[Machine transcription]
Christ is risen.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
I think the main temptation with today’s readings, especially the gospel lesson, is for us to
really only talk about what’s going on with Thomas, because after all, let’s admit it,
he’s kind of an easy target to focus on.
And we will talk about him briefly, but there are other points in these readings, there’s
thread that connects them in this talk about resurrection, about the fellowship
that I’d like us to look at as well. So we’re gonna take the readings and kind
of make this John sandwich. We’re gonna talk about the gospel first, then we’ll
look at the reading from Acts, and then John’s epistle, and then we’ll kind of
really even top it off with going back to the gospel lesson. And in doing so,
what I think we’ll see is how faith, and especially the necessity of believing in
and confessing the resurrection of Christ brings one into fellowship of the
church and how faith is trusting in the forgiveness sins. But for now, let’s look
at that brief word about Thomas. And you’ve probably heard him referred to as
doubting Thomas, even though that word doubt doesn’t appear anywhere in the
text. I mean, Thomas didn’t just doubt, he didn’t believe. He didn’t believe that
Jesus was resurrected from the dead. Now we don’t know where he went when he was
with the disciples in the garden and Jesus was arrested and they all kind of
scattered, we don’t know where he went, we don’t know if he had actually heard that
the risen Lord Jesus had appeared to Mary Magdalene and the women there at
the tomb or to Peter, we don’t even know why he wasn’t there in that room with the
disciples when Jesus appeared to them later on that resurrection day. And if
certainly vary about why he wasn’t there with them, but it seems that me, at
least, that maybe his unbelief was reason enough. Maybe we can think of him as kind
of just checking out of things for a moment. And maybe the other disciples got
worried about him, maybe they went looking for him, they maybe run into him
somewhere because they’re hunting for him, and they say, we’ve seen the risen
Lord. And Thomas says that unless he sees the wounds and unless he touches the
wounds that I will never believe. So he’s not doubting Thomas, he’s unbelieving
Thomas. Thomas didn’t even believe it when the other disciples were witnessing to
him what they had seen, and he seems very, very confirmed in this unbelief when he
is the one who demands to see physical proof. And yet our Lord Jesus forgives
Thomas, he even seeks him out so that he may forgive him and bring him to belief.
So eight days later when Thomas does rejoin the disciples in that room and
Jesus appears to them again. Jesus tells Thomas to touch his wounds and do not
disbelieve but believe, and he believes. And so Thomas then becomes one of the
more than 500 witnesses to whom Jesus appeared in these 40 days after the
resurrection. And Thomas isn’t alone in his unbelief because apparently there
are more than a few Christians who don’t believe in the resurrection either.
Numbers vary. The surveys say that anywhere between a quarter to one-third
of Christians may very well not believe in the resurrection. Some of them say,
well, I don’t believe the accounts are accurate, whatever that means. And Pastor
Wolfmuller mentioned last week there’s even this contingent of Christians who
say that if somehow Christ’s body had been found, if we find it today, if we
have evidence of that, then that would change nothing about what they believe
confess, as if the resurrection itself weren’t necessary, not just believing and
confessing it, but that it wasn’t even necessary. And so this is a clear denial
of Scripture, because Scripture tells us, and not just in our readings today from
the New Testament, but we see the resurrection prophecies, the prophets
like Ezekiel, Daniel, Jonah, among others. In the New Testament, indeed, Jesus tells
Martha, I am the resurrection and the life. And Paul writes in 1st Corinthians,
if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is
in vain. In fact, where that comes from, chapter 15, that’s entirely about the
resurrection. So there can be no true faith without confessing and believing
in the resurrection. And we must believe and confess this so that we are in
fellowship with one another in the church. And we get a picture about what
this type of fellowship would look like, and should look like, in this reading
from Acts chapter 4. In this Luke, he’s beginning to talk about what’s
going on in the church of Jerusalem, how it’s growing, how the word is working, but
today he’s really talking about what this particular relationship looks like in
that congregation. We know that thousands have heard the word, they have
received faith by the preaching of Peter and all the other apostles, and they’ve
been baptized. But in this preaching it’s important to note that the resurrection
of Christ was central to it, and that this unity of the congregation is in
unity in faith and spirit. You may recall in his Pentecost sermon to the Jews, Peter
is sure to mention their patriarch David and how David spoke about the
resurrection of Christ. And so the resurrection at this time was already
central to the teaching of the church. And so for those who did believe, there
was this accomplishment among them of this unity of faith and confession even
among this different and diverse population. And this was done not by men,
not by Peter and the Apostles, but by the Word and the Spirit. And so the people
of this congregation, they were going to the temple together, they were breaking
bread together, they were living for the Lord and for each other, and this
fellowship, this communion, led them to be caring and to be giving and to be
unselfish with what they had been blessed with. And it wasn’t some type of
expression or example of an economic or a government philosophy or approach to
doing things. The rich didn’t become poor at the expense of the poor, although they
gave as they had, as they had extra, they provided to others what they needed.
This wasn’t, though, some kind of economic parity and it wasn’t coerced. They
simply took care of one another. It was a manifestation of Christian love as a
fruit of faith, and this faith was this bond of union and this fellowship in the
church. And fellowship in the church isn’t just membership, it’s not just
being associated outwardly with a particular church body or particular
congregation, it’s a spiritual state of being. And this entire fellowship, as we
see in the text, was encouraged by the preaching of the Apostles who testified
to the resurrection of Christ. This text from Acts tells us that with great power
the Apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. So
we see that they were living with the resurrected Christ in them, and they all
gave testimony and eyewitness and evidence of this. And this is the model
for the church today. John’s epistle lesson is also about fellowship, and it
also has tones of the resurrection in it. Luther said that this first epistle
should really follow right behind John’s gospel because it really, John sets out
in it to do much like he does in his own gospel and to show who Jesus is so that
we may believe that he’s the Son of God. John says that Jesus was from the
beginning, he was before creation, and he was given to be known and he was heard
through the teaching and preaching of all Scripture. And John says that in this
he says we, and when he says we he means the Apostles, we have heard the words of
Christ. We have seen the signs and wonders. We have seen the miracles of
Christ. We have seen and touched his body, his resurrected body. We have seen his
glory. So this is John’s witness and his testimony. John says that he says all
this so that the hearer may believe and may come into fellowship with all other
believers, and this fellowship comes first in the church, so that we can then
have fellowship with the Father and the Son, for there is no fellowship with God
outside of the church. Believers are integrated into the church, into the body
of Christ, and therefore they now have this intimate relationship and
fellowship with God the Father through Jesus. And if we are in this fellowship, we
must walk in the light, as John puts it, for he is in the light. The he, John, is
talking about is Jesus, and this means that Jesus is now living because he has
been resurrected from the dead, and walking in light is believing in the
truth of the gospel which preaches Christ crucified and resurrected. It also
means doing the works of the Lord, and if we claim to do this, but our actions and
behaviors are like those who are still in unbelief, then we are liars. For the
Righteous and holy life is what bonds us together
in fellowship in the church.
And although we strive always to be holy,
to be sanctified, we are of course gonna err.
And we are gonna stumble and we are gonna fall.
Believe it or not, Christians still sin.
And if we say otherwise, if we deny our sin,
then we are liars.
But even then, and actually we make God the liar.
And if we say otherwise, if we deny it,
then we’ve made him a liar. But even then, we have forgiveness in God. We have
forgiveness through Christ if we are quick to confess and request this
forgiveness so that we may receive the absolution that has come by the blood of
Christ, for His blood removes all our guilt. And when we do sin, we take
comfort in knowing, as John tells us today, that we have one who sits at the
right hand of the Father. We have a paraclete. We have an advocate to the
father and we are righteous on his account and this is John’s confidence
and it must be our confidence also now I said we go back to the gospel and so at
the end of today’s gospel lesson John tells us that he has written about these
signs 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 now the greatest sign of Christ was his
resurrection and we have to confess belief in it. If we deny the resurrection
or we say that it wasn’t necessary, then we again make God a liar. The
resurrection was necessary because it made Christ’s sacrifice satisfactory,
because, John says, he was the propitiation for our sin. Of the untold
number, thousands, millions, we don’t know, beasts whose blood was placed on the
altar. Not one was ever sufficient to satisfy the wrath of God, but Christ’s
blood was, because it was shed as the final payment for sin. And the
resurrection is the culminating work of God in accomplishing our redemption. And
so in confessing the resurrection of Christ, we are also confessing the hope
of our own resurrection when our corrupted bodies will be like his
glorious body, and we are confessing that we are in fellowship with one another in
the body of Christ. John didn’t confess the resurrection. I’m sorry, Thomas
didn’t confess the resurrection. He didn’t believe in the resurrection. He
demanded proof, and Jesus gives him proof. He shows him the wounds in his
hands and in his side, and he shows that this is the cost of the peace that he
brings to declare to the disciples. And this peace is their absolution, to forgive
them of their own sin and their own unbelief. And it is with this absolution
that he also gives them his spirit that they may then have the authority to go
and preach and to forgive sins in his name. Now during his short ministry on
earth, Jesus showed many signs and wonders to prove that he was the Son of
God, and these signs continued in the Apostolic Age as the Holy Spirit worked
through the apostles. And yes, he used physical sight to prove his resurrection
in the 40 days. But Jesus tells the disciples, the day is coming when there
will be faith with outside, that those who believe without seeing will be the
ones who are truly blessed. And like Thomas, we often want to see for
ourselves. We want more proof than just his word, but his word is sufficient.
Because the word of the Apostles, inspired by the Holy Spirit, they are the
public witness of the resurrection of Christ. So to believe it, we must remain
in the Word. We must abide in it. We have to continue to come here to this place.
We have to continue to confess our sins and be absolved. We have to continue
to take the Lord’s body and blood for the forgiveness of sins and for the
strengthening of our faith. We have to be of one accord in the Christian
congregation. We have to be in fellowship with each other. The truth of the
resurrection and the imperative that we believe in it to be in the fellowship of
the church has been taught in the church since the early days, since it began. And
the resurrection was always part of the Father’s plan to deliver us and give us
victory through Christ. Victory over sin, victory over the grave, and victory over
death itself. It’s why we preach in our funeral sermons, we preach the
resurrection. It’s why we proclaim Jesus’ words from John 11, I am the
resurrection and the life, says the Lord. He who believes in me will live even
though he dies, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die forever.
Dear Christians, Jesus’ resurrection is the seal of the completed redemption and
reconciliation of the world. If Christ had been just a mere man, a mere mortal,
then why would his death give us any comfort at all? And his resurrection is
not just proof of his divinity, it secures for us the blessings of our own
resurrection to eternal life. His resurrection guarantees our resurrection,
and his word gives us the proof and assurance of that resurrection. And it’s
really the only evidence we need. So then, let us be bold in our confession, that we
look for the resurrection of the body and the life’s world to come. Amen. And
may we also boldly proclaim that Christ is risen. The peace of God which
surpasses all understanding guards your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus our
Lord. Amen.
