from the dead, whether you believe it or not. He lives. He reigns. He keeps His promises. So you might as well believe it.

Jesus confronted Thomas in his unbelief and his demand for proof. Put your finger here and here and here and here. Put your hand here. Don’t be unbelieving, but believing. And the only thing that kept Thomas from running out of the room in shame over his shameful despair and unbelief was the word of Jesus, “Peace be with you. Believe.” And where there was unbelief, now there was faith. Where there was death, now there was life. And then Thomas did what faith does. It confesses, “My Lord and my God.”

Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. And then, it’s almost as if Jesus looked up from Thomas, across time and space and right into this room, Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. Those words are spoken for you, you who have not seen and yet have believed. You are blessed.

And you need to hear those words over and over again, because you don’t get to see in this life. You don’t get to see the resurrected Jesus. You may see trouble and sickness and suffering. You will see temptation and your own sinful nature pulling you back into yourself, dragging your eyes away from Jesus, so that you forget about God and His faithfulness and despair of His help.

But God has left us a witness on earth that’s just as good as seeing Jesus. Really, honestly, just as good as seeing Jesus. Actually, it’s even better. How many people saw Jesus and still disbelieved? But the Spirit of God bears witness, because the Spirit is truth…And there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree as one. The Spirit of God always works through the Word of God, whether it was the word spoken by Ezekiel, or the word spoken by Jesus, or the word spoken by His apostles, which, today, means pastors. What is the Spirit’s testimony? This is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.

Believe His testimony about the risen Lord Jesus and the life He gives and the forgiveness of sins He pronounces to you penitent sinners. Believe His testimony in the water, that you have been washed in the blood of Jesus and clothed with Him. Believe His testimony in the blood of the Sacrament, that it was shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.

There’s plenty of death all around us, and there isn’t a lot of life. Death is everywhere. It spreads like gangrene. But life – life is found, life exists, life is given only in a place. Life is in Jesus alone. And Jesus comes to you in His Word alone, and His Word is enough. 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 Amen.