+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. (Amen.)
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. (Amen.)
Alleluia! Christ is risen! (He is risen indeed, Alleluia!)
Amid all of the other things going on the last two weeks, perhaps you took note of the spacecraft Artemis II’s historic ten-day mission around the moon, which mission ended Friday night with a splash-down off the coast of San Diego. There may be people who do not think that the Artemis II’s mission actually took place, as reportedly one out of every six people still doubt the earlier Apollo moon landings. A faked Mars landing was at the center of the 19‑77 movie Capricorn One that some of us have seen, and, of course, most of us are familiar with various Hollywood representations of outer space in other movies and television shows. Not for nothing, with respective Star Trek and Star Wars references, do the Red Hot Chili Peppers sing, “Space may be the final frontier, but it’s made in a Hollywood basement” and “Alderaan’s not far away, it’s Californication”. Distrust of the government fueled by the Vietnam War may have driven doubt about the Apollo moon landings, but better technology in the last fifty years perhaps gives us more legitimate reason to be skeptical than ever before: for example, Photoshop, human artists’ computer-generated-imagery, and Artificial Intelligence’s pictures and video, such as so‑called “deep fakes”, which include the “resurrections” of people like Robert Kardashian (for those of you who follow the Kardashians) and even Elvis Presley. Maybe in some ways Jesus’s skeptical disciple Thomas in today’s Gospel Reading may have been right to demand to see and touch before he would believe.
Of course, by that point, Jesus’s other ten disciples themselves had already seen and maybe even touched the Resurrected Jesus, including His hands and His side (Luke 24:38-40). Seemingly none of the Eleven had believed the reports of the women who, in some cases, had seen and touched Jesus earlier on Easter Day (Luke 24:11; Matthew 28:9; confer John 20:8), and, even after the Ten saw the Resurrected Jesus, some unbelief and doubts apparently persisted, perhaps until Pentecost (Luke 24:41; Mark 16:14; Matthew 28:17). But, no one other than Thomas expressed such demands for his belief. Thomas may not have only questioned whether or not Jesus had risen, but Thomas may also have thought that Jesus’s resurrection was impossible.
Government and media reports about space missions are one thing, but God’s Word about Jesus’s resurrection is another. Even though the Resurrection is far greater than any space mission, God’s Word is incomparably far more reliable. Just as Thomas should not have disbelieved the other disciples’ report that they had seen the Lord, we should not disbelieve Holy Scripture in anything that it reports. But, do we so disbelieve? Do we make our own demands of God in order for us to believe? Do we believe that all things are possible for God but doubt that God might or might not do some particular thing? Or, do we not believe that God can do everything, including working in our lives in a particular way, especially ways that He promises in His Word to work? What about when it comes to the options that Pilgrim’s voters will consider later today? By nature we are unbelieving and doubting. Our sinful nature leads us to all kinds of actual sins of thought, word, and deed, for any one of which sins we deserve both death here and now and torment in hell for eternity. But, as Peter and the other apostles told the Jewish ruling council in today’s First Reading (Acts 5:29-42), God the Father exalted His Son Jesus in order to give repentance and the forgiveness of sins. So, the Holy Spirit calls and enables us to repent that we might be forgiven. When we are sorry for our sins, trust God to forgive us for Jesus’s sake, and want to stop sinning, then God forgives us: our sinful nature, our sinful skepticism, or whatever our sins might be.
In today’s Gospel Reading, the Son of God was still in the human flesh of the man Jesus, as He still is today. Jesus was able to come and stand among His disciples in a locked room miraculously, just as He was able to be born and leave Mary a virgin miraculously, and to rise and leave the closed tomb miraculously, because the Divine and human natures were personally united in Jesus, so that the Son of God’s Divine attributes or powers were communicated to and could be exercised through Jesus’s human nature. Jesus’s nail-marked hands and spear-pierced side not only convinced His disciples that Jesus was Jesus, but His nail-marked hands and spear‑pierced side also reminded them—and remind us—of His crucifixion and death for them and for the sins of the world, including each one of us. And His Divine and human natures were both necessary for our redemption: His human nature for Him to die, and His Divine nature for His death to have sufficient merit for the sins of the world. Out of God’s great love Jesus died on the cross for us, in our place, the death that we deserved. And, His resurrection showed that God the Father accepted His sacrifice on our behalf, and so that we are at peace with God. Jesus’s resurrection is no “deep fake” like Robert Kardashian’s or Elvis Presley’s! The Resurrected Jesus’s word and presence led Thomas to believe and confess Jesus as his Lord and God, and so the Resurrected Jesus’s Word and presence lead us to believe and confess Jesus as our Lord and God. For, we are those who have not seen Jesus in the same way and yet have believed and so are blessed.
In today’s Gospel Reading, notable is that the Resurrected Jesus immediately focused on the ministry of the forgiveness of sins that His death on the cross won for us and all people. The disciples’ seeing becomes our hearing, and we who repent have ever new experiences of the Resurrected Jesus in His Word and Sacraments. As we heard in today’s Epistle Reading (1 Peter 1:3-9), God the Father causes us to be born again in Holy Baptism. As we heard in today’s Gospel Reading, Jesus sends out His apostles and their successors, pastors today, to forgive sins and so comfort sinners in Holy Absolution. And, as Jesus was able to be present supernaturally in the locked room, so Jesus is able to be present supernaturally in the Holy Supper, where His same Body and Blood in, with, and under bread and wine give us the forgiveness of sins and so also life and salvation. Those who do not believe at all should not commune at all, but we who do believe and want help for our doubts here are strengthened and nourished.
British actor John Cleese, perhaps best known for the “Monty Python” television show and movies, this past Tuesday spoke out about more than two‑dozen Nigerian Christians who were killed last Sunday by Muslims but hardly noticed by the international community or reported by the mainstream media. There truly is something wrong when someone like Cleese has to say something in order to draw attention to such an attack! Of course, as we heard in today’s Epistle Reading, Christians are grieved by various trials so that the tested genuineness of our faith may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Even though we have not yet seen Jesus, nor do we now see Him, St. Peter writes, we love Him and believe in Him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory. As we prayed in the Collect of the Day, by God’s grace we confess in our life and conversation that Jesus is Lord and God. We tell others about the crucified and resurrected Jesus and His free gift of the forgiveness of sins in Word and Sacraments, as Jesus’s apostles did, in both the Gospel Reading and First Reading, despite their being beaten and told by the authorities not to speak in the Name of Jesus. As described in the First Reading, the Holy Spirit joins our witness, so that we are not responsible for convincing those to whom we speak, and, if they reject the message, they are not rejecting us but are rejecting God.
There indeed are good reasons for us to be skeptical of various things that we encounter in our everyday lives, especially things that we might hear or see via various electronic media. However, in spiritual matters we are not “skeptical” but “Scriptural”. As the Holy Spirit works in us faith that receives the forgiveness of sins by grace for the sake of the Resurrected Jesus, we have life in His Name. So, as in today’s Psalm (Psalm 148:1-14; antiphon: v.13), we give praise to the Lord, now and forever.
Amen.
Alleluia! Christ is risen! (He is risen indeed, Alleluia!)
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. (Amen.)
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +
