Confirmation of Clayton Meyermann
St. John 14:23–31
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
We are our memories. It’s what’s important to us, what sticks with us, the stories we tell that shape us—it’s where we find our identity. Last Sunday, I spoke about the importance of memory, especially a Christian memory, a memory full of Jesus’ words. And we learned how that memory is especially important for us in difficult circumstances. This Christian memory makes us into Christian people, shaping us and filling us up with Jesus so that we become new people that can share His cross and receive His glory.
But this Sunday, the Feast of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was sent from the Father and the Son to the Church on earth—this day tells us how we get this Christian memory, and Who gives it. Jesus said, The Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
So, the Holy Spirit is a Teacher. But He doesn’t teach new things. He brings Jesus’ words to our remembrance. He teaches God’s Word to God’s people, not so that they can get what they need for the moment and then move on and leave it behind. He doesn’t teach so that we can get enough information to pass the test and then forget about what we learned. He doesn’t really even teach so that it’s useful to us, as if it was just some means to an end. He teaches so that we would remember Jesus and His words, so that our memories would be full of His Words, so that His Words would live in us and shape us and give us our identity. The Holy Spirit teaches so that we would remember who we really are: sinners redeemed by the blood of Jesus, people filled with God’s holiness, beloved children.
Now, if the Holy Spirit is a teacher, we are His learners. None of us have perfect memories, but each according to our ability we can make the effort. And there are ways to improve memory, including this Christian memory. The more you know, the more you can know. You’re better at thinking if you have stuff in your mind to think about. And once you have something in there, it becomes easier and easier to add to it.
Thoughts work like people at a party. What’s the first thing you do you when you go to party? You look around to see if you know anyone. And if you don’t know anyone, you’ll probably want to leave. It’s the same with facts, ideas, thoughts. They come into your mind and look around to see if they have any friends. Are there any other thoughts in there that seem to match up or connect with the new one? It’s always easier to keep or remember an idea when it knows where it’s supposed to fit, how it links up with its friends.
So the more you remember the more you can remember. Memory grows by news ideas building on the old ones, or filling in the gaps, making connections, building bridges between different ideas. Memory is like a puzzle, each idea is a different piece, so as you get more pieces that fit together you get to see more and more of the big picture. And it all starts to make more and more sense.
And Clayton, this is the real reason you did memory work. So that you can remember Jesus’ words, so that all of His words start to fit together for you. Your Catechism gave you a framework, the basic parts to get started. So now, when you hear Jesus’ words they have some friends to latch onto already in your mind and heart. See, you did not learn your Catechism so that you could pass a test and leave it all behind. You did not learn it so that you could move on to some greater knowledge or do something more impressive with your faith. Learning and remembering God’s Word is not just for catechumens. All of us are only a Christian so long as we learn and remember the Christian faith. We are our memories.
And if we are our memories, then communities also have a memory. Your family has a memory: the stories you tell and retell, the things you pass on from generation to generation, the name you share—it all tells you who you are. It’s the same with this community here. So, Clayton, the other reason you did your memory work and learned your Catechism was so that you can share in the memory of this community, the Christian Church. You are a part of the community created by the Holy Spirit—the community of saints. So this community that we call the one holy Christian and apostolic Church has the shared memory given by the Holy Spirit. You learn your Catechism so that you have the same memory as the rest of the Church: the stories we tell, the Name we share—it all tells you who you are now in this family of God.
And this community, in its memory and in its life, holds the Lord’s holy gifts in common. The Book of Acts tells us what the Christian Church held in common following Pentecost: They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching—that is the doctrine; and the fellowship—that is the unity of all who hold that doctrine; to the breaking of the bread—that is the Lord’s Supper; and the prayers—that is the service of the Church (Acts 2:42). That’s what we are devoted to as well. In the Holy Spirit’s community, we share the Lord’s Word, we share His Baptism, we share His Supper. And now, Clayton, you have been given a greater part, a fuller part in that shared, communal life.
We are our memory. It’s how we live. Our memory is the kitchen pantry—it’s what we feed on. It’s how we grow. Our memory is the seed that grows and unfolds itself in our lives. So, for you, dear Christians, the Holy Spirit fills your mind and heart with the memory of Jesus’ words. And He causes your memory to live on and grow from the holy food God gives.
Speaking of food and memory, have our Lord’s Words of Institution crossed your mind? Jesus said that when we have this Holy Supper: Do this, in remembrance of Me. So these words of Jesus, given to us by the Holy Spirit, along with our Savior’s true body and blood, are to fill our minds and hearts—fill us with the memory of what our Savior did for us in His death and resurrection, and fill us with the memory of what our Savior does for us in the forgiveness of our sins.
But there is another way to take these words from Jesus. Not only, Do this, in remembrance of Me, but also, Do this, for My remembrance of you. So when you have the Lord’s Supper—when you hear His words and eat His body and drink His blood—not only do you remember Jesus, but Jesus remembers you. He thinks of you with love and mercy and blessing. And there He gives it all to you.
Peace I leave with you; Jesus says, My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
In the Holy + Name of Jesus. Amen.
Some parts inspired by Andrew Kern’s podcast episodes on Catechizing Children (2019)
1 Peter 4:7–14
St. John 15:26–16:4
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
To say that memory is important is quite an understatement. I don’t think it’s really going too far to say that memory is who we are. How do you think about yourself? How do you describe yourself? You think about your past, you tell of all your accumulated knowledge and experience.
This is why it’s so painful when elderly loved ones lose their memory. They begin to lose themselves. We still know who they are because we can remember who they were. But tragically, they aren’t that same person in the present because they don’t fully remember that person.
Memory is also how we show honor to others, to our family, to our community. Our memories keep the past alive in the present. Our memories preserve ceremonies and events so that they become traditions which shape our present and future. Our nation’s Memorial Day is a fine example of this. But so are the memories we bring out each year at Christmas or at the anniversary of a loved one’s death.
On the other hand, our memory can lie. We can misremember. Sometimes that’s due to a disease like Alzheimer’s, or simply the deterioration of the mind and body in old age. Other times, without realizing it, we misremember on purpose in order to preserve a better image of ourselves or someone else. That’s due to our sinful mind which does not want to remember the truth.
Honest, humble memory can be a good gift. But memory can also be a great tool in the art of self-deception. Either way, memory is incredibly important and incredibly powerful, and there are times when we desperately need it. In the case of today’s Gospel, Jesus says we will need to remember His words when we face the world’s hostility and persecution.
Jesus said, When the Comforter comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness about Me. The Holy Spirit’s job is to bear witness about Jesus, talk about who Jesus is, tell us about what Jesus did and does. This is why the Holy Spirit is the primary author of the Scriptures, which reveal God to us. This is also why the primary job of the Holy Scriptures is to show and give us Christ our Savior, because that’s what the Holy Author does. This is also why it sometimes appears as if the Holy Spirit gets forgotten or ignored. It may seem like we talk a lot about the Father and the Son but then don’t give the Holy Spirit His due.
But here’s the thing, we’re just talking the way the Bible talks. Go through the Bible and you’ll see that the Father and the Son get a lot more page time than the Spirit. But this doesn’t mean the Spirit is less important than the other two. It’s as it should be. The Spirit is the Author and His job is not to talk about Himself. He does not promote or praise His own work. His job is to talk about the love of the Father and the work of the Son. The Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, sent by the Son, bears witness about Jesus.
And so actually, every time we talk about Jesus or His words we are talking about the Holy Spirit. Every time we talk about the Bible and its message we are giving the Holy Spirit His due as He would want it, not focusing our attention on Him, but focusing on Jesus. As we talk God’s Word, the Holy Spirit is there, in the Word, doing His work, bearing witness about Jesus.
Now after Jesus tells us about the Spirit’s witness, He also says that the apostles will bear witness. They are the eyewitnesses who learned firsthand from Jesus, saw His miraculous deeds, and witnessed His death and resurrection. And the Holy Spirit worked through them to make Jesus known to all people.
You, dear Christians, are not witnesses in the same way the apostles were. You are not eyewitnesses. The only way you know about Jesus is through what you have heard from the writings of the Spirit and the apostles—the Bible. So you are witnesses of Jesus in a derived way. You bear witness about Jesus so long as you believe and repeat the witness of the Scriptures.
And when the apostles witnessed and when you witness the world reacts. Jesus said, They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me. Those who do not believe in Jesus, who do not know the Father, Son, or Holy Spirit, they will not react kindly to those who do believe and know this God. There is only one true God, so everyone who does not acknowledge Him is automatically in active rebellion against Him, and so automatically in hatred towards everyone who bears witness about Him.
When the world reacts with violence, when the Church is reviled, when God’s Word is mocked, when Christians are mistreated, or ignored, or killed, that’s when we need our Christian memory—when we need to remember Jesus’ words. Jesus said, I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you.
So, we might ask, how do we remember? How do we make sure that when the time comes we can remember? First, we must give our attention to it. In order to remember anything, you must attend to the thing, give your focus to it. In the case of Christian memory, this means listening, learning carefully the words of Jesus. Listening to the sermon or reading your Bible closely so that the thought is not gone five minutes later. This doesn’t mean you’ll retain every point every time, but we are required to pay attention.
Then the second thing to do in order to remember something is to tell it ourselves, say it back again, repeat it. This is why we tell and retell stories. This is why, when kids learn a joke, they repeat it again and again. This is why we confess creeds. We are repeating, retelling, confessing what Jesus has said, so that we remember it, so that it sinks into our heart and mind and becomes part of us, or rather, so that we become part of it. We are our memories. And the more our memories are full of Jesus, the more we are full of Jesus.
And then, here’s especially what we want to remember when we suffer for the faith. God appointed Christ’s cross for Him. As we’ll hear St. Peter explain next Sunday on Pentecost: Jesus was delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God (Acts 2:23). The cross of Jesus was in His control, it was God’s doing for our eternal salvation. When God’s good will was turned away from the Son and He suffered the pains of hell, that was all according to God’s plan and it was all for us.
The reason we want to remember this is because if God appointed the cross for Christ, then God appoints crosses for His Christians too. So, it’s His doing and it’s all under His control for our good. As we heard St. Peter in His Epistle today: Rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when His glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you (1 Peter 4:13–14). So you are witnesses with the Spirit, which means you share Christ’s cross, but which also means you will share His glory.
I know it’s terribly disappointing when the world rejects Christ’s saving message.
It’s painful when loved ones and friends are against God’s Word. But don’t be discouraged, God will sort it all out. He knows His own and He won’t lose them. Don’t be afraid, Jesus and His Church can’t be defeated.
Remember Jesus’ words. Listen carefully to the witness of the Spirit and the apostles. Then say it back, tell the story, confess the creed. Keeping these words in our memories gives us hope and life. Because in remembering these words, we are not remembering a lost loved one, or a fallen hero, or a dead Christ. We remember the risen Christ who is actually still present with us. The Spirit of Truth bears witness about Christ who is the Truth. So, the Spirit of Truth brings Christ Himself, risen from the dead and ascended in glory, to you. He is present, not only in our memories, but in His very person—in His words, in His body and blood.
And as you hear and think on these things, the Holy Spirit is renewing your memory so that by faith you can hold onto the promises of God and make them yours. Just as when someone loses their memory they become a different person, so also, by retaining Christ in your new Christian memory, as you remember His words, you are made into a new person. You are made into someone who shares the mind of Christ, so that you think like Jesus and remember His promises while bearing your cross.
The Holy Spirit sanctifies your memory, makes it holy (that means, makes it like God). And just as your earthly memories influence your present and future life, so also, by holding Christ in your mind and heart, the Holy Spirit shapes your present and future, and in confident hope you look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed. Alleluia!
In the Holy + Name of Jesus. Amen.
Acts 1:1–11
Mark 16:14–20
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The resurrection of Jesus did not cancel out His crucifixion. It’s not as if Easter solves the problem of Good Friday. Good Friday was not a problem. Both days are the solution—the good and gracious answer from God for us. The only Christ is the Crucified One, the Living One, and the Ascended One.
It makes sense that we think of the Ascension closely connected to the crucifixion and resurrection—they all happened close together. But the Feast of the Ascension of our Lord is also a Feast of the Incarnation. Our God is a man. His name is Immanuel—God with us. And this is just as true on Ascension Day as it is on Christmas Day.
He is the Second Person of the Trinity, the Son of the Father, eternally and truly God with the Father and the Holy Spirit. And He is also a man, a real, regular man descended from Adam by way of Abraham, by way of David, by way of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Our God has a human body and a rational soul. He’s got genetics, a mind, a will, emotions, reason, shins so real they would bruise if you kicked them. He’s like us. Yet without sin.
That shoots down one of our favorite excuses for sin, doesn’t it? You’ll often hear people say, “I’m only human.” No. You’re only a sinner! Christ is human, and yet He is not a sinner. Being human does not mean you’re off the hook for your sin. God created humans, and the Son of God even made that creation part of Himself. God’s human creation is good. But we are evil.
We’re not only human—we’re much worse than that. Sinners are enemies with God. We have not loved God with our whole heart. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. And this includes even our private sins that nobody else knows about. All our sins are a corruption of our humanity—a twisting and deforming of who God created us to be. And so every sin, even our secret sin, is an open rebellion against God our Creator.
We have no excuse for our sin. Stop trying to find one. It’s okay. Confess it. Get rid of it. Let God take care of it. The Son of God became human as humans are meant to be. And then He shed His blood and His body was laid in a grave, to save humans from their own self–inflicted evil; to forgive sinners; to justify them—to make them righteous; to make peace between God and His enemies; to make them truly humans like Him—good, holy, living forever.
By His death you can live with Him. By His resurrection you have peace with Him. And this then is finally why the Son of God became incarnate: to be one of us—to dwell with us. And so often we think, wouldn’t it have been wonderful to be with Jesus during His earthly life? We could have been so close to Him, kneeling by His manger or hearing Him preach, or staying with Him in Gethsemane, or sitting with the disciples when He appeared to them risen from the dead. How wonderful that would have been. But we are far away from all that. We are separated from those great events by some 6000 miles and some 2000 years. It might seem like a bit of a problem.
But now we come to the good news of the Ascension. The Savior, our true brother in the flesh, sits at the right hand of God and has opened heaven to all humanity! Just as the resurrection did not cancel out or solve the “problem” of the crucifixion, so neither did the ascension cancel out or solve the “problem” of the incarnation. Our God is still a Man. Jesus still has His body and soul, mind and will. And this Man who is God, holds all authority and receives all glory. As a Man, our Man, He rules the world. As a true Man, one like us, He is present everywhere, with us. Because this Man is at the right hand of God. And the right hand of God is not a place, but it means that He wields all of His divine power and authority for your good, for the good of His Church. The Crucified, Living, and Ascended One still has nail marks in His almighty hands, so you know He still loves you and forgives you.
Men of Iowa, why do you stand looking into heaven? Because your Lord has gone there? Yes. He has. But there is more. During His earthly days He walked among us, and yet He was further from us than He is now. We do not see Him with our regular eyes, but He is closer to us than physical sight. Now you behold Him by faith and you see just how close He is.
He promised to be with you always. But even more than that! Christians don’t just have a sense of God or a feeling that Jesus is nearby. The Divine Man, Christ Jesus, who hung on Calvary’s cross and stepped out of the grave, is close to you. He is as close as hands raised in blessing and even placed on your head. He is as close as Words ringing in your ears. He is as close as Body and Blood on your lips.
Why do you stand looking into heaven? Look here, at His altar. Taste, see, and know: He is with you, and you are with Him, now and forever.
Alleluia! Christ is risen.
He is risen indeed. Alleluia!
In the Holy + Name of Jesus. Amen.
St. John 16:23–33
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The biggest problem we have with saying our prayers is that we don’t do it. Our Father is already listening before we even speak. He’s ready to answer and give before we even ask. He’s got loads of good gifts for us, it’s ours for the taking. All we have to do is ask and stand ready with open, empty hands.
Jesus said, Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He will give it to you. Whatever’s included in the Name of Jesus is yours for the asking. This is the gift of the Second Commandment. You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God. God has a name and He wants you to use it. You’ve got His name which means you know Him, you can talk to Him, call on His name, ask Him and receive. The Second Commandment protects the gift of God’s name for you, and so it protects the promise that you can ask for anything that’s in God’s name.
God’s name is how He blesses. It marks where He is found and who belongs to Him. God’s name is your gateway to all the gifts God has in store for you. So, it might help your prayers to use the various names of God depending on what you’re asking for. The name of “Jesus” means “Savior,” so it’s the perfect name, especially when you need mercy and forgiveness. “Christ” or “Messiah” tells us Jesus is the promised one, so it’s good to use when you’re asking God to keep His promises. “Father”—call on Him when you need a father, or when you pray for your kids. After all, by baptism they are His kids now and you can tell Him what they’re doing when they drive you nuts. Ask the “Good Shepherd” for guidance and protection. Talk to the “Great Physician” for healing. Pray to Jesus, the “Light of the world” when you’re surrounded by darkness, when you feel lost or depressed or in doubt. Cry out to the “Lamb of God” when you’re suffering. Ask Jesus who is the “Resurrection and the Life” when you long for heaven and a blessed death. Do you see how much good stuff is stuffed into the name? And you can ask for whatever’s included in the Name of Jesus, and the Father will give it to you.
But here’s what you can’t have, what you can’t pray for: you can’t pray for anything that’s not in the name. So that means… No revenge on the person who wronged you. That’s not your business, God will sort it out. No asking that your enemies suffer. Instead Jesus tells you to pray for them. He’s forgiven them, and He wants you to as well. No praying for any kind of sin, or for God to bless your sin, or to get away with your sin. Instead, learn from Jesus and His Spirit how to pray for justice and holiness. Remember, you’re praying in Jesus’ name. That’s the only way your prayers can be heard and answered. So your prayers can’t do anything that Jesus can’t do, and He can’t do evil.
But praying in Jesus’ name means great comfort and certainty. Not only can you get what’s included in the name, but you are in Jesus’ name, so when God looks at you He sees Jesus. When God hears your prayers He hears Jesus. Your prayer gets sent to God, tucked into the envelope of His promises and stamped with Jesus’ blood, so the Father says, “Oh it’s from Jesus, and look, He has friends.”
What’s more, we know our prayers are not perfect, and sometimes that bothers us so much it keeps us from praying, and all we can manage is to sigh, “Lord have mercy.” But Jesus makes our prayers perfect, and He brings them to the Father. He doesn’t ask for us, but He brings us. This is why Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are important for prayer. Baptism puts you in Jesus, and the Lord’s Supper puts Jesus in you. So, you’re on His level, with His name, equal to Him before the Father, ready and worthy to pray, even if you yourself don’t feel like it.
All this gives freedom in prayer as well. You don’t have to worry about your prayers and make sure they’re perfect because Jesus takes care of it, and the Holy Spirit sorts it all out, and the Father knows just how to answer. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are already talking about you in love. And when you pray, they turn and say, “Oh! We were just talking about you!” You see, God wants you in on the conversation. He wants your input, your participation in this thing He calls life. He wants for you to receive His love, and He wants your love and trust freely given in return. As much as God wants you to listen to Him, He wants to listen to you. What a kind and loving God we have.
Here’s a quick story: A man goes out into the desert to get advice from one of the hermits who lived a strict life of prayer and self-denial. He asks the holy man, “Why do you keep praying? Nothing ever changes!” And the old man replies, “Just imagine what would happen if I stopped.”
God wants your involvement, your input on things in the world. And the world would get much worse if we stopped praying. Whether it looks like it or not, prayer does change things. Prayer either changes things in the world—God gives you what you ask for or something better. Or prayer changes you—Thy will be done, we pray. So we’re asking there that whatever God does we would recognize it and receive it with joy.
Whatever God’s answer is for your prayers, His answers are all found in the name of Jesus, and so all His answers are good for you. That just might mean that you need to get on board with what He knows is good. He’s not going to answer prayers to make you powerful or important or wealthy or have it easy. Listen again to what Jesus says comes from asking in His name: Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. All of God’s answers have this goal in view: that your joy may be full. He wants your life on earth to match His life in heaven. When God’s holiness comes down from heaven to earth it’s called glory. When holiness spreads among God’s people through the Word and Sacraments, changing them for the better and then returning to Him as praise, it’s called joy.
So, the more we pray, the more we speak to our Father and ask for the good things He gives in Jesus’ name, the more we see and hear His answers, and our joy gets more full. In John 11, right before He raises Lazarus from the dead, Jesus prays, and He says, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me” (John 11:41). See, the first answer to prayer is that God hears it. And the Father showed that He heard Jesus when He raised Him from the dead. All God’s answers are bound up in Jesus, in His name. So, the resurrection of Jesus is God’s Yes answer to every single one of your prayers. Whatever you ask of the Father in Jesus’ name, He will give it to you. It can’t be otherwise, because Jesus lives. He’s already given His Yes to you in Jesus. So already He’s giving His gifts, and heaven is on earth, and joy is getting filled up. And God’s final answer to your prayers, His final Yes, is on its way in your resurrection and in the life of the world to come.
Alleluia! Christ is risen.
He is risen indeed. Alleluia!
In the Holy + Name of Jesus. Amen.
Inspired by notes from Rev. Scott Bruzek’s Bible Studies on Prayer (St. John, Wheaton Podcast)
Collect of the Day
Isaiah 12:1–6
St. John 16:5–15
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
“Give what Thou commandest, and command what Thou wilt.” This was a line from St. Augustine in his controversy with the heretic Pelagius. During the 4th century, the Church of western Europe and North Africa was divided over a controversy on sin and free will. Pelagius, a monk from Britain, argued that every man is born innocent and so his will is completely free at first. “It is possible to not sin,” he argued. But, St. Augustine, a bishop in north Africa, stuck with the Bible’s teaching of original sin—that we are born from sinful parents and so we share in sin and are born with a corrupt heart and mind that does not freely fear, love, or trust God. So he responded, “It is not possible to not sin.” He even went so far as to address God in the line I quoted at the beginning: “Give what Thou commandest, and command what Thou wilt.” In other words, “Give us what you demand from us, O God, and then demand whatever it is You want.”
Pelagius was shocked by such a statement—that sounds like cheating! Instead of doing God’s Law, you would expect Him to do it for you?! But that is the Gospel. And it is the source of all Christian good works. And it is restated in our Collect today: O God, You make the minds of Your faithful to be of one will. Grant that we may love what You have commanded and desire what You promise, that among the many changes of this world our hearts may be fixed where true joys are found; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. So, the only way we can actually do God’s Law and trust His Gospel is if God Himself gives us that love for His commandments, and gives us that desire for the promises of forgiveness and life in Jesus Christ. “Give what Thou commandest, and command what Thou wilt.”
On our own, we can do nothing good, no matter how much we may try. Only by the gift of the Father, through the Son, with the power of the Holy Spirit are we able to have faith or do His will. Pelagius wanted to keep some of the control and power for himself. He thought of salvation like a transaction: I do something, then God does something; I make a promise, and God rewards it. St. Augustine knew that we are completely dependent upon our God.
That dependence was also expressed in our Old Testament reading from Isaiah: I will give thanks to You, O Lord, for though You were angry with me, Your anger turned away, that You might comfort me. The sinner admits here that God was angry because of his sin. And what made God stop being angry? Not anything the sinner did! He could never not sin so that God would no longer be angry but be pleased with him. God was the one who turned away His own anger so that He alone could comfort the sinner.
The only one who can save sinners from God’s anger is God Himself. And we know from the New Testament that God did that through the blood and death of His Son who satisfied God’s justice and appeased His anger. This is the Gospel that Isaiah proclaimed in advance: “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation.”
Now in the Gospel today, Jesus, our Savior, promises to give His Church that gift of salvation by giving them the Holy Spirit. And after His death in our place, after His resurrection that gives life to all who believe, and after His ascension to the right hand of the Father, Jesus does just that: He gives the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, the Advocate, the Helper, the Paraclete.
And then the Holy Spirit gives us Christian convictions. He gives us the conviction of sin—on our own, apart from God and His gifts, it is not possible for us to not sin. We do not naturally fear, love, or trust God. The Spirit gives us the conviction of righteousness—He forgives our sins by washing us in Baptism and preaching the Good News in His Word. He makes us His holy people, His faithful ones, covered with the righteousness of Christ alone. And the Spirit gives us the conviction of judgment—this fallen, evil world, and its prince the devil, have had their time, and their time is coming to an end. Jesus is victorious, and soon we will see God’s judgment against all of that evil, but for the good of all who love Him.
These three convictions—that are given by God the Holy Spirit, on account of God the Son, out of the love of God the Father—these certainties make us Christians. They unite us with God, so that we are of one accord with Him, so that we have one will with Him. As the Collect says, O God, You make the minds of Your faithful to be of one will—not only one with fellow believers, but one with God. Christians think the way God thinks. They want what God wants. “Thy will be done, O God. Give us Your love for the Law. Give us Your desire for the grace and life You have promised. Make us more and more like You, dear God.”
That is what Jesus promised: All that the Father has is Mine; therefore the Spirit will take what is Mine and declare it to you. The Holy Trinity shares all things among themselves in a perfect community of love, and they want nothing more than to share everything they have with you. They want you to join in their life together. The will of the Father, and the work and promise of the Son, and the gift of the Holy Spirit is all for the purpose that you would be one with them, in union with the Holy Trinity, more and more like your God.
O God, You make the minds of Your faithful to be of one will. Grant that we may love what You have commanded and desire what You promise, that among the many changes of this world our hearts may be fixed where true joys are found. That final portion of this collect gives us the purpose of this prayer. In other words, the prayer says, “Make us more like You, O God, wanting what You want and loving what You love and desiring what You desire, so that while this world is full of turmoil and sadness and chaos, our hearts won’t be wandering aimlessly or pushed around, but they will be stuck fast to You, and full of Your joy.” What a wonderful prayer that we certainly need right now in these times.
This reminds me of another quote from St. Augustine, a beautiful line where he says to God, “Thou hast made us for Thyself. And our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee.” We were made by God for God—to know Him and His love, to be like Him and to share community with Him. And without Him we are restless, rootless, homeless. We search this world full of change and disorder, searching for fulfillment, satisfaction. And yet we never quite seem to find what we’re looking for… until God finds us. Then we have peace.
So, we pray, that we would be united to God so that among the many changes of this world our hearts may be fixed where true joys are found. There are many things in this world that change and fall apart. But Christ is risen, and that does not change. In His pierced and living side is the fountain of true, unceasing joy. True joys—that’s what we get when we’re united with God. These are joys that can’t be found in this life—not in friends or family, not in the spring weather, not in an end to this crisis—as good as those might be, their joys are fleeting, and eventually fade. True joys are found in union with God, as we are joined to our Lord in His Baptism, as we receive our Lord’s resurrected life in His body and blood.
In these ways God finds us, and brings us to Himself, and makes us like Him, loving what He loves, desiring what He desires, sharing in the communal life of the Holy Trinity. That’s what we are made for, that’s our true purpose as human beings. We are made for God, and our hearts are only truly full joy when they rest in God.
Alleluia! Christ is risen.He is risen indeed. Alleluia!
In the Holy + Name of Jesus. Amen.
1 Peter 2:11–20
St. John 16:16–22
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
A little while, and you will see Me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see Me. What did Jesus mean? The disciples didn’t understand. But you do… because you’ve seen past those dark moments with Jesus leading His disciples out to the Garden of Gethsemane, where in just a little while, He would be arrested, and most of them would see Him no more. You know what happens next. In a little while, the very next day, Jesus was executed, taken from their sight, they thought, forever. Then again a little while, only three days later, He rose from the dead. But in between, in the little while of those dark and sad three days while He lay dead in the tomb, the disciples could do nothing but weep, doubt, suffer, and despair.
We know the whole story, which means we know that Jesus lives. And yet, still we cannot see Him. We know by faith in the Scriptures that He is not dead, but so often it doesn’t feel like that. We can’t see Him, and sometimes things can get so bad that we feel as though He might as well be dead. There is still a lot of weeping for us in the little while of this difficult life. Still a lot of doubt, suffering, and despair.
This has not turned out to be the Spring of 2020 that we hoped for. This was not the Easter celebration that we had looked forward to. This was not the Confirmation weekend we had planned. There is suffering and weeping in our lives—some big things, others small things—but still, plenty of it, including suffering from sickness or from fear of sickness.
Many have asked and some have tried to answer the question: why did this happen? Or why did God let this happen? And it would be very easy to follow those questions into doubt and despair; like the disciples who asked what does this mean, and couldn’t understand, and then teetered on the edge of unbelief while Jesus was taken from their sight. We could fall that way too, if we try to make sense of things based on our science or our feelings or our opinions.
And besides the suffering and worrying caused by Covid–19, Christians still have the suffering they endure at the hands of this unbelieving world. Life is not exactly easy for anyone, but then you pile on top of that what it means to follow Christ, and Christians have tough choices to make. Do they get involved in more extracurriculars and community projects, or do they make sure they can be in church every week? Do they work for a comfortable and fun life first, or do they tithe to God and their church? Do they bow down and submit to the governing authorities when they challenge the one true God, or do they face martyrdom?
There’s a spectrum there to be sure, and not all Christians around the world face the same degree of suffering for the faith. But there’s got to be at least some degree. Jesus says you must take up your cross and follow Him, and you know what happens to people on crosses. Jesus says you will weep and lament but the world will rejoice. The unchristian powers and forces in the world are opposed to Christ and His followers, and if we’re never feeling that opposition, then it’s pretty likely we are in league with them and working against Christ.
So there are all kinds of reasons for Christians to be weeping and suffering, even while we know that Jesus lives. This is why St. Peter calls us sojourners and exiles—because this world is not where we truly belong, not our lasting home. We live here, and yet we are passing through, going on to a better country. And so we Christians look different from the rest of the world. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation… For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.
Live like you actually believe what the Bible says. Do it, and the heads will turn. They’ll say, “Look at those Christians, they’re strange. They love one another like nobody else knows how to love. And they forgive people with no conditions. They take care of one another, including the poor, and the weak, and the ones we think are worthless. And they don’t judge people and demand vengeance like everyone else. They don’t go along with the crowd. And they hold themselves to this ridiculously high standard. Plus they aren’t afraid of anything, not sickness or death or rumors. They actually believe that guy Jesus rose from the dead. Incredible! Crazy.”
Sometimes the world might praise you, when they like what you’re doing and saying. Other times they’ll denounce you. But make no doubt about it, if you’re living like a Christian, they’ll notice. And somewhere along the line, you’ll suffer for it. But everyone suffers, so instead of suffering while living just like everybody else, why not suffer while living like God, and with God, and for God. Suffer while doing good. Live as people who are free—free from the slavery of this world, free from the fear of this world, even free from suffering—not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil—not as an excuse to do whatever you want—but living as servants of God.
And why live like that? If it’s so tough, why bother? Because the Christian life is not all suffering and sorrow. Jesus lives. Nothing, no person or force or opinion in this world, can stop Him from living. Again a little while, and you will see Me, Jesus told His disciples. He rose again and they saw Him as He truly is. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.
Joy can look a lot like happiness, but they’re not exactly the same thing. Happiness can be a static thing, or least something we’ve come to expect to be our baseline. We never want to be less than happy, and all it takes is a bump in the road to ruin what we call happiness. But joy is something much less fragile and much more life-changing. Joy is when sorrow has been changed into gladness. Joy is really the change itself, the swing from despair to hope. It’s the resurrection from death to life.
When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. I suppose many of the mothers listening to this passage have wondered, “Really Jesus, you think we forget that pain?” Of course, He doesn’t mean it’s entirely wiped from your memory. But something’s changed, right? The pain is not the mother’s focus anymore. Now, she only has eyes for her baby.
So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. Joy is the surprise, the unexpected fantastic reversal. Joy comes when sadness is touched and healed by God’s grace in the risen Jesus.
So, from Easter onwards, our joys cannot be taken from us, although they are mixed with sadness. They are not lost, but only hidden away. The joys we have and keep as Christians are hidden under the cross. By faith, they are hidden with Jesus in heaven. And notice how Jesus changes the bit at the end. He doesn’t say one more time that they will see Him, but He says, I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. You do not see Him, yet. But, He is risen nevertheless, and He sees you, and He is still giving you joy, hidden joys. He is slowly changing all your sorrows into His eternal joy. He changes things by touching your life with His holy absolution—your sins are forgiven. He changes things by touching you with His holy body and blood—you’re new, free, alive. All the joys we are given now in this life, even in the midst of weeping and suffering, they can never be taken from us. They’re only being hidden away, and stored up, for the fullness of joy to come.
Alleluia! Christ is risen.
He is risen indeed. Alleluia!
In the Holy + Name of Jesus. Amen.
