Sermon for Saturday, April 13, 2024

Sermon for Saturday, April 13, 2024

“These are My Words”

Luke 24:36-49

Let us pray: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen. (Psalm 19:14)

The text for our meditation this evening is the Gospel lesson from Luke 24:36-49. You are welcome to follow along with the reading as printed in your bulletin.

From what we heard last weekend from John’s Gospel, it might seem as if Jesus’ first appearance to His disciples on Easter evening went pretty smoothly, except for the problems of doubting Thomas, who was not there that evening.

But from Luke’s Gospel, we get a different picture, at least at first. Just before our text, we hear that there were other people besides the 11 disciples in the locked room on Easter evening. Then the two disciples to whom Jesus had appeared on the road to Emmaus had come back to tell everyone what they had just seen and heard from Jesus. So, the disciples had already heard that some were claiming that Jesus was alive. Our text begins, then, “as they were talking about these things,” when Jesus Himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace to you.”

This didn’t immediately bring them peace or joy, though. We hear that they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit - something like a ghost of some sort. This had happened once before when they were out in a boat in the stormy Sea of Galilee, and Jesus came to them, walking on the water of the sea. Matthew’s Gospel, Chapter 14, tells us, “When the disciples saw Him, they were terrified and said, 'It is a ghost!' and they cried out in fear." Immediately, Jesus said to them, "Take heart; it is I. Don’t be afraid!"

And if you remember the story, impetuous Peter said, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to You on the water.” Note that he said, “If it is you, Jesus.” The disciples certainly had faith in God, but that faith was sometimes mixed up with doubts and confusion and even superstitions.

In this case, Peter started walking on the water, but when he saw the wind and the waves, he was afraid again and began to sink and cried out, “Lord, save me.” And immediately, Jesus rescued him. But Jesus also had to scold him, saying, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”

The disciples on Easter evening were very similar. They saw Jesus standing right in front of them, but they were startled and frightened and unsure. Could a dead person really come back to life? - though they had recently known of Lazarus being raised from the dead by Jesus. And how could anyone get through locked doors and walls and be with them in person? It wasn’t just doubting Thomas who struggled to believe. Most all of them did. But before we get too critical of them, just imagine if I were here preaching tonight, and suddenly, out of nowhere, a person was standing right in front of the altar; what would we think? Would we be startled and frightened, too?

Jesus loved these disciples in spite of their doubts and fears. When He said to them, “Peace to you,” it was more than a typical Hebrew greeting among friends. By His life, death, and resurrection, Jesus was also bringing peace and reconciliation with God Himself for them (and for us) and forgiveness for all the sins and failings that separate us from God.

Listen to some other Scriptures that describe that peace that Jesus brings. Colossians 1:19-20 says, “In Christ, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Christ to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of the cross.” And in Romans 5:1-2 we read, “Since we have been justified (counted right with God) by faith (in what Jesus did for us) we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Him, we have also obtained access by faith into this grace (of God) in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”

To strengthen the faith of those frightened disciples, Jesus then spoke to them what we, as Lutherans, call both Law and Gospel. As Jesus had done with Peter earlier on the Sea of Galilee, Jesus scolded the disciples and said, “Why are you troubled and why do doubts arise in your hearts?” - so that they could clearly see their own sins and failings. It wasn’t just doubting Thomas who needed help. They all needed the help and forgiveness and hope that only Jesus could give - as we all need that forgiveness and hope still today. We need the scolding, too.

Jesus then gave to His disciples the Gospel - the Good News that He really had risen from the dead and was not a spirit or ghost, but was the living Lord Jesus who could help and bless them always. He gave them proof, too, as He later did with doubting Thomas. He said, “See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Touch Me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bone as you see I have.” And when He had said this, “He showed them His hands and His feet” - where the nails had been. And when the disciples still “disbelieved for joy” - maybe thinking that this was “almost too good to be true” and marveling at all this, Jesus gave them one more proof. He said, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave Him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate before them.” Jesus was showing them that He had been raised with the same human body, able to eat, yet changed and glorified, so that He could appear and disappear, even in a locked room, as He was just doing. And for 40 more days, Jesus appeared to the disciples and to many more people and ate with some and did other things that showed that He was truly alive.

Jesus also did one more very crucial thing that Easter evening. He pointed His disciples to the importance of His true Word and the true Word of God, the Holy Scriptures. Jesus knew that after 40 days, He would ascend into heaven and return to His Heavenly Father. He would still be with us as true God and man, but we would not be able to see Him and touch Him and talk with Him in the same direct way as those first disciples.

In 1 Corinthians 15, the apostle Paul wrote of the many people to whom the risen Lord Jesus appeared directly before His ascension, and then He wrote, “Last of all, (as if this would not keep happening), as to one untimely born, Jesus appeared also to me.... unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.” Jesus brought Paul to faith in Him. A little later, Paul wrote, so now “we preached” (the Word of God) and so “you believed” (in the Good News of the Savior Jesus.)

That is exactly what Jesus wanted to happen, as He spoke on Easter evening. He said to the disciples, “These are My Words, that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms (and the other Writings of the Old Testament) must be fulfilled.” 

Then Jesus opened the minds of the disciples to hear and understand the Scriptures, in which “it is written” that He, Jesus, the Christ “should suffer (enough to die) and on the third day rise from the dead.” That is exactly what Jesus had now accomplished, completely fulfilling what the Scriptures had predicted, for their salvation and the salvation now available to the whole world.

“You are witnesses of these things.” Jesus then said. They were actually eyewitnesses, for Jesus then told them, You have seen these things and heard My Word. You have the proof that I died but also rose from the dead in victory for you. It is now your job to share this Good News with everyone you can - “that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in My Name,” Jesus said, “to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.”

Jesus wanted His disciples to start there. He still cared for His own Jewish people and wanted them, too, to believe in Him as Savior. And, Jesus said, you will not have to do this on your own, in your own power. “These are My Words,” Jesus said, and “I will be with you always” - though they could not see Him or hear Him so directly after His ascension. Jesus also promised, as our text ends, “I am also sending the promise of My Father upon you. But stay in Jerusalem until you are clothed with power from on high.”

Jesus was referring to the third Person of the Trinity, Who would come at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit, who then worked through the Word proclaimed by Peter and others and brought 3,000 people to faith and the gift of Baptism and, later, the Lord’s Supper.

As we heard in our first Scripture lesson for today, those disciples then continued to proclaim the Good News of Jesus in the temple and wherever they could, and the Holy Spirit continued to bring more people to faith in Jesus.

The Lord also inspired Peter and John and Matthew and Mark and Paul and others to write down what they had seen and heard from Jesus so that still today, we can see and hear Christ and His Word and all that happened through the New Testament, as well as the predictions that pointed forward to Jesus.

And we thank our Lord for parents and family and pastors and teachers who shared that same Word of Christ that brought us to faith and baptism and to be here tonight. Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 3, “All Scripture is breathed out by God,” and is vital for not only bringing us to faith in Christ but for keeping us in that faith.

And Jesus said, “If you continue in My Word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free,” - free from the condemnation of sin and free for the blessings and peace of this life, and for eternal life to come. And we even have the privilege of letting others know of that Good News, too,

Let us pray: Now may the Peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep our hearts and minds safe (only where they are safe) in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. (Philippians 4:7)