Grace Evangelical-Lutheran: John 20,19-29. Quasimodogeniti

John 20,19-29 2724

Quasimodogeniti 37

Hegesippus, Church historian, † 180 at Jerusalem

7. April 2024

1. ℣ As infants who have just been born:

℟ Desire milk so that by it you may mature in salvation (1. Peter 2,9 vul).

Help us, O Risen Savior, that we may keep what we have and that no one may take from us our crown that we even now possess in believing hope. Let us never in any way forsake You. Let [nothing in heaven, on earth or under the earth] ever separate us from Your love, from Your fellowship, from our union with You. Amen. (Pieper 149; English transl. 87).

2. »On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus arrived 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. Jesus said to them again: „Peace be with you. As the Father has sent Me, even so I am sending 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 anyone, they are forgiven; if you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is withheld.“ Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, called the Twin,was not with them when Jesus arrived. So the other disciples told him: „We have seen the Lord.“ But he said to them: „Unless I see in His hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into His side, I will never believe.“ Eight days later, His disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus arrived and stood among them and said: „Peace be with you.“ Then He said to Thomas: „Put your finger here, and see My hands; and put out your hand, and place it in My side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.“ Thomas answered Him: „My Lord and my God!“ Jesus said to him: „Have you believed because you have seen Me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.“ Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His Name.«

3. Jesus’ Easter appearances are followed by the exhortation to go and tell others what you have seen and heard. Some see and spoke with Jesus; others hear from eyewitnesses that Jesus has risen. Oddly, the first to hear do not believe. The apostles don’t believe the women when they tell them Jesus has risen. When Jesus appears to the Ten, Thomas was not there, and he likewise did not believe their testimony.

4. The Gospels explain that Jesus told His disciples numerous times that He would suffer, die and rise again. Time and again they did not comprehend what He told them and thus when He does indeed rise they are surprised, then they are told or remember that He did indeed teach that He would rise. Connect to His resurrection is absolution.

5. Jesus told the Ten: „Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of anyone, they are forgiven; if you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is withheld.“ The apostles have two essential points to their preaching: 1. Jesus is risen, and 2. Your sins are forgiven. Peter connects Jesus resurrection and forgiveness: »according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with His blood. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time« (1. Peter 1,1-5). And John wrote: »Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples: „I have seen the Lord“—and that He had said these things to her. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world« (John 20,18; 1. John 1,17; 2,2). Also Paul wrote: »He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything He might be preeminent. He has now reconciled in His body of flesh by His death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before Him« (Colossians 1,18b.22).

6. Thomas’ witness is magnificent. Not only does he see the risen Jesus, but he emphasizes the scars of His Passion in His hands and side. He could even touch those hands and side. He beholds the very signs of Jesus’ crucifixion. The apostles went forth throughout the world proclaiming the forgiveness we have through the risen Jesus.

7. Many will doubt, scoff at or vehemently oppose this gospel proclamation. Others will attempt to divert attention away from the gospel. Some even add works to the gospel that one must perform to be certain of the gospel. Paul dealt with such in his Epistle to the Galatians. A dear and wise seminary professor proclaimed it this way at a chapel service in 1998: „Now that is something they are unwilling to admit. Nobody is challenging Christ. Oh dear, no. The problem is only in what more needs to be said about Christ. That can always be improved, expanded, interpreted relevant to our questions and problems, worked into our program. There must be something that we can show for it, and that best be what God expects and demands, like circumcision. No one admits to adjusting Christ. “It’s the Gospel we’re working on.” The apostle won’t let them get away with that. Adjusted Gospel is adjusted Christ. And for an adjusted Gospel, you don’t really finally need Christ. the apostle goes on to make that quite clear. Can you talk about a Gospel if Jesus had not been crucified? Then the stumbling block of the cross has been removed. Then Christ died to no purpose. The only Christ who is your Savior is the one crucified. The death He died there for your sins is your death for your sins. He did it in your place. To pervert the Gospel of Christ is to nullify the grace of God. Then Christ died to no purpose. If that is the Christ you are talking about, then you have fallen away from grace. Faith plus obedience is not faith alone. It is not Christ alone. The apostle makes it clear that another gospel is not the Gospel at all. And what is not the Gospel is then clearly recognizable as the Law“ (Nagel 158-59; 160).

8. Too many churches and pastors preach and teach a different gospel with a different Christ. We are not saved by our works. Imitating the apostles doesn’t redeem us. Only the proclamation delivering Christ saves us. That is the gospel: Christ is risen, and through Him your sins are forgiven. Full stop. Nothing else is necessary.

9. Back to Thomas. He sees the risen Jesus; he believes and he makes a beautiful confession: „My Lord and my God!“ Ό κύριός μου καί ό θεός μου. Dominus meus et Deus meus. Thomas saw a man and confesses God (Nagel 123). Thomas’ confession is our confession. The Nicene Creed declares it this way: We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God. Christ guarantees the expectation of victory because that victory is connected with God, which replaces the cross of disconnection from God (Nagel 124). Life and victory are ours because we are connected with and share the life and victory of Christ, and these are as solid as certain as God in Christ (Nagel 124). Nothing can shatter a life connected with Christ – not even sin, pain and death – for such a life goes through these with Christ, and with Christ there is a victorious way through (Nagel 124-25).

10. Jesus is our Lord and our God. He was crucified and resurrected to redeem us. „He redeemed mankind upon the cross on the 6^th day, the same in which He had created man in the beginning. The following day He kept His sabbath in the tomb, having finished the work that He had undertaken. But on the 3^rd, that is the first of days, then the New Man, the Conqueror of death, the First-fruits of them that sleep, appeared“ (Bernard of Clairvaux 8^th Sermon on the Holy Pasch; Oremus 413). Vivificabit nos post duos dies; in die tertia suscitabit nos, et vivemus in conspectu ejus (Osee 6,3a). »After 2 days He will revive us; on the 3^rd day He will raise us up, that we may live before Him.« (Hosea 6,2).

11. Jesus Christ our Savior,

Conquered death forever,

He is now risen,

And put sin captive in prison.

Kyrie eleison.

(Jesus Christus, unser Heiland elkg 438,1 2021 Martin Luther 1524)

This is most certainly true.

12. Et pax Dei, quæ exuperat omnem sensum, custodiat corda vestra, et intelligentias vestras in Christo Jesu. The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4,7). Amen.

13. Let us pray. O God, who for our redemption didst give Thine only-begotten Son to the death of the cross and by His glorious resurrection hast delivered us from the power of the enemy, grant us to die daily to sin that we may evermore live with Him in the joy of His resurrection. Amen. (Quasimodogeniti, Vespers Collect 2. The Daily Office.)

To God alone be the Glory

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

✠

All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, Septuaginta, Vol. I and II 2. Revised Edition © 2006 Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 28. Revised Edition © 2012 Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.

Grace Evangelical-Lutheran

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

Sunday, April 7, 2024

John 20,19-29. Quasimodogeniti

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