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The Gospel of Matthew Bible Studies
The Gospel of Mark Bible Studies
January 2008
February 2008
March 2008
April 2008
May 2008
June 2008
July 2008
August 2008
September 2008
October 2008
November 2008
December 2008
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The 2nd Sunday of Easter (A) In the Name of Jesus Christ, our risen Savior and Lord! Peace be with you! Amen! Today's gospel lesson is a very familiar one to most of us. The main part of it is about the disciple Thomas - or as many have (unjustly!) called him - the "doubting Thomas". But in this sermon I am not going to be focusing so much upon Thomas as I am upon the first part of our gospel lesson - the part about where the risen Jesus Christ first appears to his disciples in the locked room. For there, he gives to them some very precious gifts - gifts which he still gives to us today! The first gift he gives is the gift of PEACE. Our gospel lesson begins by telling us that "When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "PEACE BE WITH YOU." After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side." Try and picture the situation. Naturally, the disciples were experiencing anything but peace as they huddled behind closed doors for fear of the Jewish authorities. For all they knew, they were next on the "hit list" as the authorities tried to stamp out the once and for all the movement Jesus had started. Jesus had been condemned and crucified as a heretic, and they feared they were about to suffer a similar fate. But even more than fear, the disciples were also loaded down with guilt! Guilt for all of them having fled and forsaken their Lord in the Garden of Gethsemane - at the moment he needed them most! Peter's guilt for having publicly denied Jesus three times in the courtyard of the high priest. Guilt for all of them (except John) having stayed away from the site of Jesus' crucifixion and leaving him to die alone! And to this add the condition of utter and complete discouragement! They had devoted three years of their lives to following Jesus. As Peter once said, "Lord, we have left our homes and followed you." (Luke 18:28) They had also left their jobs and their families. So much time and emotional commitment they had invested in following Jesus, and now this! All of their hopes and dreams lay dashed to the ground! I have a feeling that many of us in our lives have been or are like those disciples were. Feeling afraid of the present and future. Overcome with guilt and discouragement. And seeing nothing but gray skies ahead. Maybe it is being laid off or fired from a job. Maybe it is having financial problems. Maybe it is having problems in a marriage or family. Maybe it is dealing with the illness or death of a loved one. Or possibly it is dealing with some of your own physical or emotional burdens. I have certainly "been there" myself personally in some of those situations. And yet to these frightened, guilt-filled, and utterly discouraged people the risen Jesus comes and says "SHALOM! PEACE BE WITH YOU!" Don't be afraid! Don't be overcome with guilt and remorse! Don't be discouraged any more! Because I am ALIVE! I love you! I forgive you! And I am with you!! I hope that just as many of us have burdened with fear, guilt, and discouragement, many of us have ALSO experienced the very real PEACE that our risen Lord Jesus comes to bestow upon us! For at the moments of our deepest need and deepest distress, Jesus comes to lift us up and assure us of his abiding and loving presence. I have certainly also experienced that for myself personally too, in a very real and powerful way! Through people who care, and through God's holy Word and the Sacraments, Jesus continues to come to us today and say "SHALOM! PEACE BE WITH YOU!" And this gift of his peace is worth more than all of the treasure in this world! The second "gift" which our risen Lord Jesus gives to his disciples is a COMMISSION. As our gospel lesson goes on to say, "Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you."" This is truly a GIFT because it gives us a purpose as God's people. It shows that our Lord places his trust in us! Sometimes when we get overburdened and "stressed out", we think that it sure would be great to have nothing to do. But even worse than that IS having nothing to do! It is a terrible thing to feel useless and unwanted. I am sure that is how the disciples were feeling. They had failed their Lord when the time came for them to stand up and be counted. And yet when Jesus comes to them, he entrusts them with the great honor and privilege of being his personal, hand-picked ambassadors. "Even as the Father has sent me," he tells the disciples, "so I am sending you!" "Just as I have shared God's love and peace with you, now it is up to you to share it with the rest of the world!" Thanks to Jesus, we never have to feel useless and unwanted. Even when we may be completely down and out, we still can share God's love with people through our caring, sharing, and forgiving. We can help make God as real to other people as Jesus did to his disciples! And there is no task, no job, that is ever more important and needed than this one is! To us, even though we may have often failed, Jesus still entrusts his Great Commission; "As the Father has sent me, so I send you!" The third gift is the gift of the Holy Spirit. As our gospel lesson goes on to tell us; "When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit." This gift is priceless beyond measure, because this is what makes us full citizens in the kingdom of God! It is because of the Holy Spirit that we have POWER to live as God's people, that we have FAITH to believe in the gospel despite all of the skepticism of the world, that we have COMFORT even in the midst of sorrow and suffering, and that we have the HOPE of a new and eternal life in the kingdom of God! The Holy Spirit is the One who makes the salvation of Jesus Christ real and personal to us. The world can not see it, and many can not and will not believe in Jesus Christ and all that he has to give us. But the Holy Spirit gives us that power and understanding which the world can not give! Indeed, the Holy Spirit is the reason why we are here - and why the Christian Church has thrived for two thousand years despite all kinds of attempts to dismiss or destroy it. What a gift Jesus gave to his disciples when he gave them the Holy Spirit! And he still gives it to us today! The fourth and final gift mentioned in our gospel lesson is the FORGIVENESS OF SINS. As Jesus went on to say, "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." This is known as the Office of the Keys. It sometimes means telling unrepentant people that their sins are not forgiven. But the focus - the emphasis - is always upon the FORGIVING part. This is one of the most important things that the Church has to do! Martin Luther writes in his Small Catechism: "In this Christian Church (God) daily forgives my sins and the sins of all believers." What a priceless gift this is! Full pardon and remission for ALL our sins! Thanks to this gift of forgiveness, we never have to be concerned about whether God loves us! Each day we can have a brand new relationship with God which is free from fear, guilt, and discouragement. So many people feel estranged from each other and from God. The disciples back then in that locked room certainly did. Overwhelmed with fear, guilt, and discouragement, it was hard for them to be together. (Maybe THAT is why Thomas wasn't with them!) Even more, it was hard for them to feel close to God. But FORGIVENESS heals all that! It makes it all better! It did for those disciples and it does for us too! Proclaiming and sharing the forgiveness of sins is one of the chief gifts which the risen Jesus Christ gave to his Church. It is what makes SHALOM - real PEACE - possible in our lives! It is what makes our lives really worth living as God's people! The four gifts that the risen Jesus gave to his disciples; PEACE, A COMMISSION, THE HOLY SPIRIT, and the FORGIVENESS OF SINS! These are the gifts which totally changed their lives and lifted them from sorrow to indescribable joy! They still change the lives of people today! They have certainly changed mine! And may they fill and change the lives of all of us here! Allelulia! Amen! -------------------- George R. Karres, Pella Lutheran Church 418 W. Main Street Sidney, MT 59270
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