Easter 2--Confirmation
Today is a glorious day in the life of our church. Not only are we still celebrating and reveling in the glories of Jesus’ resurrection victory over sin, death, devil and hell--a victory that is also ours through faith in Him--but we are today rejoicing that 6 young people of our parish will confess their faith in Jesus, their risen and ascended Savior, and pledge to Him life-long faithfulness in Confirmation.
Confirmation does not “add” anything. Through the Sacrament of Holy Baptism when these youth were babies, the Holy Spirit came upon them in the water and word and created faith in them--faith that knew and loved the true God, faith that clung to Jesus as Savior from sin, death and hell; at baptism they already had every gift and blessing of God--those very gifts, blessings and graces that Jesus obtained for us by His holy life and innocent suffering and death and which He proclaimed and announced by His glorious resurrection. That’s what they received at baptism.
What is happening now at Confirmation is that they themselves are answering the questions asked of them at their baptism but which were answered for them by their sponsors--such as do you renounce the devil and all his works and ways and do you believe in the holy Triune God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit? Even though, through holy Baptism, they had Spirit-worked saving faith they through the years learned that faith and that faith was strengthened. Today they will boldly and gladly confess that faith!
And as they have learned that faith throughout the years, confirmation also marks that point of time at which they can now examine themselves in order to receive the Sacrament of our Lord’s body and blood worthily and rightly as St. Paul writes [1 Co 11.28]: Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup.
And so, although it is cliche, it is true: confirmation is not graduation. Confirmation is only a marker along the way; a mile post along our journey that by God’s grace will lead us to heaven. It marks the time that we have been taught the bare basics of the faith and then we confess our faith; it marks the time we have been given the tools to begin the life long study of Scripture and contemplation of Christ; now we can begin to use these tools/ weapons in the fight against the devil and all his allies who are trying to destroy that Spirit-worked faith in Christ in us.
The vital lesson for you who will be newly confirmed today as well as those of us who were confirmed years/ decades ago is this: keep your eyes on Jesus. He is the object of your faith; He and His work for us is what the holy Christian faith is all about. That’s why today’s epistle from St. John is vital for us. Today we focus on the first few verses of his letter. It’s all about Jesus! [He] who was from the beginning, [whom] we have heard, [whom] we have seen with our eyes, [whom] we have observed and our hands have touched regarding the Word of Life--the life appeared, and we have seen [Him]. The One that the holy Christian faith is all about/ the One we keep our eyes focused on is Jesus--the true eternal God who became also true man born of the virgin Mary. What a glorious mystery St. John here points out and reflects upon. He again brings us into eternity when he here writes: [He] who was from the beginning. Already in the beginning, when time began, there was the Son of God, the Second Person of the holy Trinity. Together with the Father and the Holy Spirit He is eternal--no beginning and no end, the great I AM. This is much the same like we hear from St. John at Christmas [1.1,14] where he calls Jesus the Word: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Our holy Christian faith is centered on Jesus, who He is and what He has done for us. So who is Jesus? He is the true God Himself! --Just like we confess in the creed, He is God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God, Begotten, not made, being of one Substance with the Father, by whom--that’s the Son--all things were made. The holy Christian faith is all about knowing God rightly--that He is one God, yet three distinct Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. As we worship and keep our eyes fixed on Jesus--not only at Confirmation but throughout our life--we are keeping our eyes fixed on the true God. Here is a great gift and blessing! What no person on their own could come up with--that the one true God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit --you, dear confirmand/ dear Christian, know in Spirit worked faith; you believe it and you confess it! How richly we are blessed! God created people for fellowship with Him; that’s how He wired us. And people will forever be restless/ unsatisfied/ keep sensing something missing until our souls rest in Him; until they know Him! But what happened to us? At baptism the Holy Spirit came to us and worked this faith and knowledge in us. We know in that Spirit-worked faith that the one true God is the holy Triune God and Jesus is the Son, the Second Person of the holy Trinity.
But God is Spirit; doesn’t God seem so remote when we image Him in some far off heaven somewhere? Don’t thoughts of God seem so not like life in the real/ this world? Sure! But that’s why we need always to keep before us that Jesus is not only the true eternal God, but He is also true man born of the virgin Mary. He is truly one of us; He is truly our brother. Again remember St. John in our text: [He] who was from the beginning, [whom] we have heard, [whom] we have seen with our eyes, [whom] we have observed and our hands have touched regarding the Word of Life--the life appeared, and we have seen [Him]. Look at what St. John writes here: the eternal One, who was from the beginning, is the same one that was heard, seen, observed and touched by human hands. Jesus is both true God--who is spirit-- and true man whom our senses can perceive. Think about it: the entire divine essence of the Son of God with all the divine properties/ characteristics is truly united with His human nature. That means what? Jesus/ the Son shows the invisible God to the world. Do you truly want to know what God is like? Look at Jesus--He is the true God! Look at Him weeping over unrepentant sinners; look at Him overturning the tables and driving out those selling in/ desecrating the temple; look at Him calling His enemies to repentance; look at Him seeking the lost sinner; look at Him on the cross dying for the sins of the world.
Keep looking at Jesus. Keep gazing/ inspecting closely this great miracle and mystery of who Jesus is. See His divinity in His teaching and miracles. See Jesus showing you His hands and His side; hear Him saying to you: Put your finger here and look at My hands. Take your hand and put it into My side. May our eyes be fixed on Jesus, the One born of Mary!
How vital for us that we do--but that we do is because of the work of the Holy Spirit in baptism and the word. Let us keep our eyes on Jesus because He is the object of saving faith. That’s why saves us--faith in Jesus; faith that knows Him rightly as the Son of God--true God and true man--and receives from Him His forgiveness and His perfect holiness; faith that goes to Him in confession to give Him our sin and to receive the gifts and blessings He won on the cross. But again--this is all because of the work of the Holy Spirit. So what does it mean that God had to reveal Himself to us in the Person of His Son? What does it mean that the Holy Spirit must work faith in us by the word and baptism? What does it mean that God works through His word and sacraments to bring us to this faith and to keep us in that faith? --It means that Christianity is a religion of grace. It all starts and comes from God. We cannot on our own come to know God rightly or come to Him--He has to reveal Himself and come to us. That’s why we must regard this gift of faith God has given us as the true treasure that it is; that’s why we will always want to keep our eyes on Jesus and His word, gazing upon Him and seeking to grow in our knowledge of Him--and as we do so we will all the more love and marvel at Him and His gifts and graces to us.
Your confirmation time has given you the basic foundation to build upon your entire life. Make use of it. There is nothing more important.
And this is not some abstract exercise. Hear again St. John in our text: [He] who was from the beginning, [whom] we have heard, [whom] we have seen with our eyes, [whom] we have observed and our hands have touched regarding the Word of Life--the life appeared, and we have seen [Him]. We too--like the apostles--hear Jesus: [He] who was from the beginning, [whom] we have heard. Jesus is the content of the Bible. What the apostles heard and saw, they taught. By their preaching and writing the apostles have brought Jesus to the people of their day--and to us today so that we, too, can see, hear and touch Jesus. Hear St. John in our text: We testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, [who] was with the Father and has appeared to us. We are proclaiming what we have seen and heard also to you, so that you may have fellowship with us. Never think of Jesus and the holy Christian faith as something abstract/ out there that has no connection or meaning in our everyday lives. In fact, it is just the opposite--but we must hear, see and touch Jesus. We do that as we are daily in the word hearing and seeing Jesus there; we do that as we are in prayer--a heart to heart conversation with Jesus; we hear, see and touch Jesus especially as we are in church--where He has promised to meet us--around His holy word and sacrament. Not only do we hear Jesus’ word and teaching, but we also see Him in the consecrated bread and wine for He tells us, “This is My body...This is My blood...given and poured out for you for the forgiveness of sins.” And we touch Jesus as we then receive His body and blood in our mouths. We are, as it were, like Thomas putting our finger into the nail holes and our hands into His side. There can be no room for doubt: the very God who became also true man died for my sin; my sin--the sin of the world--is forgiven; I am reconciled to God because He Himself died for me--only that, the death of God, is enough to pay the price for the sins of the world. This is the holy Christian faith--Jesus, the God-man is our Savior from sin. And when all is said and done that is really all that matters; this has eternal consequences--and do I, in Spirit worked faith receive this grace and gift of God or do I reject it?
And we who haven’t physically seen Jesus can have the same joy as St. John and the rest of the apostles. In fact, Jesus commends us in the Gospel where He says: Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. This is that Spirit-worked faith that we were given at our baptism and that we confess at confirmation. Our text: We are proclaiming what we have seen and heard also to you, so that you may have fellowship with us. Our fellowship is with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. We write these things to you so that our joy may be complete. By the work of the Holy Spirit we believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and the Savior of the world; in that faith we are united with all Christians including the apostles. And through that faith we are united with Jesus Himself, and so we are in fellowship with Him and the Father! And here is our fullness of joy/ our complete joy! This is a happiness and joy that we can have even in the hardest times because we know that we are our Lord’s dear Christian and nothing can separate us from Him and His love for us in Jesus. In this union with God our lives are filled with meaning and purpose as our souls rest in Him. Keep fixing your eyes on Jesus! INJ