Old St. John. Grand-daddy of the early
church. Last living Apostle. Living out his days in Ephesus, in the
late first century. And he writes letters to the church, his “dear
children”. We have three of these in the New Testament.
And he writes his Gospel. A Gospel
which is different than the first three. It gives a very different
perspective than Matthew, Mark and Luke, which we call the
“syn-optics”. John's optics, his view, is different.
Complementary, of course.
For instance, you have the Great High
Priestly Prayer of Jesus in John 17, the longest recorded prayer of
our Lord. You have an extended description of the events in the
upper room. You also have the great “I Am” passages. And
familiar favorites like John 3:16 and John 14:1-6 (I go to prepare a
place for you).
Today's Gospel reading from John gives
us three chunks of Gospel goodness, each a sermon's worth in itself.
So we'll the first two briefly, and the third in some more depth this
morning.
He gives them His Spirit, too. Not
that they didn't already have it. Anytime the Word is preached or
proclaimed, the Spirit is at work. Even today, here and now. We are
continual recipients of the Spirit, who brings us also the good gifts
of Christ.
And Jesus gets right to the point of
what he wants these Apostles, these first public servants of the Word
to be about. The forgiveness of sins. The forgiveness that brings
the only real peace. “If you forgive anyone his sins they are
forgiven”. What an authority and power, and what a responsibility
also to withhold forgiveness from the unrepentant. So does he charge
pastors even today. We call it the “Office of the Keys” because
by such forgiveness, heaven itself is unlocked. Thanks be to God we
have heard this forgiveness proclaimed, even today. In the stead and
by the command of Christ. And that command to forgive comes from
right here, in John 20.
Section two deals with Thomas. Poor
Thomas who goes down in history as “Doubting Thomas”, even though
he eventually came to believe and confess beautifully, “My Lord and
my God!” Thomas, whose doubts anticipate the doubts of many who
would follow, and through whom Jesus encourages us all, “stop
doubting, and believe!” The resurrection is real. Jesus is alive,
in the flesh. We may not get to touch him like Thomas did, but that
only makes us more blessed. For faith comes by hearing, and hearing
by the Word of God.
Which leads us to the third section,
John's purpose statement for his Gospel:
“Now Jesus did many other signs in
the presence of his disciples which are not recorded in this book.
But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of the Living God, and that by believing you may have
life in His Name.”
The mind races at the thought of all
the wonders and signs the resurrected Jesus might have done. What
miracles did they see? What divine powers did he show them? Perhaps
when we meet the Lord he'll fill in the gaps for us, but for now it
is enough. The Holy Spirit inspired St. John to write these words,
to record these things, for a very specific purpose. That you may
believe that Jesus is the Christ, and that believing, you may have
life in His name.
There are a lot of people who want to
use the Bible for a lot of different things. Sometimes it makes for
entertainment, like the new show on NBC: “A.D.” Some would use
the Bible as a secret decoder ring for the latest fad diet or
personal wealth building scheme. Most of us laugh at these sorts of
things, though.
But then there are those who would make
the Bible a rulebook for living. A how-to of the law that shows us
which way to go. A sort of expanded version of the 10 commandments
that teaches us “what would Jesus do”. This is a pretty shallow
understanding, too. Those who take this approach aren't usually that
familiar with what Scripture actually teaches when it comes to the
law.
You and I know that the laws and rules
of the Bible are full well impossible to follow. We can't love God
with all our heart, soul and strength. We don't love our neighbor as
ourselves. We worship other gods. We take his name in vain. We
kill and lie and steal and gossip and covet and lust. We do it in
our heads and hearts at least, and often in word and deed as well.
The Law of God stands in constant accusation of sinners like you and
me, who are never good enough. If we say we have no sin, we deceive
ourselves, and the truth is not in us. We must repent!
But these things were not written that
you would be instructed in how to be good. These things were not
written that you would know right from wrong. These things were not
written that you would simply be crushed and brought to despair that
you'll never be good enough for God. These things were written that
you might believe and have life in Jesus Christ.
This is a Gospel, after all. Good
news. The law kills, but the Spirit gives life. The work of Jesus,
his life, his death, and his resurrection. These things are written,
that we would believe.
His life – all that he did and said
that are recorded for us in Holy Scripture. All that we confess in
the creeds – that he was conceived of the virgin Mary by the Holy
Spirit. That he suffered in accord with the scriptures. That he
fulfilled all prophecies, right down to the last moments of his life.
He did all things well. He healed the blind and deaf and lame. He
cast out demons. He commanded nature. He even raised the dead. He
did all this for us, that we might believe and have life.
And his preaching – a new teaching,
and with authority! That he himself was the content of the message.
That in him, the kingdom of God has arrived. That in him is rest,
healing, peace, forgiveness and life! He who believes in me will
live, even though he dies. And he who lives and believes in me will
never die.
And his death. The cross- we preach
Christ Crucified, Paul says... nothing more or less. Oh sure, the
whole counsel of God. But the whole counsel of God always leads to
and stems from the cross. The lamb who was slain from the foundation
of the world, is the one who bears his nail scars and pierced side
into his resurrection and eternity – the cross should never be far
from our hearts, minds, lips.
And his resurrection. We rejoice not
only a week after Easter but every sunday, every “little Easter”,
the Lord's day because he renews all creation on Sunday – the day
of his own resurrection – this eighth day of creation as some have
called it. The cross and empty tomb go together – two sides of a
coin, if you will, the death he died and the life he now lives for us
forever. These things are written that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ, and believing have life in his name.
