Quasimodogeniti, The First
Sunday after Easter, 2012
Pastor Gregory L. Jackson
The Hymn # 199 Jesus Christ is Risen 1:83
The Confession
of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
The Epistle and Gradual
The
Gospel
Glory be to
Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Sermon Hymn #200 I Know that My Redeemer 1:80
How Christ Comes to Us
The Communion
Hymn #187 Christ Is Arisen 1:45
The Preface p.
24
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn # 195 (Luther) Christ
Jesus 1:46
First Sunday After Easter
Lord God, heavenly
Father, we thank Thee, that of Thine ineffable grace, for the sake of Thy Son,
Thou hast given us the holy gospel, and hast instituted the holy sacraments,
that through the same we may have comfort and forgiveness of sin: We beseech
Thee, grant us Thy Holy Spirit, that we may heartily believe Thy word; and
through the holy sacraments day by day establish our faith, until we at last
obtain salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with
Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.
KJV 1 John 5:4 For
whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that
overcometh the world, even our faith. 5 Who is he that overcometh the
world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? 6 This is he that
came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by
water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit
is truth. 7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the
Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. 8 And there are three that
bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these
three agree in one. 9 If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is
greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son. 10
He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that
believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record
that God gave of his Son.
KJV John 20:19 Then the same
day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were
shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and
stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. 20 And when
he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were
the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord. 21 Then said Jesus to them again,
Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.
22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them,
Receive ye the Holy Ghost: 23 Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted
unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.
24 But Thomas, one of the
twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 The other
disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto
them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger
into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not
believe. 26 And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas
with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst,
and said, Peace be unto you. 27 Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither
thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into
my side: and be not faithless, but believing. 28 And Thomas answered and said
unto him, My Lord and my God. 29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou
hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen,
and yet have believed. 30 And many other signs truly did Jesus in the
presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: 31 But these are
written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and
that believing ye might have life through his name.
How Christ Comes to Us
John 20:19 Then the same day
at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut
where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood
in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.
The Gospel of John is
extremely important for supplementing what we know about Christ from the first
three Gospels. Whenever the Fourth Gospel tells us something that is not in the
first three, we know that he—inspired by the Holy Spirit—knew this was
essential for believers to know. Or, the Fourth Gospel adds essential details.
In some cases it was not
necessary to repeat the narrative but to give more of Jesus’ teaching about the
topic. For example, the Fourth Gospel may be the most sacramental of the
Gospels, yet the baptism of Jesus and the Last Supper are not detailed. They
are reflected upon but not described.
Some other characteristics
of the Fourth Gospel are worth repeating:
- John has many long sermons from Jesus, unique to
the Gospel, including the I AM passages.
- The Father-Son relationship is constantly
emphasized.
- The geography is precise, so the author knew the
area first-hand. We know he was the Apostle John.
- The purpose of the Gospel is to create faith,
for believing in Christ is salvation.
Apostates want us to think
that everyone is forgiven, everyone is saved. That is the foundational doctrine
of the Left-wing mainline denominations, the Roman Catholic Church, and the
Unitarian-Universalists. They imagine that all they need to do is say God is
gracious, everyone is saved, join my church. WELS even had an “evangelism”
banner that said that – “You are saved, just like me.” The DP who denied this,
Jon Buchholz, also published the same bizarre dogma, in a convention essay
“critical” of the Kokomo Statements.
KJV John 20:30 And many
other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not
written in this book: 31 But these are written, that ye might believe that
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life
through his name.
In other words, the Gospel
of John is written so that people hear about Christ, what He did and taught, so
they might believe in Him, have forgiveness and salvation in His Name.
KJV Acts 4:12 Neither is
there salvation in any other: for there is none other Name under heaven given
among men, whereby we must be saved.
KJV John 14:6 Jesus saith
unto him [doubting Thomas], I AM the way, the truth, and the
life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.
John 20:19 Then the same
day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were
shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and
stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.
Lenski put the situation
into context:
Now the situation is the following. Ten of the eleven were
together with a number of other disciples. The women who had met the angels and
then had seen and heard Jesus early in the morning had brought this news. Peter
and John had seen the strange sight in the tomb. Mary Magdalene had seen the
angels and Jesus himself and had brought the message from him. What thus occurred
in the morning of this wonderful day did not produce faith among the disciples
(Luke 24:11 and v. 22, etc.), save the littleness of faith in John’s silent
heart (v. 8). then came the appearance of Jesus to Peter (Luke 24:34; 1 Cor.
15:5), of which we know the fact and the effect but no details, not even the
hour or the place. Finally came the report of the two disciples who had gone to
Emmaus, Luke 24:35; when these two returned, joyful faith had already spread
among all those gathered together. While the two from Emmaus are still speaking
(Luke 24:36), Jesus appears to the entire company. Luke 24:36–48 and John
20:19–23 deal with the same event.
[1]
Lenski, R. C. H.: The
Interpretation of St. John's Gospel. Minneapolis, MN : Augsburg Publishing
House, 1961, S. 1363.
KJV Luke 24:36 And as they thus spake, Jesus himself
stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. 37
But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a
spirit. 38 And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts
arise in your hearts? 39 Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself:
handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.
40 And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet.
41 And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them,
Have ye here any meat? 42 And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of
an honeycomb. 43 And he took it, and did eat before them. 44 And he said
unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet
with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of
Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. 45
Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,
46 And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to
suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: 47 And that repentance and
remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning
at Jerusalem. 48 And ye are witnesses of these things. 49 And, behold, I send
the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until
ye be endued with power from on high.
Locked Doors
The locked doors are significant, because they
contrast the fear of the disciples and the power of Christ.
Fear is the opposite of faith, so we should turn to
the Gospel Promises when we are fearful and anxious. And when we let fear take
over, faith flies out the window.
Christ’s appearance is also important. He does not scatter
the furniture, as Luther pointed out in discussing the fanatical sects. The
Pentecostals of Luther’s time and ours want to have us think that conversion
means leaving at once for Borneo or doing something else radical and
disruptive, to prove this change.
Our hearts may be locked against all outside forces
and the Gospel, but the Gospel penetrates the heart in spite of our hardness of
heart. God does this in many ways, but always through the Word. Sometimes
misfortune or the consequences of our actions make us distrustful of our own
wisdom. Then we see the Gospel in a new light.
I hear many stories about people getting away from
false teachers and abusive leaders, feeling the wounds and yet glad to hear the
Gospel with a new appreciation.
The disciples, at this point, were carefully taught
for three years, knowing and seeing what Christ predicted. And yet they were
overwhelmed with fear and lacking in faith, which grew slowly. They stayed
locked up for a week. Christ carefully nurtured them, berating their lack of
faith but also building it up.
We experience that building up when we hear the
Gospel, such as this blessing pronounced upon all of us – “Blessed are those
who believe without seeing.” Jesus Himself pronounces this blessing upon us for
believing in Him without having visible evidence, only the Word of God.
Every single liturgical service ends with a
three-fold blessing. That should be not be taken as the end of the service but
the beginning of a new week. “The Lord bless you and keep you…The Lord make His
face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you…The Lord lift up His
countenance upon you and give you peace. Numbers 6:24-25. [Schuller’s “God
loves you and so do I” is rather tepid compared to the Trinitarian blessing,
no?]
Just as we receive peace from God at the end of the
service, Jesus began with granting peace to His disciples.
Peace is the primary greeting in Judaism. Jerusalem
means a “place of peace,” a note of irony in history. Shalom is the peace
greeting, still used. Peace is always associated with faith and salvation in
the New Testament, because the forgiveness of sin brings peace.
The locked doors remind us that Christ was never
bound by any kind of barrier in Creation, since His human nature was never
limited by His divine nature. He passed through crowds several times in His
public ministry. He left the tomb before it was empty. Nothing is sadder than
resurrection art that shows His angels opening the tomb for Him. That would
mean His creation (the angels) released Him from the stone tomb He created.
Gerhardt:
The Father offers up His Son!
The Son, content, descendeth!
O Love, how strong Thou art to save!
Thou beddest Him within the grave
Whose Word the mountains rendeth.
“A Lamb Goes
Uncomplaining Forth”
This issue involves more than art. John Calvin had
trouble with the Two Natures of Christ. In his commentary on John he had Jesus
enter the locked room by a secret entrance. Others have Jesus hiding before He
revealed Himself. Here is Calvinistic logic, which I find among the UOJ
fanatics too – If Jesus could not leave the sealed tomb by Himself or enter the
locked room, then He cannot be in the bread and wine of Holy Communion.
Starting with a false assumption, anything can be stated as true when it is
just the opposite.
Therefore, if someone asks, “How can the bread and
wine also be the Body and Blood of Christ after consecration?” – the answer is
in the locked room, the empty tomb, and the crowds that surrounded but did not
impede Jesus.
One might as well ask, “How can God hear spoken or
unspoken prayers?” One bit of rationalism leads to another. That is why
rationalistic Christianity will lead one into Unitarianism. How can God be
Three and yet One? These are all mysteries revealed by the Holy Spirit in the
Word.
A Jehovah’s Witness said to me, “How can Jesus pray
to God. That means God is praying to God. I can’t understand it.” I said,
“Neither can my dog, but that does not mean it is false.” Rationalists have to
change the Bible to fit their assumptions. JWs and UOJs are identitical that
way. JWs have their own Bible, and the UOJ fanatics have the NNIV.
20 And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his
hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord.
When Jesus displayed His hand and side, they knew
they were looking at their Teacher, the risen Lord. They knew the tomb was
empty. Now they were filled with joy at seeing Him.
The resurrection appearances were the completion of
the training of the apostles, the twelve main leaders (Judas was replaced) and
the 500. Jesus taught them during this time to merge their Old Testament
training with their Gospel message, so all those Old Testament passages, which
they knew so well, became foundational for all they said about Jesus. That is
also why the new congregations began with an Old Testament in Greek, to support
Jewish Christians and to train non-Jewish Christians.
21 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto
you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. 22 And when he had
said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy
Ghost: 23 Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose
soever sins ye retain, they are retained.
This is the Office of the Keys, an essential work of
the Christian Church. Jesus emphasized the apostles’ connection with Him, His
connection with the Father. Just as He was sent by the Father to do His will,
so He is sending the apostles to do the will of Christ. Granting forgiveness is
one part of this work. Not granting forgiveness is another.
Someone said, “The retaining key is hanging, rusted,
on the peg.” False doctrine is excused, forgiven, and even supported. The most
heinous sins are covered up, denied, and even excused. Offering forgiveness to
the unrepentant is the worst possible approach, because it hardens the heart of
the recipient and it also damages the soul of the cheap-grace giver.
When people ask about children growing up to be
sociopaths, the answer is often the neglect of the parents and taking the easy
way out. Excusing and protecting bad behavior only makes it worse, and soon the
parents share the evil by protecting it.
That is even more true of church officials, who
should be guarding sound doctrine instead of promoting Fuller Seminary opinions
and criminal church workers.
Arkansas fired their coach immediately for unethical
and immoral conduct, which also reflected poorly on the school, but the
Missouri Synod DPs allowed a convicted sex offender (his step-daughter was 13
years old) to become a “lay pastor” even though he was thrice-divorced - so he could molest another minor in a
congregation. Moreover, the officials had the earlier news report, heard his
own rather self-serving confession, and still encouraged him to become a “lay
pastor.” When their felonious behavior became public on Steadfast Lutherans,
the slavering jaws and raking claws appeared from beneath the ovine fleece they
wore. All discussion was banned because—get this—it was sinful to question
their leadership.
24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was
not with them when Jesus came. 25 The other disciples therefore said unto him,
We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands
the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and
thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.
Doubting Thomas is worth following in the Fourth
Gospel. He has some of the best lines, as they say. He wondered how anyone
could know the way Jesus was going.
KJV John 14:5 Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know
not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?
Jesus responded, “I AM the way, the truth, and the
life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
When Christians wonder if Jesus is indeed the only
way of salvation, I quote them this response and ask if they can find an
exception to “No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
Another choice saying is Thomas suggesting that in
going toward Jerusalem, to help Lazarus, they can all die together.
KJV John 11:16 Then said Thomas, which is called
Didymus, unto his fellowdisciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him.
No one stated his doubts more clearly than Thomas,
but that does not mean the others were free from this problem. Nor are we.
This nickname, the Twin, is found only in John. So is
this great narrative of Jesus returning and offering to have His wounds seen
and touched by Thomas.
When Jesus returned a week later (marked by this
Sunday), He commanded Thomas to do what Thomas asked. Lenski made a good point
about this.
Lenski:
But the situation does not
turn on such an alternative. The decisive factor is the command of Jesus. It is
couched in two peremptory imperatives. It is not Thomas who deliberately does
what he said he would have to do before he believed; it is Jesus who now
demands that he do this very thing. Those aorist imperatives compel Thomas to
do what he now would gladly not do. These two imperatives tell us that Thomas
did what he was thus commanded to do. John does not need to add another word.
By compelling Thomas to use his finger and his hand as bidden Jesus is not
punishing him. Far from it. A week ago he had commanded the other disciples in
the same way: “Handle me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye
see me have,” Luke 24:39. That the disciples had, indeed, handled Jesus as
these two aorist imperatives in Luke plainly imply is evidenced by 1 John 1:1,
“and our hands have handled of the Word of life.” That which Jesus considered
vital for the other disciples in order to make them “witnesses” in the fullest
sense he certainly would not now allow Thomas to fail to do. He was now made a
witness to the same extent as the others. Jesus looked far ahead in this
insistence with regard to Thomas.
Lenski,
R. C. H.: The Interpretation of St. John's Gospel. Minneapolis, MN:
Augsburg Publishing House, 1961, S. 1388.
Jesus revealed a number of times that He was not a
ghost, a dream, a vision, an apparition. This is important for remembered the
concept of the Two Natures of Christ.
Once He was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the
Virgin Mary, the Two Natures (divine and human) were united in One Person.
Although He seemed to die only as a human, He died as the innocent Lamb of God,
paying for the sins of the world. When He rose from the dead, His body bore the
marks of His death, but His human nature did not limit His divine nature in any
way. Thus He left the sealed tomb and entered the locked room.
Thus He is also present in both natures in the
consecrated elements of Holy Communion. When we pray to Him, He hears our
prayers and helps us in our weaknesses, because He was tempted in every way
(without sinning), so He is our Mercy Seat.
Doubting Thomas needs a postscript, because he—of all
the apostles—conquered the most blatant and audacious unbelief. He ignored the
witness of all his fellow disciples and declared a faith that would be
supported only by seeing and touching those wounds.
Thomas is considered by Christians in India as their
apostle. According to tradition he preached the Gospel there. One province of
the sub-continent is mostly Christian, so they call their church body
Mar-Thoma, after Thomas.
The Gospel is not against Thomas but for us:
KJV Isaiah 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the
iniquity of us all.
28 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and
my God. 29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast
believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have
believed.
I often despair of getting through to Lutherans, who
deny what Luther wrote (but use his name), who reject the teaching of the Book
of Concord (while calling themselves “confessional Lutherans”).
Lenski has a good paragraph on unbelief. He fought
against his little American Lutheran Church (1930 merger) going weak in
inerrancy. They silenced him, even though he was a former district president,
former pastor, former seminary professor, and honored author and magazine
editor. The 1930 merger weakened their stance on the Scriptures and the next
version of the ALC in 1960 did even more damage, leading to the 1987 ELCA
merger.
Lenski:
Unbelief always was and
always will be unreasonable. This is glaringly plain in the case of Thomas. For
him all this unanimous testimony of all these people, whose character for
veracity he knew so well, amounts to nothing. The fact that all of them, like
himself, had never dreamed of Jesus’ resurrection, had thought it impossible,
and had then been convinced from this unbelief by overwhelming evidence,
affects Thomas in an opposite way: he determines to set himself against them
all. The more they speak to him and the more they present the facts, the more
stubborn Thomas becomes. He has been called “doubting Thomas,” but he does not doubt,
he is openly unbelieving. He challenges the evidence the others present. They
have only seen—seeing does not count. If he is to believe he demands two lines
of evidence, seeing plus feeling with his own finger and his own hand. And even
the feeling must be twofold, that of the holes in Jesus’ hands and that of the
gash in his side. Thomas demands what he deems a real test. What the other
disciples claim to have is not nearly enough for him. Here the silliness of
unbelief comes to view. If sight can be deceived, sight which takes in so much,
what assurance has Thomas that feeling, which takes in far less, will not also
be deceived?
Lenski,
R. C. H.: The Interpretation of St. John's Gospel. Minneapolis, MN:
Augsburg Publishing House, 1961, S. 1380.
The
Word of God belongs to Him alone. We do not have the freedom to change it to
suit ourselves or to stay employed by unbelievers. Nevertheless, because the
Word belongs to Him alone, we can trust that sowing this living Word will
always bring His results, will always prosper His work, will never return to
Him void.
30 And many other signs
truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this
book: 31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.
The Bible has only one
purpose – to convey Christ to us through the Gospel, from Genesis through
Revelation. The Gospel produces faith and sustains faith, which receives the
grace of God in the forgiveness of sin.
19. The leading thought,
however, for us to learn and retain from this Gospel is, that we believe that
Christ's resurrection is sure and that it works in us so that we be resurrected
both from sin and death; as St. Paul richly and consolingly speaks of it, and
Christ himself here, when he says: "Blessed are they that have not seen,
and yet have believed," and St. John concluding this Gospel teaches and
admonishes about the use and benefit of the resurrection: "These are
written, that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and
believing ye may have life in his name."
20. This is indeed a
powerful and clear passage, which highly praises faith and gives the testimony
that we certainly have eternal life through the same; and that this faith is
not an empty, dead thought on the history about Christ, but that which
concludes and is sure that he is the Christ, that is, the promised King and
Saviour, God's Son, through whom we all are delivered from sin and eternal
death; for which purpose he also died and rose again; and that we alone for his
sake acquire eternal life, in a way that is called in his name, not in Moses'
nor in our nor any other man's name, that is, not because of the law, nor of
our worthiness and doings, but alone on account of Christ's merits, as Peter
says in Acts 4, 12: "There is none other name among men, wherein we must
be saved," etc.
Quotations
"Thus we have two
parts, preaching and believing. His
coming to us is preaching; His standing in our hearts is faith. For it is not sufficient that He stand
before our eyes and ears; He must stand in the midst of us in our hearts, and
offer and impart to us peace."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8
vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, II, p.
355.
"This is going
through closed doors, when He comes into the heart through the Word, not
breaking nor displacing anything. For
when the Word of God comes, it neither injures the conscience, nor deranges the
understanding of the heart and the external senses; as the false teachers do
who break all the doors and windows, breaking through like thieves, leaving
nothing whole and undamaged, and perverting, falsifying and injuring all life,
conscience, reason, and the senses. Christ
does not do thus."
Sermons of Martin Luther, II,
p. 355.
"Hence I send
you into the world as my Father hath sent me; namely, that every Christian
should instruct and teach his neighbor, that he may also come to Christ. By this, no power is delegated
exclusively to popes and bishops, but all Christians are commanded to profess
their faith publicly and also to lead others to believe."
Sermons of Martin Luther, II,
p. 359.
"The first and
highest work of love a Christian ought to do when he has become a believer, is
to bring others also to believe in the way he himself came to believe. And here you notice Christ begins and
institutes the office of the ministry of the external Word in every Christian;
for He Himself came with this office and
the external Word."
Sermons of Martin Luther, II,
p. 359.
"Now God drives
us to this by holding the law before us, in order that through the law we may
come to a knowledge of ourselves. For
where there is not this knowledge, one can never be saved. He that is well needs no physician;
but if a man is sick and desires to become well, he must know that he is weak
and sick, otherwise he cannot be helped."
Sermons of Martin Luther, II,
p. 370.
"For the devil
will not allow a Christian to have peace; therefore Christ must bestow it in a
manner different from that in which the world has and gives, in that he quiets
the heart and removes from within fear and terror, although without there
remain contention and misfortune."
Sermons of Martin Luther, II,
p. 380.
"Reformed
theologians, in order to support their denial of the illocalis modus subsistendi of Christ's human nature, have sought,
in their exposition of John 20, an opening in the closed doors, or a window, or
an aperture in the roof or in the walls, in order to explain the possibility of
Christ's appearance in the room where the disciples were assembled."
Francis Pieper, Christian Dogmatics, 3 vols.,
St. Louis: Concordia
Publishing House, 1950, II, p. 127.
