"Keep Your Ears Open and Your Mouth Shut" Second Sunday of Easter Quasimodo Geniti April 12, 2015 John 20:19–31
In Ecclesiastes Solomon gives us this wisdom: in the House of God, be ready to hear so that you do not offer up the sacrifice of fools. One rather free translation says it this way: when you go to church keep your ears open and your mouth shut. A famous saying has the wise advice that it is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. Perhaps that is a take-off of another proverb of Solomon: Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent. The Scripture readings today have much to teach us if we are willing to listen rather than wanting to speak first. That was Thomas’ problem, wasn’t it? Too much talking, not enough listening. He closed his ears and opened his mouth. He did not take to heart Solomon’s advice to keep your ears open and your mouth shut. Two thousand years later, how are we faring? Do we come here to the House of God ready to hear? Are we ready to seek to not tell God what it is He needs to hear but rather to hear what He has to tell us? When we come here the liturgy is designed to bring to us what God says to us rather than what we would like to tell Him. And so we confess our sins. We pray for His mercy. We need to be here to hear the forgiveness God speaks to us. In the Gospel reading for today there was enough doubt filling the room where the disciples were to fill an entire mansion. They had not believed Jesus would rise from the grave and now that His body was no longer in the grave they were scared. When Jesus came to them He gave them what they needed. He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Jesus would be with them for forty days and then ascend to heaven. The Holy Spirit would be the one to testify. He would continue to bring them what they needed. There’s one thing needed for this to happen, though. It’s too keep your ears open and your mouth shut. We must listen to our Lord and not seek first to speak to Him. He is the one who gives us what we need and we can’t get it if we’re only intent on telling Him what we need. So let’s listen. Let’s hear what He has to say. In the Gospel reading Jesus gives to the apostles a task. It is to forgive sins. This is what we need. We need our sins forgiven. In our sinfulness we don’t see this as our crucial need. But this is the main thing that is given here in the House of God and the main thing we need. Without forgiveness all the rest that happens in worship is of no lasting value. You are sinner, you need to be forgiven. So the Holy Spirit was given to the apostles by Jesus so that they may forgive the sins of those who repent of their sins and refuse forgiveness to those who remain in their sin by refusing to repent. The Holy Spirit continues this work today. The called and ordained servants of Jesus Christ speak the forgiveness of sins. Those who open their ears and confess their sins, asking their Lord for forgiveness, have exactly what the words say, forgiveness of sins. Are our ears more likely to listen to the voice of our sinful nature? How can a man forgive my sins? Why does there need to be a pastor in order for me to be forgiven? This is the problem we all have. Instead of listening to Jesus and shutting our mouth we give voice to our doubt. We wonder why we can’t just be forgiven without any particular person saying so. We wonder why Jesus gave this task to the apostles, rather than in a general way. The problem is that we don’t really believe the Word of God has the power that He says it has. When God speaks His Word it brings about what it says. It’s really that simple, whether spoken by Him directly or through His servant He calls to preach the Gospel and forgive sins. This is how the disciples reacted. The angel spoke the Word of God, Jesus was raised from the dead! They didn’t believe it. Jesus appeared to them and said, “Peace be with you.” Now they believed. The Word in the flesh was before them and speaking to them. They told Thomas, who wasn’t there when Jesus showed up. But he didn’t believe. He had to see and feel, he wanted proof. Jesus again came to them, this time Thomas being there, and Jesus invited him to do just that. Look, touch, feel. The scars were still there from His crucifixion. There was no need for Thomas to touch and feel, though. His Lord spoke to him and he believed. “My Lord and my God!” And now we can learn. We can see that our Lord invites us to do the same as He did for Thomas. Look, touch, feel. Believe. You believe, Thomas, because you have seen, but those are blessed who have not seen and yet believe. And the reason they, meaning you and me, are blessed is because He has given His Church the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit testifies. He testifies to the forgiveness of sins. That’s what Thomas needed, it’s what you and I need. So the Spirit testifies, as the Epistle reading says, along with two other things: water and blood. This, as it says, is how Jesus has come, by water and the blood. He was Baptized in the Jordan by water and His blood was shed on the cross. This is how He came. And the reason He did was for one main reason: the forgiveness of sins. Jesus was Baptized not because He needed Baptism but because we did. He didn’t die on the cross for Himself but for us. So once He died, the testimony of His Baptism and shedding of blood was poured out. The soldier pierced His side and out came water and blood. The Spirit testifies along with these two things of how Jesus comes to you for your forgiveness: in your Baptism where you are washed with water by His Word and in Holy Communion where His blood is given to you to cleanse you of your sin. John says in the Epistle that “if we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that He has borne concerning His Son.” No wonder we need to keep our ears open and our mouth shut. If we are not listening to God we miss this testimony of the Holy Spirit that He gives along with the water and the blood. If we are too ready to speak then we miss the invitation our Lord gives to us to see, to touch, to feel in the Sacraments. We saw it today when water was poured over Ruby and the very words of Christ were spoken, I Baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. In that washing with water she was cleansed of her sins because Jesus says she is. In the same way, we see it often at this altar where our Lord invites us to it as to a Table where He gives us in bread and wine His body and blood which were given and shed on the cross for the forgiveness of sins. This is what we hear by faith. When our ears are open and we humbly ask our Lord to tell us what He wishes to tell us, He gives us His words: Peace be with you. I forgive you all your sins. I Baptized you. Take and eat, this is My body. Take and drink, this is My blood. These words are not just words, they are the very Son of God coming to us in these ways, the Spirit giving His testimony along with the water and the blood. But that’s not all. He gives you something else. Not only does He give you ears to hear, He gives you a mouth to speak. Thomas exclaimed, “My Lord and my God!” He saw his Lord, he heard his Lord, he was forgiven by his Lord. Where there is your Lord there is forgiveness. And where there is forgiveness there is confession of faith. My Lord and my God. My God who has come to me in the flesh, first to go to the cross, then to come to me in my Baptism and in the Holy Supper He invites me to, and finally on the Last Day when He will welcome me into His eternal Kingdom. Keep your ears open …and your mouth as well, always giving thanks for His mercy and His forgiveness. Amen. SDG -- Pastor Paul L. Willweber Prince of Peace Lutheran Church [LCMS] 6801 Easton Ct., San Diego, California 92120 619.583.1436 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] _______________________________________________ Sermons mailing list [email protected] http://cat41.org/mailman/listinfo/sermons
