Second Sunday of Easter

Readings: Acts 5:29-42 | 1 Peter 1:3-9 | John 20:19-31

Text: John 20:19-31

HEARING IS BELIEVING, AND BY IT WE TOO ARE FORGIVEN AND AT PEACE.

1. The disciples saw the Lord:
   1. Sometimes we get to thinking the disciples had an easier time, having Jesus with them in the flesh.
      1. We tend to think of that time as the “glory days” of the Church
      1. If only we too had Jesus physically present with us, then more people would believe and be saved.
   1. Truth is, they didn’t have it easier because the problem was unbelief
      1. At Nazareth, “he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them” (Mk. 6:5)
      1. Even His own disciples proved to be an obstacle when, “they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them” (Lk. 18:15).
      1. Even on the first Easter, the women saw the empty tomb and heard the message of the angel, but at first “they said nothing to anyone because they were afraid” (Mk. 16:8).
      1. Today, after the Resurrection, we find the disciples locked up as if man had prevailed. Thomas, who had once boldly said to his fellow apostles, “Let us also go, that we may die with him” (Jn. 11:16) and saw Lazarus raised from the grave now refuses to believe that Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life [Jn. Jn. 11:25]. These are the “glory days” of those closest to the Lord?
   1. The eyewitness testimonies of the Apostles are painfully honest. They tell the struggles of the very ones who saw Jesus face-to-face, and yet still struggled. The Lord bore with their weakness (as He did with Thomas), and has left us something even more powerful than seeing the Lord face-to-face.

30Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31but 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.

1. We hear the Lord:
   1. The disciples saw the Lord, but ever since His Ascension, the Church hears Him speak. The Holy Christian and apostolic Church is sustained by the Word of God. By the Word, the heavens and the earth were created [2 Pe. 3:5], and by that same Word the people of God now live and breathe.
   1. He has given us the reliable eyewitness of the apostles. They did see the Lord, and they were witnesses from the beginning. In their preaching and writings—which are the New Testament—they made repeated reference to the fact that they were first-hand witnesses of what the Lord had done, and they were appointed by Him to write these things “that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (v. 31).
   1. He also has given us His Spirit: “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” (Jn. 14:26), which is better for us, because the Lord also says, “I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you” (Jn. 16:7). It was by the power of the Spirit with the Word that “more than ever believers were added to the Lord” (Acts 5:14).
2. Even though hidden from sight, He is indeed with us.
   1. So often, people get into trouble when they look for an assurance of the Lord’s presence outside of His Word.
      1. In circumstances—when things are going well, the Lord must be with us. When they aren’t, He must not care.
      1. In emotions, when we have a certain feeling that we equate with His presence. But affections are always changing. (Remember the seed planted among the thorns in the Parable of the Sower, Matt. 13)
      1. In a worship experience of sensory input or knowing that you’re following an old tradition. The sights and smells and sounds are secondary to the promise that where the Church gathers around the Lord in His Name (“in His Name” is shorthand for His Church making disciples of all nations, baptizing and teaching).
   1. The promise is with the Word of the Lord:
      1. “Peace be with you” v. 19: By these words, the Lord opens the gates of heaven and slams the pit shut on Satan and all your sins. His death and resurrection to eternal life have freed you.
      1. “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld” He still sends His Holy Spirit by speaking in our midst here. As He speaks to us and through us, that peace releases us from our sins. It comes to those who hear and believe.
   1. He pronounces blessing upon us, who have not seen.
      1. By His Spirit you believe. The faithful testimony of eyewitnesses has come to you, as He has continued to speak from Sacred Scripture and the mouths of the faithful in every generation.
      1. You are blessed because it is completely by His work that you believe. It wasn’t because He took away all your problems; it wasn’t because you had a feeling He was with you; and it wasn’t because the divine service was led just so.
      1. Rather, because the Holy Spirit has given you faith that your sins are forgiven and you are in His Kingdom forever.

So, if you believe His Word, believe also the signs He gives, which deliver this same peace: Baptism and Absolution, together with the Lord’s Supper. The Lord, who is unseen, has given us these tangible mysteries to assure us (like Thomas, but perhaps not as incredulous and demanding as him). His Word and Holy Spirit, His Sacraments—all of these work together for us who has not seen, so that His blessing may rest upon us and our children, until the Day when faith gives way to sight and He comes again in glory.

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.