CW-A - Gospel Lesson Easter 2- Kieth Bernard Kuschel
John 20:19-31
(19) On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" {20} After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. {21} Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." {22} And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. {23} If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven." {24} Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. {25} So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it." {26} A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" {27} Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe." {28} Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!" {29} Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." {30} Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. {31} But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
What kind of Easter did you have? Happy. Jesus focused
Any Easter eggs for anybody? That is Jesus focused
Any flowers for anybody? That is Jesus focused
Any rabbits for anybody? That is Jesus focused.
That was a good Easter.
Today we are asking, “Did you have a peaceful Easter?”
I.A.1 Did you have a peaceful Easter? Well, let’s review what we did last Sunday? We got up early to get everything ready for Easter breakfast. Then we had to wake the family up early in order to get them to breakfast. Usually Sunday is much more peaceful and relaxing. We don’t have to be to church till much later. Everybody was pretty on edge. The children were cramming their lines in the car on the way over. It would have been more peaceful if they had learned them better earlier. The seventh grader started complaining about singing with the little kids. That caused some stress. Breakfast was good, but not very relaxing. Right after you got settled in, you had to start clearing the place and getting ready for church. Church was good but not very relaxing. It is always stressful singing in the choir and playing handbells and playing organ or trumpet. Was my Easter peaceful? Good question.
2. Then we got in the car and rushed home to get the food ready we were going to take to the gathering. We all had to change clothes. We had to battle with the desire to just relax at home and work out in the beautiful sunshine. The kids didn’t want to go visiting. We weathered all those storms. We made it to the gathering. It is always stressful to try to keep everybody on good behavior after a day of no physical activity. We finally got home about 5 p.m. Was my Easter peaceful? Good question.
B.1. Did the first disciples of Jesus have a very peaceful Easter? I doubt it. {19}“On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews.” They were still afraid. They still thought they were going to be killed next. Fear always robs people of peace.
2. Did the disciples have a peaceful Easter? I doubt it. They had another fear. An even worse fear. They were afraid that they had been wrong about Jesus. They thought He was God. Now He was dead. That meant they were dead wrong. They thought He was King. Now it looked as if Pilate was in charge. They thought He was the source of spiritual truth. Now it looked as if the Sanhedrin was right. They thought He was giving them forgiveness and eternal life. Now it looked as if they had to change their whole idea about eternity. All of this made them afraid of even thinking about tomorrow.
C.1. What robs us of our peace? Sin. The hostility of sinfulness of the sinners in the world around us causes fear in us just as it caused fear in the disciples. What is the criminal element in society going to do to me? That thought robs me of peace. What are the people who don’t like me, or maybe just don’t care about me going to do to me that will hurt me? That question robs me of peace.
2. What robs us of our peace? Sin. My selfish thoughts, words, and actions disrupt my relationships with the people around me. My laziness results in stress even about little things like singing in church. My pride causes conflict even about little things like reciting lines with little kids. My self-consciousness causes fear even when I am giving glory to God to the best of my ability. My sins rob me of peace.
3. What robs us of our peace? Sin. My lack of perfect trust in the Lord causes fear. Jesus didn’t seem to be God, or a King when he was crucified. What if He really didn’t rise? What if the disciples made all these stories up because they were good salesmen. What if all this was really just a bunch of hallucinations cooked up in the minds of grieving people? My doubts rob me of peace.
II.A.1. Did you have a peaceful Easter? If sins robs us of our peace, then forgiveness of sins should give us peace. Did you have a peaceful Easter? Yes, because Easter is the guarantee of the forgiveness of sins. Consider this scenario. Jesus says He is in the world to give His life up as a payment for sins. He says He is in the world in order to conquer the devil so He can’t control us. He says He is in the world to experience death and conquer it so it can’t hold us. He says He is in the world in order to experience hell so it can’t swallow us. So, He dies and that is the end of the story. That would be the end of the story about forgiveness for us through Jesus too. But that isn’t the end of the story. He rose. That means he conquered death and hell for us. That means God accepted His payment for our sins. That means we have forgiveness of sins. That means we are at peace with God, and therefore also can be at peace with ourselves. Yes, we had a peaceful Easter.
2. Did you notice that Jesus said, “Peace be with you,” to His disciples, and then said, {21}“As the Father has sent me, I am sending you,” and then He began immediately to talk about forgiveness. The Father sent Jesus into the world to make it possible for there to be peace between us and God by His life, death and resurrection. But the Father had also sent Jesus into the world to inform the world about the peace that belongs to it because of Jesus. With no information about that peace, people wouldn’t have it. Jesus won peace on Easter. He delivered peace to people throughout His ministry, including the ministry that began after Easter. We heard the message at Easter. Yes, we had a peaceful Easter.
B.1. “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” {22}And with that Jesus breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” Jesus is giving us our job description here. It is our job to inform people. We are to tell them that Jesus died to take away their sins. We are to tell them that Jesus died to take away death as punishment for sins. We are to tell them that Jesus suffered hell so that hell can be escaped. We are to tell them that Jesus lived and never sinned so that they can be holy in God’s sight. We are to tell them that Jesus rose from the dead so that they might live forever with God. We are to tell them that if they don’t repent of their sins, they are guilty before God. When we tell people about Jesus, we have a peaceful Easter or any other day.
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2. Jesus is giving us our job description here. What is our job description? No. Not just to inform people. “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” It is our job to bring peace into the lives of others as Jesus has brought it into our lives. That is important for us to remember. We are not just trying to get people to know the facts about Jesus Christ. We want them to have peace. We deliver peace to them when we deliver the message of Jesus and when the Holy Spirit whom the Lord breathes into people through us works. When we deliver peace to people, we have a peaceful Easter or any other day.
C.1. If my sins rob me of my peace, then forgiveness gives peace. If my sins disrupt relationships with other people, then I need to have their forgiveness to be at peace. If I am going to have their forgiveness, I need to repent to them. And when they announce forgiveness to us, we are forgiven, according to Jesus’ words. And then I can be at peace.
2. If the sins of other people rob me of my peace, then forgiveness gives peace. If their sins disrupt relationships with me, then I need to forgive them. And when I announce forgiveness to them, they are forgiven, according to Jesus’ words. And then I can be at peace. Notice, I didn’t say, they can be at peace, although that is true also. But I can be at peace. Because the book is closed. Their sin against me doesn’t need to bother me any more. It has been repented of and forgiven. End of issue. No gnawing at me. Peace. Forgiveness gives peace.
III.A.1 Did the disciples have a peaceful Easter? Depends what part of Easter you are talking about. After Jesus appeared to them, the answer to the question is: “Yes.” They didn’t have to be afraid for their lives. Jesus was alive and among them. He had already conquered death. They didn’t need to be afraid that they had been wrong about Jesus. He was alive and among them. He was God, and the King, and the source of truth. They had forgiveness and holiness and eternal life. They didn’t have to be afraid about tomorrow. Jesus was alive and among them. They could be at peace.
2. Did Thomas have a peaceful Easter? No. He didn’t believe what he had been told. He was amazed that the rest of the disciples would be saying such things. But a week later, when he was allowed to touch Jesus, to see the nail marks, and touch the wounded side, then he believed that Jesus was alive and with him. And then he too could be at peace.
B.1. Did we have a peaceful Easter? Did you notice somebody missing from our celebration here last Sunday? Did you see Jesus at Easter breakfast? I didn’t. Did you see Jesus at our worship service? There were lots of people here, but I didn’t see Jesus. So I guess we didn’t have a peaceful Easter as the disciples did, since He didn’t show up here as He did on that first Easter evening.
2. Did you have a peaceful Easter? While you were at your gathering in the afternoon, did Jesus show up? Were your doors locked? That didn’t stop him on the first Easter evening. Did he let you touch his hands and his side? No? Well I guess we didn’t have a peaceful Easter as Thomas had a peaceful week after Easter encounter with Jesus.
C.1. Jesus has a comment if we are feeling left out. {29}“Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” And then notice John’s comment on this whole issue. {30} Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. {31} But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. God knew that many, many people would not have the privilege which the disciples had on Easter evening, and which Thomas had on the Sunday night following Easter. They wouldn’t see the risen Lord Jesus. But, He had all of these things written down, so that all of us would know that they happened and are true. He uses the words of the Scripture to convince us of the truth of the message about Jesus. Thus we believe although we have not seen, except with the eyes of faith.
2. Did you have a peaceful Easter? Is Jesus present among us? His presence among His disciples gave them peace. He is God. He is present everywhere. His presence gives us peace. He is present in our hearts every time the Word is used by us. His presence gives us peace. He is present in a way that we can touch and taste in His holy Supper. His presence gives us peace.
Conc. Did you have a peaceful Easter? Even if you have to say, “No, it was a rush from 5:30 am to 6 pm. It was not peaceful.” Yet, because of Easter, because of Jesus’ resurrection, his forgiveness, and His presence, you can have a peaceful rest of your life.