Easter 3—Jubilate
Dear friends in Christ. Our Easter joy continues. This Sunday even has the name, Jubilate, from the first word of the Introit: Make a joyful shout. On that first Easter when Jesus rose the from dead we can imagine the shouts of joy in heaven from the saints and the angels; we can imagine their shouts of joy as Jesus then descended into hell to announce His victory over sin, death and devil in the devil’s very stronghold. We can imagine the joy of those particular angels as they announced to the women: Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen! The joy of the resurrection and all it means stands, remains, even as the world goes from one distress, sorrow, act of craziness to another. The joy of the resurrection is for all creation, as Walther brings out so well in the hymn we sang: Break forth, hosts of heaven, in jubilant song, And earth, sea, and mountain, the paean [that is, “a song of triumph”] prolong; and as we hear in today’s text: Make a joyful shout to the LORD, all the earth!
The joy of Easter and of our forgiveness is a heavenly joy. That joy is not only in our hearts but even the angels rejoice as we confess our sins and receive in faith the forgiveness of our sins, as Jesus says [Lk. 15.10]: there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. Easter’s joy isn’t just for Easter day, nor even for the entire Easter season. Instead, the joy of Easter is for every day of lives as Christians. We receive that Easter joy anew each time we confess our sins and receive the absolution, receive forgiveness for those sins. Easter is God’s pronouncement on the world “Forgiven!” and each time we, in faith, receive the absolution, that joy of Easter again fills our hearts—in Christ, God has declared us “forgiven!” That is daily having/ celebrating Easter! This heavenly joy is ours here on earth as we daily come to the Lord because we know Him rightly.
1. We share in heaven’s joy already here on earth when we come to the Lord. In our text the Holy Spirit, through the psalmist, tells us, invites us: Come before His presence with singing; and Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. What joy is ours: the holy Triune God, the almighty God, invites us to come to Him! But what does that mean? It means that if God calls us to come to Him, it means that we are not at first with Him. Here is a picture of us all before coming to faith, a picture of us as we are born in the world. That’s because of our sin. Sin separates us from God. Because of sin we are astray from God. Even as Christians, each of our sins is a turning away from God, from His way and His will. It is a rebellion against Him. Left to ourselves and our own devices we would continue on our path further and further away from the Lord. That’s why when the Holy Spirit in the word calls us to repent, to recognize and sorrow over our sin, He is calling us to return to the Lord and to His ways and to follow His will.
But here we come to our Easter joy—the joy of heaven that we experience now! The Holy Spirit in the word of God, in His holy Law, doesn’t just show us our sin and rebellion, how far we have strayed from the Lord, that we have cut ourselves off from heaven and earn/ deserve nothing but God’s wrath and punishment; instead, He also comes with the Gospel, the Good News of the forgiveness of sins in Jesus; He comes with the proclamation of Easter: “Forgiven!” The joy of that first Easter is still ours! It is new and fresh as in faith we daily and anew receive that forgiveness. Easter never gets old; its joy never diminishes because we are daily receiving its blessing and benefit.
Yes, our sin locks us out from the presence of God. But there’s Easter—Jesus rising from the dead, all our sins remaining dead and buried in Christ’s tomb, and God declaring us in Christ: Forgiven. Listen to the Holy Spirit in our text: Come before His presence with singing; and Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Notice, there is no limitation. Jesus and His work and His victory are for all people. That’s why the Holy Spirit in our psalm begins: Make a joyful shout to the LORD, all the earth! Notice: all the earth. The blessing of Jesus and His work is for all—none excluded. Let no one say that his/her sin is too great to be forgiven. Jesus and His work, God and His mercy, God and His pronouncement: “Forgiven!” are greater! Now that in Christ our sins are forgiven, now that we are reconciled to God in Christ, we can come before His presence with singing and enter His gates in thanksgiving and praise. That’s our Easter joy—no matter how great or many our sin, Christ paid for them; and that He paid for them fully and completely is shown by His resurrection. That’s joy, a heavenly joy that we have already now on earth and will have into all eternity.
B. We can come to the Lord in joy and have this joy of heaven already on earth because Christ Jesus our Lord has first gathered us into His flock, the Church. By our own powers and abilities, by our own strength or reason, we cannot come to the Lord with a joyful shout or into His presence with thanksgiving. But what happened? Our text: Know that the LORD, He is God; He Himself made us, and not we ourselves to be His people and the sheep of His pasture. Notice we did not make ourselves Christians; we did not make ourselves to be part of His Church. Instead, Christ Himself made us what we are—Christians, His people, sheep of His pasture—by His call of grace and His creating in us a new heart. By calling us in grace to recognize our sins but that Jesus is our Savior from those sins; by calling us to trust in Jesus for forgiveness of our sins and eternal life; by that very promise of grace and forgiveness, the Holy Spirit, whom Christ sent, created faith in our hearts to receive that forgiveness and work of Christ; and by that faith made us the people of God and the sheep of His pasture, that is, part of His holy Church. Now with the Spirit-worked gift of faith in Jesus and His work, we have that heavenly joy of salvation. Each day as we confess our sins and in faith grab ahold of that forgiveness, we then make a joyful shout of praise and thanksgiving. In fact, as we come into His presence with praise and thanksgiving we can do so because in Christ our sins are forgiven; and we come into His presence with praise and thanksgiving time and time again to receive that blessed fruit of Jesus’ work—forgiveness and life. And as we do so, what joy is ours!
C. The very wording of our text—Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise—is imagery of the OT temple in which the people came together. The temple is open to all: in Christ, and by His Holy Spirit, all are being invited into the Church; all are being invited to join themselves in worship with the Church, the people of God, the sheep of His pasture. Let us not think this is merely a “me and Jesus” sort of thing where we ride off in the sunset together. Instead, we are, each of us, is part of the people of God, part of His flock. Christ, by Baptism and Word, gathered us into His Church. To His Church, Jesus entrusted His holy Word and Sacraments. And precisely in His holy Word and Sacraments Jesus gives us that very grace and forgiveness and life He won for us on the cross. As we gather around His holy Word and Sacraments, there is Christ, richly and abundantly giving us the forgiveness of our sins and strengthening our faith. There, as we receive these heavenly gifts, as we are receiving once again God’s pronouncement of that first Easter: “Forgiven!” what joy is ours! This isn’t an earthly joy like finding $20 in the street; it is a firmly grounded, enduring heavenly joy that will withstand the assaults and attacks of the devil trying to take it away from us. In fact, the more the devil attacks us, trying to rob us of our heavenly joy by trying to get us to question or doubt our salvation/ forgiveness; by trying to get us to despair or to think that there is not forgiveness, all the more then do we gather in church, around our Lord’s Word and Sacrament and receive in faith the gift of forgiveness given us in the absolution and Holy Supper—and all the greater and stronger will our joy be: that’s the daily living out of Easter, that’s our heavenly joy now.
2. True worship of the Lord is not what we do but what He does for us; true worship is receiving in faith from the Lord all the gifts and blessings He gives us in His Word and Sacrament. True worship and heavenly joy on earth is when we come to the Lord to receive His gifts of life and salvation. That’s why the basis/ foundation of worship is faith: knowing God rightly and what He has done for us. Know that the LORD, He is God; He Himself made us, and not we ourselves, to be His people and the sheep of His pasture. The only way we get to know the Lord rightly and all He has done for us and for our salvation and to receive His gifts is to gather around His Word and Sacrament. In His holy Word He reveals Himself to us fully; and in His holy Sacraments He graciously gives us the very gifts He brought about for us.
Precisely where this faith is that God creates and preserves through His Word and Sacrament, there is that heavenly joy in our hearts because joy flows from faith.
There’s no joy in the law—do this; don’t do that if you want to please God and get into heaven—because by our sin, no matter how hard we try not to, we cannot keep the law; we cannot render that absolute perfection/ holiness God demands of us if we want eternal life by what we do. But joy flows from where there is true faith. Here we again come to that foundation of heaven’s joy that we enjoy already now on earth: Easter. In faith, we know that Jesus, by His life, suffering and death, kept God’s holy law for us and paid the price for our sins: Easter is God’s seal of approval and acceptance of Jesus’ work. Faith knows that in Christ God is gracious to us; faith receives that peace and reconciliation that Jesus brought about for us; faith knows that by Jesus’ resurrection sin, death devil and hell have all been defeated for us and that by Jesus’ ascension He opened heaven to all believers. We have heaven’s joy on earth because we know the Lord rightly.
B. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His faithfulness endures to all generations. Joy and gladness, thanksgiving and praise all naturally flow from hearts and lips that know and receive God’s goodness. That’s why the Holy Spirit calls on us in our heavenly/ Easter joy: Serve the LORD with gladness; Come before His presence with a ringing cry of joy. We in Spirit worked faith know the Lord rightly and all He has done for us; and that heavenly joy that we now enjoy will show itself in a life of striving to do the Lord’s will. The Holy Spirit who creates faith in us, leads us into a life of faith and good works. Zacharias, the father of St. John the Baptiser said [Lk 1.74], We, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life. Our lives of heavenly joy on earth are meaningful and significant as we, in love and thanksgiving, and strengthened by the Holy Spirit obediently follow the Lord, our Good Shepherd, as we prayed today: to avoid those things contrary to [our] profession and to follow all such things as are agreeable [to it]; after all, we are the sheep of His pasture.
Our lives lived now in Easter’s joy now are but a prelude to the joy that we will perfectly and completely enjoy when we come into the heavenly gates and courts. Then, in heaven, we will know our Lord rightly, completely and perfectly; there we will not be hindered by our old weak sinful nature; there we will perfectly thank, praise and serve Him for all of His goodness and mercy toward us. Indeed, an eternal celebration of Easter and in all of its joy forever, but now we enjoy a glorious foretaste. INJ Amen.