John 20:19-23
Grace and peace to you from God our
Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.
May the words of my mouth and the
meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight oh Lord our Rock and our
redeemer. Amen.
I said it to myself quite a few
times and I said it to a few other people. I responded to my own thoughts and
to the queries, "That is why I am a Lutheran". I said it to myself
when I felt the difficulty that I have living out the words of my confession. The
difficulty I have in receiving God's good gifts and keeping the ten
commandments in Spirit and truth.
We
are followers of Jesus Christ, gathered to this place by God to receive his
blessings of word and sacrament, and through that the Holy Spirit and the
forgiveness of sins. I know this, I dedicated five years to studying it and
understanding it. But yet I still struggle to believe it and live it out in the
holiness that I have attained.
Each
Sunday I confess my sins along with you, I confess to my Heavenly Father that I
have sinned against Him and against others and I confess and repent of those
sins. Along with you, I truly confess and believe that Jesus Christ has
redeemed us from all our sins and that I desire forgiveness in his name alone.
With you I say that I intend with the help of the Holy Spirit to live as in
God's presence and strive daily to lead a Holy life knowing that Christ has
made us holy.
I
actually don't at that point hear the comforting words of Christ proclaiming
the forgiveness of sins and spoken through one of his ordained representatives,
but the reality of my forgiven state is no less true. Regardless of whether we
hear it spoken or not God is faithful and whenever we ask for forgiveness we
receive it. We receive forgiveness whenever we seek it, though we do not always
receive peace.
Peace
comes alone from God, it is a fruit of the Spirit, which was breathed into us
when we were baptised. Peace is a good thing, and God promises to give good
things to those who ask.
"If any of you lacks
wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault,
and it will be given to you." James 1:5 If you, then, though you are evil,
know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in
heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! Matthew 7:11
In practice however, we
don't, we don't ask God for the good things he promises and we don't receive
the peace we seek in the way we expect it, Instead we often must learn patience
through our suffering. And this is why I am a Lutheran. I believe the Lutheran
understanding of the gospel is the true understanding. I believe that while we
were still sinners Christ died for us and that we will constantly struggle with
our old selves that have been drowned in the waters of baptism. I believe that
Christ died on the cross in our stead so that we might have peace, and I know
in my heart that I struggle to receive that peace.
Jesus came to his disciples
when they were locked in their house for fear of the Jews; he came to them in
their fear bringing peace, we know from the account in Luke that this peace was
not received at first blessing. "Jesus
himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 37 They
were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost."
Jesus himself spoke peace but it was
not initially received.
You are Christians, people who have
had the Holy Spirit breathed into you, through Word and sacrament. You have
received Peace, yet no doubt you still worry, you have received forgiveness and
the Holy Spirit so that you can live a holy life, and yet you sin. You have
been set free from the burden and guilt of sin, and yet it weighs you down.
Luther lived this struggle, Paul
lived this struggle, every Follower of Christ lives this struggle. To you, in
your struggle, Jesus says Peace. "Peace be with you, I know your failures,
I know your sins, and I am sending you." Jesus says "I am blessing
you with the Holy Spirit, which will strengthen you in your moments of weakness,
It will help you stay true to the path of righteousness and bring you back when
you stray. The Holy Spirit, which you have received will give you peace."
Your failure to keep God's law even
after being forgiven is not a failure of the Spirit, it shows you your constant
need for Christ. Your lack of peace is not a lack of the Holy Spirit within
you, but it reminds you to pray to God in all things and continually ask him
for what you need to live. The constant
stumbling over the same sins is not a damnation but shows the love of God, that
even though we are broken, God did not and does not reject us.
When we stumble, when we struggle to
find peace, when we find it hard to love, that is when we know that we need
Jesus. and those times when by God's mercy we are kept pure, when we do have
heavenly peace and our love overflows, at those times we praise God, Praising
him for bringing us into his family, loving and caring for us, and making the
peace which we have by faith a tangible reality.
and the peace which passes all
understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus amen.
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