"Confession, Absolution, Confession"
Second Sunday of Easter
April 19, 2009
John 20:19-31
When you look around you you see things that are fragile, as if
they’re a mist that is faint, that you feel slightly but know will not
last. If you examine your life you might be holding on to missed
opportunities, mistakes you’ve made that you can’t change but would do
almost anything if you could go back and change them. If you measure
where you stand, what you’re facing, you may be wondering how you’re
going to get through the challenges ahead, the unfair situations
you’ve found yourself in, or the messes you’ve created for yourself.
You may be on edge, you may be on the verge of despair, you may simply
feel like not caring anymore. You may look around you and wonder if
it’s all real; how a good and powerful God could allow the decay, the
sorrow, the pain to go on in this world He created. You might be
wondering what your life has come to that God allows you to live with
the hardships you face, the sins you struggle against, the pain you
endure in your own life.
You might not know where you can turn to; to find some comfort, to
have meaning for your life, to be at peace. You may feel like your
life is simply grasping at something that’s just out of reach. It’s so
close you can taste it. It’s tantalizing and depressing at the same
time, because you’re not sure really what it is you’re looking for,
what you need—you just know that it’s out of reach.
On the other hand, you may feel great; you may be content. You might
feel like things are going on just fine and there’s nothing really
that you need to be in a better position. Oh sure, you’ll take the
good things that come your way, but not rocking the boat is just fine
with you.
There’s an answer readily available. Everywhere you turn you will see
that answer. Because there are three sources that will hold this
answer up to you constantly. They will not rest in offering you hope
for your struggles or confirmation of your peace of mind. What is this
hope? You can be at peace with who you are. You can celebrate your
humanity and not let people bring you down by insinuating that you’re
the problem; that you’re too blame. Or, if you’re happy where you’re
at, there you go! Isn’t that what God wants for you?
The ones who offer you this gospel of celebrating who you are and
being at peace with yourself are your enemies. They seek your
destruction. They seek your torment in hell. You know these
enemies—even though you don’t want to think about them much: Satan,
the world, and your sinful flesh. They want to present you with a hope
that appeals to you so that you will die slowly, without realizing it.
Like the frog in the kettle, slowly roasting to death, unaware of its
doom.
Your enemies will always present you with hope in any way, of anything
or anyone other than Christ. Anything to get you off of Him and onto
yourself or something else. Satan wants you destroyed. The world wants
you to enjoy the ride. Your sinful flesh wants you to indulge
yourself. All three want you nowhere near Christ and His cross.
The one who stood before the disciples on Easter Sunday was the
Crucified Lord. The one who had been nailed to the tree. The one who
had died. He now stood before them in their world of fear, consisting
of a locked up room, alive. Still bearing the scars of His
crucifixion, Christ appeared to them in order to slap around the
enemies that were against them—Satan, the world, and their sinful
flesh. This is always why Christ comes. He doesn’t offer you some
better way. He simply comes into your life.
And when He does, it’s not always pretty. It’s not necessarily
appealing. Oftentimes we’ll do the denial act like Thomas, like the
other disciples had done before him. We will end up deceiving
ourselves and calling God a liar. Because who do you want to put your
hope in? How do you want your salvation to come? How do you want your
new life in Christ to be? Is it without hardship and struggle? Is it
with peace of mind without constantly grasping at some nebulous peace
that it is tantalizingly out of reach?
Do you want salvation to come in the form of a God who shows you scars
on His hands and in His side, one who bears the marks of having
suffered in weakness and pain? One who by His very nature prompts you
to see in yourself things that aren’t pretty, that evidence your
wicked and sinful heart? One that comes bringing with Him His Sword,
which pierces your heart so that you must see that there is nothing
within you that could bring you peace that lasts? So that the only way
you could convince yourself that you are not by nature sinful and
unclean is by deceiving yourself and calling God a liar?
Jesus stands before you and you must confess your sin. You must stand
before Him and answer for your hope that what you’re grasping for is
within your reach. When in fact it’s entirely out of your reach. When
in fact there’s no hope within your sinful flesh. Confession of sin is
tough stuff. We want to hold on to some part of ourselves where we can
walk away with some dignity. But the apostle John was there on that
Easter evening. He heard the words of Christ. Forgive those who are
repentant. Withhold forgiveness from those who are unrepentant. That’s
why John exhorts us as he does in the epistle reading to confess our
sins. Strip away all notions of hope or peace of mind within ourselves
and confess that we utterly depraved.
Jesus doesn’t get His jollies out of this. He didn’t show up to the
disciples’ hideout to rub it in that they were poor miserable sinners.
His joy is in the Absolution. He is faithful and just to forgive us
and cleanse us of all unrighteousness. God always tells the truth. You
have no hope apart from Him. God delights in showing mercy. The one
who stood before them stood with scars from the suffering He bore on
behalf of the world. When the nails were driven into His hands your
sins were nailed to that cross. When the sword pierced His side blood
and water poured out of Him to cleanse you of your sin; His
righteousness poured out for you. You are absolved. Forgiven. You may
go in peace. When Jesus comes that’s what He brings. Because He brings
Himself.
His peace, His joy, His salvation, His forgiveness is not out of
reach. It is received by you because He delivers it right to you,
through your ears when you hear the Absolution spoken to you and when
you hear the Gospel proclaimed to you. It is received by you when you
are Baptized, cleansed of all of your sins; united to Christ in His
death and resurrection. It is received by you when you eat His Body
and drink His Blood in His Holy Meal. He’s not just going to stand
around and show you His scars. He’s going to deliver their benefits to
you, in His Gospel and in His Sacraments, Baptism and the Lord’s
Supper.
This is what they received that day. It’s what the Christian Church
has been receiving ever since that day. It’s what Luke describes in
the reading from Acts: the apostles were proclaiming the Resurrection
of Christ for the salvation and life of the people of God. It’s what
John was telling the Christian Church of in the epistle reading when
he said that they were witnesses of the Living and Resurrected Lord.
It’s what you receive today and often in the hearing and the receiving
and the partaking.
So you have confession. You have Absolution. You confess your sins and
in being absolved you have life eternal and life in peace that is not
of this world. What more is there to know? Only this: confession.
There is not only confession of sins but confession of faith. Thomas
blurted it out: My Lord and my God! That’s what we Christians do, we
confess our faith. He had repented, he had received Absolution. We
believe that our only hope is in the only God, the God of the cross
and the empty tomb—so we confess it. We can’t help it! Just like
Thomas, my Lord and my God!
John said that he wrote these things so that we may believe and that
by believing have life in His name. You believe. You have life in His
name. You have confessed your sins, you are Absolved. You confess your
faith as a Baptized child of God and you receive the Body and Blood of
your Lord in His Holy Supper. Far from out of reach, He comes to you
right here at His Holy Table. You proclaim the Lord’s death until He
comes. Your Lord and your God is your hope. Your Lord and your God is
your your life and your salvation, now and forever. Amen.
SDG
--
Pastor Paul L. Willweber
Prince of Peace Lutheran Church [LCMS]
San Diego, California
princeofpeacesd.net
three-taverns.net
It is the spirit and genius of Lutheranism to be liberal in everything
except where the marks of the Church are concerned.
[Henry Hamann, On Being a Christian]
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