Easter 2 April 24, 2022 The Sunday of Jesus’s Upper Room Appearances

Easter 2
John 20:19-31
April 24, 2022

Make the Good Confession: “Jesus is Lord!”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Either Jesus is Lord or Jesus isn’t Lord. You make the confession. That’s the way it is. Over the past month or so here are Trinity we’ve had a number of people make that good confession right here at this altar. Almost all of you have done the same at your Baptism or Confirmation and maybe other times as well. You’ve confessed that Jesus is Lord. In a smaller way we’ve all done it a minute ago when we said the Creed. Paul wrote to Timothy these words, “Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” Timothy made the good confession.  Maybe at his baptism or his ordination to be a pastor. It’s hard to say. But he boldly confessed that Jesus is Lord.

Now what does this mean when any of you say these words, “Jesus is Lord”? You see how important these words are. I put a list of creeds and Bible verses with these words. These are three very important words, “Jesus is Lord”. Or even just two words if you put it this way, “Lord Jesus”. Why is it so important when you say, “Jesus is Lord”?

I put in your bulletin this morning some words about this from Joel Okamoto. He teaches at St. Louis Seminary. He says this, “When one confesses, one declares a commitment. Like “stepping forward” or “standing up and being counted….Those who utter the sentence: “I confess that Jesus is Lord” have confessed. Those people have…committed themselves to Jesus Christ…putting themselves under His disposal.”

It’s something like the hymn says, “Stand up, stand up for Jesus” or “I bind unto myself today the strong name of the Trinity”. To say Jesus is Lord is to stand up and follow Him, to put ourselves under His disposal, to commit ourselves to Him. Or in the Small Catechism, “to live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness.” Now that’s what John is calling all of you to do at the end of the Gospel reading today when he says, “these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.”

He’s calling you to make the good confession. To believe Jesus is the Christ. To believe Jesus is Lord. But there are certainly many times we’re more like Thomas at first. We’re unsure. Unbelieving. At first he didn’t make the good confession at all…he made a bad confession. He stubbornly said, “Unless I see the marks of the nails and put my hand in His side, I’ll never believe.” Yikes. He didn’t confess Jesus is Lord. He confessed Jesus isn’t Lord. But Thomas, of course, wasn’t the only one. All the disciples fled from Jesus when He was arrested. All of them made a bad confession. Perhaps Peter’s was the worst—flat out denying that he knew Jesus three different times. All of them struggled with unbelief. They struggled to believe that Jesus truly is the Lord.

So do you and so do I. I’ll give you a small example. Every time we worry is an act of bad confession. We’re confessing, “Jesus, I don’t think You can really handle this. Are You really Lord?” Not much different than Thomas. Same unbelief. Same bad confession. Every time we get angry, again, is an act of bad confession. We’re confessing, “Jesus, I don’t think you’re really going to take care of this so I’m going to get angry for You instead and angry at You and act like I’m going to take care of it. If we believe Jesus is Lord, there’s no need to get angry. “Vengeance is Mine,” saith the Lord, “I will repay.”

There are thousands of ways we make a bad confession instead of the good confession. Every week that we skip Church when we could be there is saying, “Jesus isn’t Lord.” Every time we talk bad about other people we’re saying, “Jesus isn’t Lord. He told me I should love all my neighbors and speak well of them but I don’t care what He says.” Every time we curse and use God’s name in vain we’re saying, “Jesus isn’t Lord. God said He won’t hold anyone guiltless who takes His name in vain but I don’t believe Him.”

Now what does Jesus do with sinners like Thomas and sinners like you and me who so often make a bad confession? I’ll tell you what He does. He is gracious, merciful, and slow to anger and we’re going to see it. We’re going to walk through what He does on that Easter night with all of these disciples who had made a bad confession. Who had confessed by their unbelief, “Jesus isn’t Lord.”

But I’d ask you to also put yourself in that upper room with the disciples. They’re scared. They’ve denied Jesus. They didn’t believe He was Lord when He kept saying He’d rise from the dead. Peter has denied Him three times when he specifically promised he wouldn’t at all. So they’re just as bad off as you and I are. We’ve also sinned against him and made bad confessions. We’re in that room too. What will Jesus say to you and me?

As Jesus comes into the room that night, and as He comes into this room also right here where two or three are gathered in His name, He says, “Peace be with you.” If the three words “Jesus is Lord” are powerful words of confession, these few words, “Peace be with you” are far more powerful words of grace and mercy from Jesus. Just think how powerful these words are from Jesus’ mouth to your ears, “Peace be with you.”

“But Jesus, I’ve so often denied you by my words and actions. But Jesus, I’ve so often taken your name in vain. Jesus, I’ve so often gotten angry, cursed, yelled, said hateful words under my breath. Jesus, I’ve so often worried and not trusted You at all. Jesus, I’ve so often been cold to You. Not cared about Your Word. Not cared about Your Church or the Sacrament. But Jesus, I’ve so often been a bad person. So often made the devil my lord rather than confessed You to be Lord.”

Jesus smiles and says, “Peace be with you. With you and you and you. Peace be with you.” Sometimes we sinners refuse to say those words to others. No, we don’t want them to have peace. We want them to have misery. We refuse to forgive. We refuse to let it go. To be at peace. Right now I can think of some people I know who refuse to be at peace with others. Some of them even their own family. And right now I can think myself of some people that I myself have done a terrible job of giving peace too. I’ve held things over them. None of us is Jesus. None of us is Lord. Only Jesus is Lord. And He, our great Lord and Savior, says, “Peace be with you.” He’s the Lord! Not us. He’s the Lord. And He gives peace.

Why? Look at the next verse. “When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side.” That peace that Jesus gives to us comes at a price. A great price. It cost Him a painful death on the cross. And He still bears the marks of it. Friends in Christ, please see this morning, right now, that Jesus has peace for you. He is at peace with you. Those marks in His hands and feet and side are for your sins. For all the times you and I have not been at peace with others. For all the times we’ve not confessed, “Jesus is Lord” but have confessed ourselves as lords. Jesus is at peace with you. You are forgiven. You’re loved. Yes, with all your bad confessions. Jesus knows them all just like He knew all about Peter’s bad confessions and Thomas’s bad confession. Jesus knows and brings you peace so that you can make the good confession. So that you can say, “Yes, Jesus is Lord!”

And there’s more. Jesus wants you to believe that He is Lord, that He’s your Lord, and that He forgives all your sins and gives you peace. So He does something more even. He sends men to deliver this message to you. He gives pastors. That’s what these verses here are about in John 20 when Jesus says, “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 anyone, they are forgiven; if you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is withheld.’”

This is usually called The Office of the Keys. Jesus gives the keys to the Church to open the door to heaven. All Christians have been given this great and awesome power to forgive others who sin against them. It’s one of the ways that we can confess, “Jesus is Lord,” when we forgive instead of getting angry and holding grudges.

But then the Church also specifically calls and sends men to do forgive sins publicly and in the stead of Christ. That’s why I’m here. That’s why Will and Colby will receive calls this coming Tuesday night to be pastors. Because we all need pastors. Myself included. Men who come from God with a message to deliver, “Peace be with you. Your sins are forgiven.” When you confessed this morning that you’re a sinner and that Jesus is Lord, then I publicly announced to you the message from God—that your sins are forgiven. This is one more part of God’s grace and mercy. He gives His Word, He gives Baptism, He gives the Sacrament, and He also gives the Absolution—He sends pastors to proclaim forgiveness to us directly. And we pastors even need pastors and we also go to other pastors and hear those same words of forgiveness.

Through all of this Jesus is calling each one of you and me to follow Him and make the good confession. Thomas was struggling as you all know. He was doubting. Unbelieving. But Jesus, the great Pastor and Shepherd of souls, comes to Thomas and says, “Peace be with you.” He shows him His hands and side. And Thomas makes the good confession, “My Lord and my God!”

Peace be with all of you also. Jesus is risen and these things are written so that you may believe. So you also can make the good confession that Jesus is Lord! So that you can confess in all of your life and conversation that Jesus is Lord and God. Make the good confession—Jesus is Lord.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.  Amen.