Sermon for the Sunday after Easter

THE BLESSED FAITH OF THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS

John 20:19-31

We have just celebrated our, and the New Testament's Easter with jubilation and songs of praise and rejoiced over the glorious, triumphant resurrection of Jesus Christ. Hardly had the God of peace, through an eternal covenant of blood, raised up the Prince of Life, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, from the dead, before we see the Risen One as the true Shepherd of Souls seeking the circle of his dismayed and grieving disciples in order to bring them the fruit of the victory which he took with him from the grave from his battle with sin, death and the devil. We see the weak disciples strengthened thereby in a wonder-ful way, the dismayed were reassured, the grieving gladdened and the forsaken encouraged. Yes, in to-day's Gospel we even see the unhappy, unbelieving Thomas first thoroughly humbled thereby and later gloriously raised up, so that he exclaims in blessed adoration: "My Lord and my God!" Truly as great and glorious a miracle as the resurrection of Christ itself from the dead, is the mighty change which we see occur in the whole spiritual state of the disciples through the appearance of the risen Savior before them; a blessed change in every respect!

But, my beloved! was it now just that little band of disciples whom the Savior had in mind and wanted to bless by his redemption? No, certainly not. Just as he gave his life as payment or redemption for many and has been a ransom not for our sins only but for the sins of the whole world, and just as he was re-vealed through his resurrection as the righteousness before God for us all, so as the true Shepherd of the sheep did he want to gather the scattered, poor, broken sheep to his flock and gather to himself a host of disciples, a holy church, from all people and races until the end of days. He wanted to make all of us share in the victory of his glorious resurrection and in all the blessings and treasures he has acquired for us through his victory.

Let us then, my friends, hear from Jesus' own mouth what he teaches us in today's Gospel about

THE BLESSED FAITH OF HIS  RESURRECTION,  

namely:

1. What This Blessed Faith Is .

2. How We Become Partakers Of This Faith.

I.

"Peace be unto you!" With this greeting with which the Church of God is greeted from that holy place as often as it gathers, the risen Savior suddenly is standing in the midst of the circle of his disciples as-sembled behind locked doors for fear of the Jews. In this little word "peace" he sums up the fruit of his glorious resurrection from the dead. And with this precious fruit, with this precious gift, he now comes to his dismayed disciples, drives away the fear from their restless, anxious hearts, comforts them and makes them happy and blessed, as it says: "Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord!" Because peace was the very thing the poor disciples were in need of, just as it is peace, true peace, which we by nature all lack and need. And the lack of peace in the heart made them, as it does us, restless, afraid and unhappy.

Sin causes a separation between us and our God. It makes God our enemy and us enemies of God. We are all by nature sinners and are lacking the praise we should have for God. Therefore we have no peace with God, as it is written: "There is no peace unto the wicked." (Is. 48:22.) Because of sin we are all by nature "children of wrath." (Ep. 2:3.) But we fear this wrath of God. Yes, because of it we hate him as our enemy: "the carnal mind is enmity against God." (Ro. 8:7.) At the same time sin activates the law so that it accuses and judges us and we see God as a consuming fire. Sin arms the conscience with the most dis-maying accusations so that it threatens us unceasingly and gnaws on us like a worm and leaves us no peace and rest. Thus we hear David complain: "There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger; neither is there any rest in my bones." (Ps. 38:3.) Alas, a dreadful situation!

And as little as we ourselves can appease God or calm his righteous wrath with any sacrifice or any work, and it is the devil's delusion if we imagine such a thing, as little can we ourselves quiet and still the conscience or silence its accusations We can, of course, lull it to sleep for a while by vain excuses, and stupefy it by throwing ourselves into the stream of pleasure and avoid the warning, chastening Word of God. But the peace we win in that way is the false peace of the world. You say: "I will do the best that I am able, then God will not take it so seriously." Blinded man! Do you not know that it is written: "Cursed is every one who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them"? (Ga. 3:1O.) Do you not know that all your deeds, all your works, even the best, are like a filthy rag before God? And do you want to hide the shame of your nakedness with it? Do you think of stepping forward and getting by before your God, the Holy One who has eyes like flames of fire, with it? Is this to be your sacri-fice, your atoning sacrifice, for sin? O woe to you, poor man! May the Lord have mercy upon your blind- ness!

Or do you try to calm your conscience by saying, There is no God, there is no judgment. What do I have to be afraid of? However, my friend! is there therefore really no God, does no judgment really come for that reason? Why then is your heart sometimes restless and anxious? Why are you sometimes also afraid? You see, only "the fool says in his heart: there is no God." (Ps. 14:1.) Oh, you fool, buy eye-salve for yourself, so that you can see!

Suppose you do forget the accusations of conscience for a while in the enjoyment of this world's goods, its riches, its friendship and honor, its domestic joys, which dull its bite, and find a false peace? How can they comfort you when these perishable goods are deprived you or the hour comes when you are torn away from them and from everything which was dear to you here? Will they give peace to your heart also then?

And if you now take your refuge in excuses and say as Adam did: "The woman gave me of the fruit, and I did eat," (Ge. 3:12) did Adam then find peace that way? Alas, he was expelled from paradise. Or, if you say as Cain did: "Am I supposed to be my brother's keeper?" (Ge. 4:9) did Cain then obtain peace by say-ing it? Listen to what he himself says: "My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, you have driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from your face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugi-tive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one who finds me shall slay me." (Ge. 4:13.14.) That was his peace!

No, friends! It is the world's false peace we find in that way. The devil wants only to draw us away from the true peace by it. Therefore the Lord warns us against the false prophets who cry: "Peace, peace!" and there is no peace. (Je. 6:14; 8:11.) If we are soothed by it for a while we can never be sure that the conscience does not wake up. It can happen without any warning when we least expect it, in the midst of the intoxication of pleasure. But when sin, which lies at the door like a lion who lies in wait for prey, awakens and the conscience's false peace is gone at once, then woe to that poor heart! It trembles like a leaf in the least wind and is prey for the most destructive thoughts and lusts, and that so much more vio-lent the longer and the more consciously it has been deaf to the voice of conscience and built in security on the false peace. Yes, it often ends with the frightened, peace-less conscience driving the man into des-pair to end his excruciating existence himself, like Saul and Judas, but alas only to find an even more excruciating one in eternity. O my brethren! think, what a frightful enemy a conscience without true peace is! However, God be praised, if the world with all its goods and pleasures, as little as we ourselves, is in a position to provide the heart with true peace, peace with God and our conscience, Jesus Christ brings it to us as a blessed faith in his resurrection! The prophet Isaiah already calls the Messiah of whom he proph-esies the Prince of Peace, when he says: "Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the govern-ment shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace" (Is. 9:6.) And when the Child was born the angels sang: "on earth peace." (Lk. 2:14.) Jesus' whole redemptive work was done in order to establish peace between God and ourselves and to provide our hearts the true peace. It is that which the prophet prophesies when he says: "But he, he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed." (Is. 53:5.)

Through his suffering and death as well as through his perfect obedience, he, true God and true Man, paid sin's price, blotted out the handwriting that was against us and nailed our letter of guilt to the tree of the cross. Thus God "has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ." (2 Co. 5:18.) This One he then raised from the dead as solemn testimony to all the world that he accepted the sacrifice the Son had brought as payment in full for us, that his wrath was appeased, and that Jesus had burst the chains of death, and as the Victor over sin, death and hell was gone forth from the grave and revealed as the true "Prince of Peace." Therefore the Holy Spirit also writes to the Ephesians through the apostle Paul: "He is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of partition between us; Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of two one new man, so making peace; And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby; And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh." (Ep. 2:14-17.) And again: "It pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell; and having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him." (Co. 1:19.2O.) It is with the promise of this peace that he comforts the disciples troubled over his departure, when he says: "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world gives, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." (Jo. 14:27.) Just as the Father has publicly testified by raising Jesus from the dead that by his death he has completed the work of redemp-tion, so has Christ brought peace, life and immortality to light by his resurrection which he has earned for us by his death.

In today's Gospel we see Jesus now returning from his triumphant battle and bringing the olive leaf of peace to his disciples sitting behind locked doors when he greets them with the words: "Peace be unto you!" And when he said this he showed them his hands and his side as testimony that he was Jesus of Nazareth who was given into death for them, who was, however, now no longer dead but alive, raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, their and the entire world's only Savior, the true Prince of Peace.

But we also need this peace. For us also, as we heard a minute ago, has Jesus earned it. However, just as we see the disciples sitting gripped by fear and terror until Jesus brings them the glad message of peace, so neither would we have any benefit or joy from the triumph and fruit of his resurrection if we got to hear nothing about it, as Paul writes: "How shall they believe on him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?" (Ro. 1O:14.) But, God be praised! Jesus also comes to us with his "peace be unto you!"

The provision he has made in order to make us partakers of this peace which is the blessed fruit of his resurrection shall comprise the next object of our meditation.

II.

It says in our Gospel today that when the disciples had become glad through Jesus' greeting of peace, that Jesus repeats his greeting: "Peace be unto you!" and says: "as my Father has sent me, even so send I you," namely, in order to bring peace to sinners. And just before his ascension he says to them: "Thus it behooved the Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day; and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations" (Lk. 24:47.) And again he gives them as his testament the command: "Go into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature." (Mk. 16:15.)

With this he establishes - in order to bring us peace - the Ministry of the Word and entrusts it to his disciples, his Christian church on earth. He comforts them with the fact that he himself is sending them just as the Father has sent him, and gives them the authority to loose and to bind when he says: "Whose-sover sins you remit, they are remitted unto them; but whosesoever sins you retrain, they are retained."

This Ministry of the Word is also called the ministry of  reconciliation, (2 Co. 5:18) because through it Christ brings hearts the message of peace and reconciles them with God. Now it is surely in Baptism, the Gospel, Absolution and the Sacrament of the Altar that he proclaims and bestows on us the forgiveness of sins and with it peace, eternal life and salvation. Wherever the Gospel is preached and the sacraments rightly administered, there therefore, the holy ministry of the Word is in actuality whether it takes place through parents, brothers and sisters, or through other Christians in the exercise of their spiritual priest-hood during the toil of their daily calling, or through teachers and called servants of the Word as they do the work of the ministry. Because when Christ in our text gives his disciples power to loose and to bind, then it is not only to them as his apostles or possessors of the public ministry that he entrusts this power, but as the little flock which believes on him. Because just before he gives them the power to forgive and to retain sins he gives them the Holy Ghost, as it says: "He breathed on them, and said unto them: Receive the Holy Ghost!"

It is to his present disciples and therefore to all his believers who have the Holy Ghost, his Christian church on earth, that the Lord gives this power and entrusts the so-called binding and loosing keys. It is for this reason also that according to God's express command the congregation has the authority to trans-fer the use of the power of the keys on its behalf to servants of the Word whom it has called and installed in the congregation for the public conduct of the ministry. However, the congregation relinquishes none of the power given it by God by this transfer, but uses it daily through all its members in the exercise of their spiritual priesthood just as surely in cases of necessity the public exercise of it is also incumbent upon every Christian. All Christians therefore are to make use of this power, not by intruding into the public pastoral office which the Lord of the Church has also instituted, and thus create confusion in the church of God, but by diligently using their spiritual priesthood just as the apostle Peter writes: "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that you should show forth the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." (1 Pe. 2:9.) What a rich op-portunity, my beloved, every Christian has, man and woman, young and old, in daily conversation with the family, with neighbors and friends, to use this spiritual priesthood of his through brotherly chastise-ment, teaching, admonition, and comfort! What an invitation boldly to show diligence here and not to refuse, must not the assurance give you that it is the Lord who sends you and that with his Word he him-self is also working mightily through his Spirit! And on the other hand, when parents, relatives and friends, even if they can be simple and little enlightened, chastise and admonish you with the Word of God or comfort you with the forgiveness of sins, then consider that it is God's own voice which speaks to you and that you are to accept their forgiveness as God's forgiveness, because Christ says: "He that hears you hears me; and he that despises you despises me." (Lk. 1O:16.) You are not to be afraid that you are treading too near the public ministry or hindering its effectiveness when in humility you faithfully tend to your calling as a spiritual priest. On the contrary, by doing it, you will mightily promote its effectiveness and every faithful and zealous servant of the Lord will be sincerely thankful to you for the help you render him in his work in this way. Yes, how much better it would be in the congregation if every Christian would earnestly consider this, and help in this way. It is, of course, essentially the same work both have to do, the Christian as spiritual priest and the public servant of the Word, namely to promote the glory of God by proclaiming Christ for the sinner's conversion and salvation, even if there are public acts which only the servant of the Lord called by the congregation has to perform on behalf of the congregation.

However, we do know of course how necessity can make it the duty of every Christian to perform them in the capacity of his spiritual priesthood.

Since the Lord has entrusted the keys to his believing disciples, then it already follows from this that he to whom the congregation transfers the public ministry of the Word through its Call according to God's command, ought to be a believer, which Scripture also teaches in other passages. Certainly it is not faith which makes him a servant of the Word or a pastor but the Lord's Call through the congregation. But without faith and the Holy Ghost he will not be able to administer the holy office faithfully. However great his biblical learning can be and however purely he can even present the doctrine of the church, he will lack the gift of rightly dividing the Word, of applying Law and Gospel. How is he who has not himself felt his sinfulness going to be able to talk properly to a sinner's conscience, and he who himself has not tasted the comfort of the Holy Spirit, be able to comfort a broken, anxious sinner, properly? Neither will he be able to comfort himself in his work by the promised blessings. However, as earnestly as everyone who teaches others is to see to it that he himself is taught by God, and who preaches to others, that he is not himself lost, and as surely as it is the congregation's duty not to tolerate in the public ministry one who must be revealed as a hypocrite, the working of the Holy Ghost through the preaching of the Word of God and the administration of the sacraments, is, God be praised, not bound to the person of the administrant or to his faith! Wherever the Word of Christ is, there Christ himself is also present. Therefore Paul also says of himself and of every true servant of the Word: "We are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, Be ye reconciled to God!" (2 Co. 5:2O.) But where Christ is, there is also Christ's Spirit who works with divine power, as Christ testifies: "My words are Spirit, and they are life." (Jo. 6:63.)

Thus Christ comes to us with the Good News in order to impart peace to our poor hearts through the ministry of the Word, the power of the keys, whether it is used publicly by the servant of the Lord called for that purpose or privately by another Christian. Where the Word of God is spoken you hear the voice of the Chief Shepherd. The forgiveness which is announced to you is God's forgiveness, as the Savior says: "Whosoever sins you remit, they are remitted unto them; and whosoever sins you retain, they are re-tained." What grace, that God has given men such a power! However, they have no right to use it as they wish but are obligated to use it according to the Lord's will because he remains always the Chief Shepherd and the Supreme Bishop. He has made his will known to us in his Word. It teaches us that it is the peni-tent who are to be comforted with the forgiveness of sins, the impenitent who are to be chastised and their sins retained until they repent because faith alone can appropriate the forgiveness of sins to oneself. Therefore we are to cast pearls before swine as little as we are to break the broken reed or quench the smoking flax. He who would misuse the keys in that way shall receive his judgment. But the keys do not fail. If the unrepentant sinner pretends to take the forgiveness of sins to himself but by his unbelief des-pises it and thereby brings judgment upon himself, the sins were, however, forgiven him by God in heav-en. The keys were not faulty keys. For this reason also, if he does not repent, he will get to experience that "contempt of grace avenges itself terribly," because the Gospel of Christ is the forgiveness of sins and brings the forgiveness of sins to everyone who hears it. The power of Jesus' blood is in it. Thus we also hear Luther confess that there must lie hidden in the keys of Christ his blood, death and resurrection, by which he has opened to us heaven, and thus imparts through the keys to poor sinners what he has wrought through his blood. (LW, 4O,328) Our unbelief can therefore as little deprive the Gospel of this power or make it an empty word as it is our faith which bring the forgiveness of sins into it and makes it a Gospel. On the other hand, as faith accepts the Gospel, and with it the forgiveness of sins, so the unbe-liever rejects the Gospel precisely by his unbelief so that it is for him "a savor of death unto death." [2 Co. 2:16.]

In the ministry of the Word, therefore, Christ comes to us and does not merely tell us of the peace he has earned for us but gives and imparts it to us in his Means of Grace through the power of the Holy Ghost who is there given to us. However, when the forgiveness of sins and peace are proclaimed to us there, yet in our natural state we are neither willing nor able to accept and believe this comforting mess-age. Our understanding is darkened by sin and cannot grasp spiritual things, which are foolishness to it. Our will is by nature bound, so that we, however, neither can nor want to be freed from the chains of sin and Satan by which we are held prisoners even if we feel our wretchedness to a certain degree and would like to be rid of it. Thus our poor hearts are also in part so completely hardened and dulled that they are not at all concerned about the condition of the soul, in part so arrogant that they think they do not do wrong, or that in any case they can help themselves and make themselves righteous before God. There-fore, when the message of peace is spoken many do not even want to hear it and of others it is true what is written: "They seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand." (Mt. 13:13.) The devil takes the Word away from their hearts.

It is therefore necessary that the soil of the heart be prepared in order that that life-creating seed of the Word can penetrate downward and sprout and bear fruit. For "they that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick" (Lk. 5:31). For that purpose the Holy Ghost presents the holy will of God to us in the Law and its terrible threats because of our transgressions. Our sinful depravity, our numerous trans-gressions and our appalling guilt of sin are shown us in it as in a mirror. Thus the conscience is awakened from its secure sleep of sin and begins to be restless, so that it is anxious before the judgment of the Law and the wrath of God and feels its lack of peace. If we then, thus roused, try to change, to put off the old habits of sin and to keep the Law with its commands, then we soon experience that with all our improve-ment in the outward we are, however, not able to do it satisfactorily, yes, not even a single point, because we lack the love which is the fulfilling of the Law. We learn to understand that the Law is spiritual but we are carnal, sold under sin. Neither do we find that the Law is able to give us the life, the love, which we are lacking but that much rather it kills instead of making alive just as the apostle Paul says: "When the commandment came, sin revived, And I died. And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin, which took occasion by the commandment, deceived me and by it slew me." (Ro. 7:9.)

In this way the Holy Spirit seeks to lead us to the knowledge of sin and to fear of God's wrath through the Law so that we no longer are secure in our sins. But as great as our fear of sin and eternal damnation may be, as crushed by doubt as we may feel ourselves, and as wretchedly as we may bewail our misery in this condition, not even a spark of love for God is kindled in our hearts by the Spirit's work through the Law. Much rather is its natural enmity against God strengthened, even if in impotent defiance. All the while, fear of God's wrath over sin which the heart also relies upon and does not want to let go, grows, because the Law works wrath. Neither has the heart been made ready to feel a longing for grace in Christ, even if ever so weak, through this preparatory work of the Spirit, nor the will in any measure been sanct-ified or empowered to want or to do what is truly good and well-pleasing to God, much less wanting to trust God and accept his grace. No, however great changes may have been accomplished within us through the preparatory grace, as long as we are not born again we are still carnally minded. We neither can nor want to fear, love or trust in God. It is impossible that the old Adam can accept grace and believe in Christ. What all Christians confess therefore stands fast, "that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord, or come to him, but it is the work of the Holy Ghost." However, it is only in the perception of our sinful wretchedness that faith which grasps Christ is awakened. Therefore it is also that in his work the Holy Ghost must use the Law which kills in order to provide our hearts with peace.

Now if we have not plugged our ears and hardened ourselves against the Spirit's chastisement and judg-ment but have been crushed by it and now lie there and groan in our sins, then the Holy Ghost comes with the message of peace in the Gospel in order to provide our anxious hearts with peace through faith in Jesus Christ, because faith is the only means by which we can appropriate to ourselves the grace in Christ which is given us in the Gospel. The Holy Ghost now finds the soil of the heart prepared for the life-creating seed of the Word. However, the fact that the heart accepts this and believes the Gospel is to be credited solely and entirely to the Holy Ghost's powerful working through the Means of Grace. It is thus far from true that man cooperates in any way here, much rather that he opposes the Spirit, since both rea-son and feeling raise all kinds of objections against the mysteries of the Gospel and the words of God's order of grace, and this in spite of the fact that at the same time the heart can wish nothing more than to be freed from the fear of death and to obtain peace. Thus reason cannot do otherwise than be offended by the mystery of the Holy Trinity, how Christ can be God and Man in one person, how a righteous man can atone for the guilt of the unrighteous and the holy God can accept such a propitiatory offering and forgive sin, how the Son of Man who ascended into heaven can give us his body and blood in the bread and wine, how the Holy Ghost can convert people without force, even though before conversion they can do nothing but resist him, how only some few are converted without any cooperation whatsoever on their part, when God, however, wants to save everyone but without forcing anyone, or how so many can be lost without God being at fault, when our conversion and salvation are to be credited to God alone, etc. Similarly feelings will object: How is it possible that the holy God can forgive so great a sinner as I am, who have rejected his call of grace for so long and with whom no great change has happened? It is impossible for me to understand. How can I believe that God is gracious to me? I feel only the sinful lusts in me and God's wrath upon me. If I am going to be able to believe that I really am favored by God, then I must, however, first see a greater change having occurred in me, perceive in myself another power to overcome sin and to serve God, feel a genuine joy in God, his Word and guidance, instead of the fear, mistrust and discontent which I now feel. Oh, my friends, who can depict all the opposition, count up all the hin-drances people themselves set up for not accepting the Good News? And these hindrances must be re-moved, this opposition must be broken if people are to come to faith, find peace and be saved. And this is the Holy Spirit's work which he accomplishes through the Gospel. He teaches us to know our complete inability better, both to grasp the mysteries of grace and to do anything through which we should be able to move God to bestow grace upon us, and how such efforts come from the pride of the heart. Likewise he reveals to us the infinite depth of God's love to poor sinners, lets us see that grace is much greater than all the world's guilt of sin and that God does not want the death of any sinner but that he should be converted and live, does not push away from himself any sinner who comes to him but invites all them who labor and are heavy laden to come to him and to find rest for their souls. He shows us Christ's genuine love and precious sacrifice for our sins, and how the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all sin. Thus he makes God's mercy exceedingly great and grace really sweet. He teaches us to build on the Word and promises of God as the one firm ground of rock in spite of the heart's feelings, the Law's judgment and the devil's threats. He teaches us that faith is a firm conviction about things which are not seen, that "blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed," as Jesus says to the unbelieving Thomas in today's Gospel. Further, that in spite of everything which we see, feel and perceive we are to continue in the Word because he who has spoken it cannot lie to us or deceive us but is faithful and keeps his vows and promises, and that doubt about the Word of God is not a sign of true humility but an expression of the heart's pride which places one's own thoughts above the Word of God, and that, therefore, like unbelief it is a great sin since it makes God a liar in his own Word.

And you see, my friends, this Gospel has such power through the Holy Ghost who works in and with it that the poor sinner's heart is opened, as happened with Lydia! Yes as certainly as he does not repeatedly resist and harden himself against the working of the Holy Ghost's convincing and persuading power, who, as the prophet says (Je. 2O:7) becomes too strong for him, he thus at the same time creates a new man within him so that like Thomas he falls into his Savior's arms with a: "My Lord and my God!" or with that troubled father exclaims: "Lord, I believe, help mine unbelief!" (Mk. 9:24.) In the same moment that the heart's opposition is broken the hindrances are overcome and the person is born again. Granted that this faith is very weak, only like a spark, like a sigh of longing for Christ's forgiveness, for the comfort of the forgiveness of sins through Christ's blood, it does, however, stretch out its arms toward Jesus Christ and grasp him with all his merits and gifts. And the merciful Savior does not snuff out the smoking flax nor does he break the broken reed. How gracious does he not show himself toward the unbelieving Thom-as, how amiably does he not deal with him! Thomas had not been present at Jesus' first appearance to the other disciples. Although he heard the others' testimony: "We have seen the Lord," he still answered: "Ex-cept I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe." At the Lord's appearance eight days later Thomas was also pre-sent. The Lord does not disown him because of his unbelief but after he has again greeted them with his greeting of peace, he says to Thomas: "Reach hither your finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither your hand, and thrust it into my side; and be not faithless, but believing." Now Thomas believed, and ex-claimed: "My Lord and my God!" But the Lord does earnestly chastise him because of his unbelief as he had done with the disciples on the way to Emmaus, and says: "Thomas, because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed."

There is many a doubting Thomas also now, many a troubled sinner who does not dare to believe that God is gracious to him and that his sins are forgiven him. The regenerated person also has the old Adam to contend with as long as he is here on earth. Doubt and temptation hem him in. Now it is doubt about his state of grace, now about his preservation in faith through life's many temptations and struggles. But, God be praised! The Spirit comes to the help of our infirmity. He comforts the grieving through the Gos-pel and the Sacrament. He strengthens the weak and raises the fallen so that he can again appropriate grace to himself and exclaim: "My Lord and my God!" Then the Spirit of God bears witness with your spirit that you are a child of God, that for the sake of Christ God does not count your sin against you but the righteousness of Christ to you and regards you in Christ as though you had never sinned. Then your heart obtains peace again, peace with God. Because "being justified by faith, we have peace with God." (Ro. 5:1.)

Tell me, you who have been reconciled with God and have found true peace, isn't this the way it goes? Through repentance, anxiety and affliction led the way to the coveted longing for grace, to the assurance of faith and peace of heart, but everything was the Spirit's wonderful working through the Means of Grace.

Now where the heart has found this peace there is joy in the Holy Ghost, there the soul delights in the Word of the Lord, there is a mind devoted to, content in God, a mind which is at peace with the Lord's leading, thankful for his blessings, patient in affliction, zealous to confess the Lord as the only Savior and to bring other poor sinners the same peace, comfort and joy, and willing to suffer for the sake of Jesus' name.

However, my friends, all this is only the beginning! The old Adam continues to cling to us to our dying day! He is always seeking to disturb our peace, hinder our course and cause us to fall. The Prince of Peace, who brought our hearts peace, can alone still the heart's unrest and preserve its peace through his Spirit, until he has completed our salvation and leads us into the home of peace, the heavenly Jerusalem. Thus we see that the apostles were preserved. Till now very weak in their knowledge, they now show them-selves full of self-confidence, no longer quickly afraid so that they flee or shut themselves in for fear of the Jews. Now after the gift of the Holy Ghost has become theirs we see them comforted, glad and confident. The world has not changed, the old Adam either. They were exposed to the enmity of both. They were hated and persecuted, were miserable and poor, yes, like outcasts in the world and the doormat of every-one. But they confessed the Lord courageously, suffered patiently, and departed gladly after having suffered persecution for Jesus' name's sake. Yes, they confidently met martyr's deaths and prayed for their enemies while they awaited the fulfillment of their hope, the crown of glory, eternal rest in the home of peace.

The Prince of Peace also now sends the same Spirit to his disciples so that he can strengthen and pre-serve them unto eternal life through the Word and Sacraments. O what grace, that we have the ministry of the Word among us! We cannot counter-balance this treasure with anything else. Let us see to it that we neither neglect nor despise it. It is the Prince of Peace whom we then despise; eternal peace and salvation we then forfeit. Then Jesus' death and resurrection do not help at all, nor the Ministry of the Word, and the Spirit's powerful working through it is in vain for us. The Word of Life becomes for us a savor of death unto death; Christ's body and blood unto judgment. We stumble against the Cornerstone and are crushed. Instead of greeting us with his: "Peace be unto you!" the Prince of Peace is then revealed as our Judge and the terrifying, decisive judgment says: "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, pre-pared for the devil and his angels." (Mt. 25:41.) Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, for the sake of our peace, our eternal salvation, let us use the Word of God diligently in the home, in the church and in the school, in daily conversation and in the assembly of the congregation! Let us hold it in high regard and in honor, and gladly both hear and learn it's drawing toward evening and the day is almost over, therefore chasten us but do not reject us. Comfort us when our soul is crushed, so that we do not perish entirely! Uphold us and give us your peace now and eternally! Amen.

Proedikener over Evangelierne, pages 29O-3O5