Easter 1
Dear friends in Christ. Today we continue to bask in the glory of our Lord’s resurrection from the dead. Our joy is in seeing with the eyes of faith that our spiritual enemies—sin, death, devil and hell—all lay defeated and crushed at Jesus’ empty tomb. As wonderful and glorious and worthy of praise as Jesus’ resurrection is, it is not an isolated event; it is not like a large, beautiful pearl on a pearl necklace—beautiful, yes, worthy of admiration, yes–but separate, unconnected from the rest. Jesus’ resurrection from the dead is not a stand-alone event. Instead, it has meaning and significance far beyond that first Easter morning. In today’s Gospel we read: Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side.
Easter is about the forgiveness of our sins. This forgiveness reaches back all the way to Adam and Eve and extends all the way to the Last Day. When Jesus tells the disciples, Peace be with you, He is announcing to them the forgiveness of their sins, that things are now right between them and God. And not only is He announcing it, He is giving that peace, that forgiveness: Peace be with you, to those very disciples who were very much feeling their sin: they had forgotten His word, run away from Him, and were now huddled together in fear.
And now He gives them the proof: he showed them his hands and his side—those very marks showing that He had suffered and died for the sins of the world. And now He is physically, bodily, standing there risen from the dead; proof positive that He had offered the once for all perfect sacrifice for the sin of the world and that the Father had accepted His sacrifice by raising Him from the dead and the whole of sinful lost humanity is now reconciled to the holy God. And now this forgiveness of sins that Jesus won by His holy life and innocent suffering and death and proclaimed by His resurrection is to be proclaimed into the whole world.
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.” This is what we call the Office Of The Keys. It is the authority Jesus gives His Church to forgive the sins of those who are sorry for their sins and to announce to those that are not sorry for their sin that their sin is not forgiven—and this to drive them to repentance. Here we have the most beautiful and comforting practice of confession and absolution—hearing the very forgiveness of Christ pronounced over us for our specific sin.
1. Our text today is a prophecy the Lord spoke through the prophet Zechariah and is a reflection on Jesus’ words to the disciples that first Easter evening: Receive the Holy Spirit. As we ponder our text, we will see that Jesus gives us the Holy Spirit so that we may rightly look upon Jesus. And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on Me, on Him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over Him, as one weeps over a first born.
That first Easter, [Jesus] breathed on [the disciples] and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” The Risen Savior gives, as a gift, the Holy Spirit who is to bring His salvation to people. Here the disciples were marked and established as the ones who in a special way were to bring this saving word and work of Jesus to the whole world. What was done here privately was done for all to see on the day of Pentecost.
Although we are in no way apostles, at our baptism Jesus also breathed on [us] and said to [us], “Receive the Holy Spirit.” That’s the promise of our Lord in our text when He says: And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and pleas for mercy. [T]he house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: that’s the Church—the holy apostles, the faithful teachers, all Christians! The very fact that we are now Christians means that the crucified and risen Jesus has given us the Holy Spirit. For most of us, that was when we were baptized as babies.
Notice: the Holy Spirit here is called the Spirit of grace. What does the Holy Spirit do? He testifies within us that we have been received into grace. He testifies and assures us that Jesus’ life, suffering and death were for us and our forgiveness and salvation. He assures us that Jesus’ resurrection was God’s pronouncement on the world, and on us: forgiven. And the Holy Spirit moves our heart to believe it. He creates in our heart faith to receive this gift and blessing of God for us in Christ Jesus our Lord.
How vital it is that Jesus pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and at baptism that He breathe on [us] and say to [us], “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Left to ourselves and our own devices we wouldn’t/ couldn’t know a thing about Jesus—who He is and what He has done for us. Left to ourselves and our own devices we wouldn’t welcome and receive the gifts and blessings of Jesus: the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. In short, the only reason that we are Christians today and have true faith in Jesus is because He has given us/ poured out on us the Holy Spirit. This faith is the gift of God. It is His work. The Holy Spirit has taught us Jesus and His saving work—just as the St. Isaiah prophesied [54.13]: All your children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children. Jesus picked up on this and says [Jn. 6.45]: It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of grace—coming to us in grace and showing, teaching, giving us the grace that Jesus won for us by His life, suffering and death. At baptism, [Jesus] breathed on [us] and said to [us], “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
Not only is the Holy Spirit that the Risen Jesus gives us the Spirit of grace but He is also the Spirit of … pleas for mercy. The Holy Spirit makes us certain of God’s grace to us in Jesus. St. Paul [2 Cor. 5.5; Eph. 1.13] writes that God…also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee; and you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance… The wonderful thing is that God wants us to be certain of our forgiveness and salvation. That’s why He [poured] out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and pleas for mercy so we would never doubt His grace, Jesus’ work and our forgiveness; so we would be certain of our salvation and so have peace of heart and conscience.
Remember: the Holy Spirit is also the Spirit of … pleas for mercy. We have experienced the Lord’s mercy. We are convinced of it by the Holy Spirit’s work. We have that divinely worked certainty of God’s grace—that in Jesus my sins are forgiven me and that things are right between me and God. Now that I know Him as my dear loving heavenly Father, I don’t run away from Him but go to Him in all times of need and offer up my prayers for His continued mercy on me. As we know the mercy of the Lord, as we have experienced His mercy, we go to Him asking Him for mercy. And that’s the work of the Holy Spirit.
He breathed on [us] and said to [us], “Receive the Holy Spirit.” The Holy Spirit is in us. He teaches and reminds us of God’s mercy, leading us back to the Lord when we are in difficult times, in times of trial, suffering under the cross. The Holy Spirit has to lead us back to the Lord’s mercy and grace at these times because we still have an old sinful nature that wants to lead us away from the Lord and His mercy and wants us to think that the Lord is our enemy.
But we have within us the Spirit of … pleas for mercy. He not only leads us back to the Lord’s mercy, but when we find it so difficult to pray, when we don’t even know the words to speak or even feel, [the Spirit of … pleas for mercy], as St. Paul tells us [Rm 8.26], also helps us in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us... And again [Gal. 4.6], And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” Our prayers in times of trial, our prayers in times of joy, our prayers of thanksgiving are all because the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of … pleas for mercy, is in us. Where He is, there He is strengthening faith, teaching us always and anew of the Lord’s grace and mercy to us, leading us into deeper love of the Lord and trust in Him. What glorious words of Jesus to His Church: “Receive the Holy Spirit”!
2. Remember today’s Gospel. What did Jesus say to the disciples right after saying to them “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Answer: “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.” The point? The receiving of the Holy Spirit has to do with the forgiveness of sins. This is where our text is so helpful. In it the Lord promises to pour out the Holy Spirit richly and abundantly on the Church: And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and pleas for mercy. And why? For what reason? So that, when they look on Me, on Him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over Him, as one weeps over a first born. We are given the Holy Spirit so that we might rightly confess our sins. Easter, Jesus’ resurrection victory over sin, death, devil and hell does not mean that now we can sin all we want since it is all forgiven; it doesn’t even mean that we don’t have to care whether we sin or not. Instead, Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit so that we may rightly confess our sins, that is, recognize and sorrow over our sins as the great affront to the holy God that they are and that they earn us only God’s wrath and damnation; but that Jesus is our Savior from our sin and by the power of the Holy Spirit in us live a life of good works. When they look on Me, on Him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for Him. The disciples that first Easter evening did physically look on Jesus. They saw the wounds of the nails and spear. How they must have felt their sin—in particular their sin from the immediate past as they denied and fled from Jesus. As we rejoice in Jesus’ resurrection, let us not forget that in order for there to be Jesus rising from the dead, He first had to die; He first had to be pierced. It was for the sin of the world—your sin and mine—that He was pierced. Dear Christian, we have the Holy Spirit. By His work in the holy Law of God, He leads us to truly and properly recognize our sin and how great and horrible they are and to mourn over our sin’s enormity and over Jesus who bore their punishment. So yes, we mourn and weep over our sin in confession.
By the Holy Spirit, yes we see Him whom we, by our sin pierced. But remember that Easter evening Jesus showed them his hands and his side, the very hands and side that shed the holy divine blood that brought about the forgiveness of sin. We, dear Christian, have the Holy Spirit who reminds and constantly teaches us to look at the wounds of Christ to know His love for us in giving us His own flesh and blood; in the absolution and in our hearts the Holy Spirit presents before us the risen Jesus, assuring us of the forgiveness of our sin. And in grace upon grace, the risen and ascended Jesus is with us in the Blessed Sacrament giving us that very body and blood that was given and shed for our forgiveness. And now certain of our forgiveness and by the work of the Holy Spirit we are bold to recognize our sin, look at the One we pierced/killed by them, mourn what our sins have done, mourn over Jesus but by faith receive and take comfort in the forgiveness He won for us on the cross and by the Holy Spirit’s power fight all the more against sin and strive to live a life of faith and good works.
How blessed we are: Jesus stands here among us saying to us, “Peace be with you.” And in the word and Sacrament showing us his hands and his side. INJ Amen