Easter 1/ Confirmation/ Synod’s 175
Today is a very significant day in the Church. Our Gospel is the appearance of the risen Jesus to His disciples on Easter Sunday. He proved He is truly physically, bodily alive as He showed them His hands and His side. Here, the risen Jesus, gives His Church the privilege and authority to forgive sins to those who are sorry for their sins, and to withhold forgiveness of sins to those who are not penitent. This is what we call the Office of the Keys– Whosoever’s sins you forgive, they are forgiven them; whosoever’s sins you retain, they are retained. The forgiveness of sins/ the absolution we pronounce isn’t just talk but actually gives the forgiveness of sins that Jesus won for us on the cross and is announced by His resurrection; like a key does a door, it truly opens heaven and shuts hell–the Office of the Keys! What a great divine mercy of our Lord–He has entrusted to His Church the authority to forgive sins.
And that leads into the second great thing we are celebrating today–our Missouri Synod’s 175 anniversary. On 26 April 1847 two groups of German Lutherans in the US met 69 miles south of here at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Chicago to form the Missouri Synod. One of these groups was made up of immigrants who had come to the US in order to worship God freely, free from the dictates of the state.
The other group was a result of mission work by German missionaries to gather German immigrants into Lutheran churches to receive the fruits of Jesus’ work in Word and Sacrament–the forgiveness of sins, His divine mercy. It was a humble beginning of just 14 churches and 12 pastors. But what they lacked in size, they, by God’s grace, made up for in faithfulness to our Lord and His word. The new Synod committed itself to the Bible as the only source and standard of Christian doctrine and to our Lutheran Confessions as a true and correct exposition of that doctrine. Faithfulness to God’s word and the Lutheran Confessions became the hallmark of our Missouri Synod; and on that foundation we work together to preserve and proclaim that doctrine. At the heart and core of our doctrine and teaching is that we are saved by God’s through faith in Jesus alone.
From that humble start, today the Missouri Synod is made up of over 1.8 million members in almost 6000 churches, with almost 700 schools and almost 100 high schools. Our mission work started among the American Indians, then freed slaves, then in the 1890s overseas work first in India, then China and into Africa and no where and throughout the world. What a gracious working and blessing of God for 175 years!
Our synod’s theme for our 175th anniversary: Only Jesus: No Other Name is a wonderful theme for us to consider today–this 1st Sunday After Easter. After all, isn’t that what Easter teaches us? Isn’t that why there is a Missouri Synod and why we tell others the Good News about Jesus? Isn’t it also what we confessed at our confirmation and what our young people will confess today–Jesus is our only Savior from sin, death, devil and hell?
Only Jesus: No Other Name points us to the fact that now is a time of God’s grace. Look at our text. It is after Easter. It is after Jesus ascended into heaven. But far from His ascension meaning He is gone from His Church, gone from the world, it means that He is with His Church wherever She may be. Peter and John had healed a man who was born lame so that he then immediately [3.8]: stood and walked and entered the temple with [Peter and John]--walking, leaping, and praising God. The people in the temple saw this and this gave the apostles the chance to proclaim Jesus crucified and risen and calling the people to repentance and faith in Jesus.
But this incurred the wrath of the religious leaders of the Jews who arrested Peter and John and placed them before the Jewish council the next day. As part of their defense, St. Peter preached: let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands before you whole. Do you see what happened here? –The religious authorities tried to “cancel” Jesus; they tried to get rid of Him and every remembrance of Him–like getting rid of a Columbus statue: whom you crucified. By that they thought they would wipe out the memory of Jesus. But what happened? God “undid” their work; He didn’t allow them to “cancel” Jesus: whom God raised from the dead. Now Jesus is risen and ascended and with His Church continuing His work! This miracle shows that Jesus is not dead but alive: by Him this man stands before you whole. By Him–that is, in connection with Him. Because Jesus is alive, raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, undoing the work of those trying to silence Him, He is actively at work–then and now. That’s why now is a time of grace. Jesus healing this lame man through the apostles shows that His saving work has come into the world; His divine mercy is poured out upon the world. Just as He healed that man physically, so He heals each penitent sinner, giving the forgiveness of sin; giving the gift of salvation. By Him this man stands before you whole. By Him, Jesus, we stand before God whole–forgiven our sin and cleansed from all unrighteousness! By Him this man stands before you whole–and by Him alone. Only Jesus: no other name, no other Gospel–because Jesus rose from the dead!
St. Peter then continues: Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Notice that phrase: no other name… given among men. “Given”–means that someone is giving. And that’s God! He has His name, He has the name and work and fruits of Jesus’ work–the forgiveness of sin, life and salvation– go out into all the world. That’s why now is a time of grace and divine mercy! God has the Good News about Jesus go out into the world. That’s what Jesus commissioned His disciples/ His Church to do. Dear Christian, you and I have been given/ entrusted with the name of Jesus. What a great grace! And we get to tell others. As we share that saving name and work of Jesus with those around us, as we get to tell them, God is working through us; as we pray for our missionaries giving His name among men, He hears that prayer; as we support our church here and our missionaries here and throughout the world, we get to share in God’s work of making known that one and only saving name of Jesus.
May each of us Christians remember God that has given that holy, precious and saving name of Jesus to you. He has made known Jesus and His saving work to you–and not only has He made Jesus known to you, but He has given you all the fruits and blessings of His work–what mercy!
The risen and ascended Savior Jesus came to you–personally and individually at your baptism as you were baptized into the name of the holy Triune God. There the Holy Spirit came to you and worked faith in Jesus; there He washed away your sin; there you were clothed with Christ–given His holiness; that’s when you became a member of God’s holy family, the Church. What a moment of glory for each of us baptism is–the saving name and work of Jesus is given us. We, in that Spirit-worked faith, get to confess that faith; we get to confess that saving name of Jesus. Not only has God brought us to faith in Him but He has strengthened and kept you in the faith. All through the years we have been taught the faith–a great grace of God. We have been given a foundation upon which to build for the rest of your life. Build a skyscraper! Let us remain faithful here in church where our risen and ascended Lord continues to come to us in His word and Sacrament, in His mercy, giving us His gifts and blessings. Always hold our Lord and His doctrine as you have been taught it, close and dear as the treasure of God it really is. Only our Lord and His word and gifts satisfy–everything else the world around us offers is only a cheap substitute that in no way will ever satisfy.
Hear again St. Peter: Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. The unconditional and sole requirement for salvation is fellowship/ union with Jesus through faith. There are no other gods that can save; that means that there is nothing else worthy of our honor and worship. Jesus is the way: look at what Jesus has done–by His holy life and innocent suffering and death–He reconciled us sinners with the holy God; He removed the barrier between sinful people and the holy God. Easter–when He rose from the dead–shows that He actually did this/ that we are forgiven and reconciled to God! He shows you His hands and side–forgiveness/ mercy!
Making that known/ “giving” God’s name among people is our blessed task, personally. And that is also what we in our Missouri Synod have been doing for 175 years. That’s one reason why we have a synod–yes, each of us can tell the good news about Jesus to those around us–but together we can support missionaries and mission starts and help get that alone-saving name of Jesus to people we would normally never meet. As a synod we train teachers and pastors who teach us and the generations to come that pure and saving word, giving us and them the name of Jesus and His saving work. Let us daily pray for our Missouri Synod that we keep that message straight and get that message out.
If/ since it is true that only in Jesus is there salvation, that He alone can save us from our sin: what does it mean? It means that now is not just a time of grace, but it is also a time to stand firm. It is in Jesus alone that we must be saved. Dear confirmand and all of us: we need to remember that the devil’s number one goal is to destroy our faith in Jesus alone, that faith through which we are saved. Faith saves because it holds fast to Jesus; it clings to Him and His work; it receives the gifts and blessings Jesus gives us in His word and sacrament. That’s why the devil wants to destroy faith; and so that’s why we need to be regularly in church, where Jesus promised to meet us–in His holy word and Sacrament. Here in word and sacrament He strengthens our faith. We are receiving a great blessing today–we will soon receive Jesus, physically and bodily as He comes to us in Holy Communion. He comes to us and unites with us; He is now in us and we are in Him. Treasure your time in church around the word and especially the sacrament–Jesus has promised to meet you here; He is here in mercy.
Faithfully read your bible and see the true beauty of Scripture and her doctrines– we have learned the very basics. And so let us stand firm in what we have been taught; stand firm even/ especially when it is difficult. What we have learned from the Bible and find summarized in the catechism is not a truth that lets us stand and admire it at a distance, or to think about it for a while but then to drop it–rather, eternity in heaven or hell depends on what we do with it. Let us stay close to the Lord; He will work and strengthen us so that we stand firm until the end. Now is the time of grace; now is the time to stand firm. Only Jesus: no other name. INJ Amen