Sermon - Quasimodo Geniti 2024 - John 20:19-31

The Incredulity of Saint Thomas, Caravaggio, 1600

The Ministry of Peace

1. Jesus’ work of death and resurrection give us peace, as seen in the wounds which remain in Jesus’ resurrected and glorified body.

2. Jesus gives this peace through His pastors whom He sent to forgive sins in His place.

3. Pastors come and go throughout life, yet the peace which different pastors give comes from the same Christ Jesus.

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Have you ever been gripped with fear? The Apostles were in our reading today. “On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews.” Though, one day, not long before this, the Apostles had heard that Lazaraus had died, and that Jesus was going to go to him. It was a risky trip, since the Jews were seeking to stone Jesus. But Thomas piped up: “Let us also go, that we may die with Him” Then, on the night when Jesus was betrayed, Peter and all the apostles said: “If I must die with You, I will not deny You.” These men had great courage, generally speaking. Even when nearly everyone left Jesus, the twelve remained with Him, saying: “Lord, to whom shall we go? Only You have the words of eternal life.” 

But on this Easter evening their courage failed them. Perhaps they were afraid that the Jews might physically injure them, as they crucified Jesus or had earlier tried to stone Him. Maybe they were afraid of ostracism or mockery, since the One they followed was now crucified, having died the most shameful death. Either way, whatever the specifics of their fears, they were afraid. At least ten of them knew that when they were afraid it was better for them to be together than alone. This is something Thomas needed to learn, and many Christians need to learn today: it’s better to be together as a church than alone.

But in the midst of their fears Jesus comes to them, saying: “Peace be with you.” Having spoken He showed them the stigmata, the marks from His crucifixion. Only then do the disciples have peace and are glad when they see their Lord. I know we give Thomas a hard time, even calling him doubting Thomas. But Thomas wasn’t any different from the rest of the apostles, since all of them needed to see Jesus before they believed and had peace. But for our sakes they became eye witnesses of the resurrected Lord Jesus, so that through their testimony we might believe that Jesus truly is risen from the dead.

Something important for us to notice here is that the crucifixion wounds of Jesus is what gives peace to the apostles. This is powerful! Jesus in His glorified body still had the marks of the cross left in His body. It’s like Isaiah writes: “By His wounds we are healed.” It is because Jesus was crucified that we have peace with God. This is why the chief symbol of Christianity is a crucifix, and not an empty tomb. His suffering on the cross is Jesus’ glory and our comfort, because from the cross our sins are forgiven and we are at peace with God. The apostles receive the peace of Jesus through His wounds, and those marks of the cross remain in His body for our comfort.

Obviously, not all of us are eyewitnesses of the resurrected Jesus, and so not all of us can look upon the wounds of Christ. “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” You are those who have not seen the stigmata in Jesus’ body, have not placed your finger into His scars, and yet you are those who believe. But how? How do we have faith today even when we cannot see the signs? “These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.” We have peace not through sight, but through hearing.

Jesus called and ordained the apostles to be pastors, who would go forth into all the world preaching the Gospel and forgiving sins in the stead and by the command of Christ. “As the Father has sent Me, even so I am sending you… Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.” The recipients of these men’s preaching would not believe through sight, but through hearing the word of God. So it still is with pastors today.

Pastors have been called into the office of the holy ministry to do the work Jesus called these men to do, namely to preach the Word of God and administer the sacraments. When a pastor does his work he is doing it in the stead and by the command of Christ, not on his own authority but with the authority of Him who sent him. So the pastor does not forgive by his own authority, but by Christ’s authority; the pastor doesn’t feed you his own body and blood, but Chrit’s; the pastor isn’t supposed to tell you his own personal stories, or what flatters his hearers’ ears, but he speaks thus saith the Lord.

Thus, pastors are called and sent by Jesus to perform the work of the ministry of peace. Jesus gives this peace through His pastors when He forgives sins. A pastor’s forgiveness is not like our normal forgiveness. Everyone forgives other people, we do it all the time when someone sins against us and we forgive them and move on. But a pastor’s forgiveness is different, since a pastor doesn’t just forgive sins done against him but he forgives all sins because he stands in the place of Jesus.

That forgiveness is what brings peace in the midst of troubles. Remember that the apostles were locked inside for fear of the Jews, and what does Jesus do? He institutes the office of the holy ministry and instructs His pastors to forgive sins. The result of Jesus doing that is His apostles are then glad and Thomas exclaims: “My Lord and My God!” Jesus does that so that people may believe that He is the Christ, the Son of God, and have life in His name. The forgiveness of sins truly does bring peace in the midst of a desperate situation.

This is the great blessing of private confession and absolution with your pastor. When your life is not peaceful, go to your pastor, confess your sins, and be absolved so that you may have peace. You don’t have to have done some notably egregious sin to need confession, you just need to be a normal person who desires God’s peace.

When we Christians need some help, or something is going wrong, our first step should be to go to confession. I don’t mean we shouldn’t seek other treatments or solutions to the problem, but it would be wise to first go to confession, since this is what God teaches us to do in His Word. Before we seek peace elsewhere, let us first seek peace from the Lord. Cancer diagnosis? Confession. Depression? Confession. Problems at work? Confession. Family strife? Confession. Boring life? Confession. This doesn’t mean confession will necessarily solve all of those problems, but at least you will have peace with God, the most important peace, before dealing with whatever other troubles lie in your path.

I believe it’s intentional that God chooses to give us peace through human and mortal pastors, because pastors come and go, whether they move, retire, or die, but the peace of Christ remains the same through all eternity. In a way it’s kind of beautiful. There are different pastors present with you throughout the different periods of your life and throughout history. Different pastors were there when you were a small child, from baptism and confirmation to early adulthood, to raising your own children, to retirement, and eventually on your deathbed. You have a different pastors than did your great grandparents, and they a different pastor than their great grandparents. Like Paul said, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.” Different men, different personalities, different centuries, and yet the same peace of God through Christ Jesus was delivered to you through them all. God chose to use mortal and changing men, to bring you His timeless and changeless peace through Christ.

Yet Christ also chose to work through men because He is Himself a man. Jesus is human, as evidenced by His birth, His weeping at the death of Lazarus, His sighing on the cross in agony, and His burial. But also in the fact that His resurrected body is still human, He eats with His disciples and has visible scars in His body which His disciples can touch. So His ministry continues among us today through human men, because His ministry of peace is among flesh and blood humans. So whatever human issue troubles you and fills you with fear, Jesus is He who humanly comes to give you His divine and eternal peace. Look upon the wounded and yet resurrected Christ, who says to you this day: Peace be with you.

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!