In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” That’s what Jesus says about Himself in our Gospel lesson today from John chapter 10, and with these words our Lord introduces us to what is without a doubt the most beloved metaphor for His relationship to the Church in the whole Bible. Christ is the Shepherd, and we, His Christians, and the sheep.

The reason why people love this illustration so much, and rightly so, is because it’s easy to understand. As Martin Luther once said in the Smalcald Articles, “[Even] a seven-year-old child knows what the Church is, namely, the holy believers and lambs who hear the voice of their Shepherd.” My little kids might not be able to explain you the difference between consubstantiation and transubstantiation, but they can still tell you who belongs to Jesus and who doesn’t. It’s the believers. It’s those who actually trust in Christ and look to Him for forgiveness.

We hear things all of the time nowadays about who the true Church and where you find it. One of the favorite talking points of Roman Catholics, and you see this all over the internet, is that they’re the Church that Jesus founded. Since they can trace the ordination of their priests back to the time of the Apostles, or so they say, the claim is that this somehow automatically validates everything that they say and do. It proves the legitimacy of their doctrine. And yet, you don’t have to be an expert in the Bible to know that many of the things that they teach aren’t in it. What about purgatory and the idea that after you die you have to go to a place of cleansing in order to be made holy enough to enter into God’s presence? Where is that in the Scriptures? And doesn’t that completely undermine what the Bible actually says about the death of Jesus? Doesn’t God’s Word tell us clearly that the blood of Christ cleanses us from all of our sin? So, why on earth would we need to be cleansed from it even more, and even if we did, how on earth could our own suffering ever do that? It’s ridiculous.

Or what about praying to the saints, and sacrificing the Mass on behalf of those who are already dead? Sure, God’s Word does suggest to us that those in heaven might pray for us, but where does it ever say that because of that we should pray to them? The Bible tells us to pray to Christ alone. It says that there’s one Mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ. And who is Communion for? Is that gift for people who can’t even eat it and drink it anymore because they’re already dead? Of course, not! It’s for the living, so that when they die, they can die in Christ and go to heaven.

Just because a certain denomination looks old, and does things that have the appearance of ancient tradition, that doesn’t mean that those traditions are right. That’s the same dumb argument that the Pharisees made in the Bible. They opposed the Ministry of Jesus because they said that their Rabbis from the past had always been doing things their way. They appealed even to Moses and the Prophets, as if the Scriptures were on their side, even though they ignored large portions of them. And the same thing is true today. We don’t find the true Church just by looking for things that look old, we do it by listening to the voice of our Good Shepherd. We follow after God’s Word, and derive our beliefs from clear Biblical teaching. Human traditions, and ancient ceremonies, may be helpful to remind us of God’s Word, but when they get in the way of it, we need to get rid of them. We embrace them only insofar as they actually point people to Jesus, because He is the Good Shepherd, and no one, and nothing else.

Besides helping us see who the real Church is, the illustration of a Shepherd watching over His sheep is also good for teaching us about sin and how the grace of God works. If you know anything about sheep, you know that they are not very bright animals. Lots of times they wander away from the flock and put themselves in danger. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen it before, but a few years ago there was a great video going around online of a shepherd trying to pull one of his sheep out from a crack in the ground. He’s literally yanking on its back legs, but the dumb thing keeps going further and further into the hole. And when he finally pulls it out, what does it immediately do? It takes two hops and jumps right back into the same crack.

We laugh, but that is a very accurate depiction of our sinful condition. In fact, our sinful condition is much worse. Sheep are animals that don’t have the use of reason. They can’t think and talk like we can, and yet, what have we done with all of our “big brains?” The prophet Isaiah tells us, “All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned – every one – to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Even though God made us to be a people of his pasture and the sheep of His hand, and gave us special privileges that were given to no other creature in all creation, we didn’t use those gifts in the right way. We didn’t use them to follow His Word; we used them to turn away from it. Just like Adam and Eve before us, we too thought that we knew better than God did, and went on our own way instead. We jumped over the fence of His holy commandments, thinking that the grass would be greener on the other side, and instead, we found ourselves on the edge of cliff, hanging over the abyss of hell. We wandered so far away from the herd, that we could never find our way back. And the devil, that wicked wolf, who prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour, almost had us completely consumed in his jaws before Christ came along and pried us loose. 

As the prophet Amos says in Amos chapter 3, “As the Shepherd rips a pair of knees or a piece of an ear out of the loin’s mouth, so also shall the children of Israel be safely ripped away.” That’s what Jesus, our Good Shepherd did for us, but He didn’t do it in the way you’d think he would. Christ didn’t overcome the devil, and deliver us from our sin, by overpowering him physically. He did it by taking our place and dying in our stead. Jesus defeated our enemies, by letting our enemies attack him instead of us. He became a sheep Himself, the Lamb of God, in order to take away the sins of the world. As Christ tells us in our Gospel lesson, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” This is what distinguishes Jesus from every other false god and every other false shepherd that there is. It’s what makes Him different than the hired hand. He is the only one who can save us.

Yes, all religions claim some sort of salvation for their followers. The Buddhist’s teach about Nirvana. The Hindu’s talk about reincarnation. The Jews say they’ll be an afterlife. And the Muslims make their claims about terrorists getting a bunch of virgins. But for all the differences among those different religions, one thing is the same in them all. They way that you get to have whatever their version of heaven is, is through the way that you live your life. It’s through your own good works and your own good deeds, whatever those works and deeds might be. But that’s not how it is with Jesus. Our good shepherd, the Good Shepherd, doesn’t deliver His sheep by showing them the way to do it themselves. He knows His sheep. He knows that no matter what He showed them, they could never do it on their own. So, He does it on His own. Christ takes care of every part of what’s needed for our salvation so that we can have complete and total confidence in it. He proves His mercy and love to us, by saving us while we were still sinners. He gives us what we don’t deserve.

We don’t stop being sheep once we become Christians. On the one hand, that means we’re still helpless little lambs. We don’t stop falling into sin and getting ourselves into trouble just because we’ve been converted. That’s not an excuse to sin on purpose, but it is just the plain truth of how things go. Despite our best intentions and efforts, we still wander into danger and make all kinds of bad decisions. Time and time again, we hop over the fence, and do the same stupid things over and over. Our Old Adam clings to us to the day that we die, and we never get rid of him until this life is over.

But that’s why we listen to the voice of our Good Shepherd, and put of faith in Jesus. We do that because of what He’s already done for us and what continues to do for us even now. Christ not only paid the price for our sins once and for all, and went out and found us when we were doomed and lost, but He keeps on gathering us to Himself through His Word and Sacraments. By the preaching of His Law and Gospel, He leads us away from our sins to the green pastures of the Church where He feeds our souls with the forgivness that we need to be healed. As King David says in Psalm 23, he leads us in paths of righteousness for His Name’s sake and prepares a table before us in the presence of our enemies. Jesus gives us His holy Body and precious Blood for true food and true drink, so that we would have no doubts that He is ours and we are His. Surely, His goodness and mercy follow us all the days of our lives, and because of it, we know that we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. 

That’s what Jesus does for His flock. That’s what He promises to those who believe in Him. Faith in Jesus is what makes you part of the Church. It’s the only that that does that. It’s also the only thing that saves. Not because faith is something special on its own, but because faith looks to Christ. Faith relies on the work of Jesus and Jesus is the One who does the saving. Christ is the Shepherd and we are His sheep. And there’s nothing better to be than that. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

By far one of the most controversial things that we do in the Lutheran Church is what happens at the beginning of our Communion services. The pastor stands in front of the congregation and, after making confession with them, he turns around and says, “In the stead and by the command of Christ, I forgive you all of your sins.” Now, this might not be something that you see as that big of a deal, probably because you’re used to it, but I assure you, that in other Christian circles, especially among other Protestants, it very much is. In fact, sometimes when people hear it for the first time while they’re visiting us, they get so offended that they never want to come back. I can still remember a conversation I had with a relative of mine once about why he left the Lutheran Church. The very first thing that he pointed to was the fact that our pastors say these words in front of the congregation. Now, he wasn’t mad about the idea that they can announce God’s forgiveness in a general way, like “Jesus died for your sins,” or “God loves you,” but what ticked him off was the specific language of “I forgive you.” His argument, which is always the same one that you hear, is that only God can forgive sins, so why is the pastor doing that? Who is he making himself out to be? Does this guy think he’s God, or something? Shame on him! And shame on all the Lutherans! They should have left their Roman popery back in the 16th century where it belongs.

So, here’s what we’re going to do in today’s sermon. First, I’m going to a give a biblical defense of this practice based primarily off of our Gospel lesson from John chapter 20, which, by the way, is the main place we get it from. And then I’m also going to explain a few things about confession in general, and how we still offer private confession in our church as well. Because that’s the other thing that going on here. Besides people not understanding why the pastor says “I forgive you” in front of the whole congregation, lots of people don’t even know that you can go to the pastor individually and he’ll hear your confession and forgive your sins there too. I’ve encountered life-long Lutherans who didn’t even know that we still practice private confession and absolution. They thought that was just a Catholic thing. One time, I had a kid in Confirmation class who told me that the reason why he wanted to be Lutheran and not Catholic was precisely because he didn’t ever want to have confess his sins to some priest. Yikes! Well, what about the thing that we literally just said in the Catechism like 5 minutes ago? “What sins should we confess?” Answer: “Before God we should plead guilty of all sins, even those we are not aware of, as we do in the Lord’s Prayer; but before the pastor we should confess only those sins which we know and feel in our hearts.” Or here’s something else. Turn with me real fast to page 292 in the hymnal. What’s it’s say there right at the top of that page? “Individual Confession and Absolution.” Folks, this is not just some Catholic thing. We got rid of a lot of junk during the Reformation, but we didn’t get rid of this. At least, we didn’t get rid of the good parts of it.

So, again, those are the two things we’re going to deal with in this morning’s sermon. How come our pastors say “I forgive you,” and what are the benefits of private confession and absolution? 

The reason why our pastors use the words, “I forgive you,” when they absolve the congregation, instead of just pronouncing a general statement of forgivness, is actually pretty simple. It’s because that’s what Jesus says. On the same day that our Lord rose from the dead, He appeared to His disciples in the Upper Room and told 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.” Notice the language that Jesus used. It’s the same language that our pastors use today. 

Now, sometimes you’ll hear people object to this idea by saying that when Christ first spoke these words from our text, He was only saying them in references to the Apostles. It’s okay for Peter, James, and John, to say “I forgive you,” and for that to count before God in heaven, but it’s not okay for your regular pastor to do it. And certainly, we would agree that there are some differences between our pastors today and the twelve Apostles. For one, the Apostles had an immediate Call from Jesus. That means that Christ Called them directly to their Office without any involvement or participation from anyone else. He just said, “Follow me,” and they did. That’s not how it works today. Nowadays, as we read in Titus chapter one, God Calls men into the Ministry through the mediation of the Church. “Appoint men in every place,” Saint Paul says. Or here’s another one. Some of the Apostles were also inspired to write down the Scriptures for us. God the Holy Spirit communicated to them in a special way so that they could provide us with the Bible that we have now. Our pastors obviously don’t do that.

But just because they aren’t inspired to write Biblical texts anymore, or that they don’t have an immediate Call from Jesus, that doesn’t mean that they don’t share in the same Ministry of preaching the Gospel. Saying that only the original Apostles can forgive sins in Jesus’ Name, is like arguing that only the Apostles can do baptisms and give Communion. What was the original audience present when Christ instituted the Sacrament of the Altar and gave us the formula for Christian Baptism? Both times it was only the Apostles. And yet, anyone with a brain who reads the Bible can recognize that Jesus wanted those Sacraments to continue on in the Church today. So, why is it any different when it comes to proclaiming the forgiveness of sins?

It's not. In fact, I’ll show you three other places from the Bible that prove it. First, you’ve got what happened in Corinth with the man who was living in adultery. After that guy repented, here’s what Saint Paul said to them, “Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ.” The guy in Corinth didn’t do anything to Saint Paul himself. Paul wasn’t the one he committed adultery against. And yet, Paul still talks about how he forgave him. That’s because the forgivness that comes from the Church through its pastors is the same forgiveness that comes from Jesus. God speaks to us by means of them. Confession and absolution is just one of the means of grace.

Or think about the account when Jesus healed the paralytic man. What were the Pharisees mad at our Lord for doing that day? They weren’t mad at Him for healing the guy, at least not this time, they were mad that He forgave him of his sins. They literally said the exact same thing that people still say now, “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” But then what does it tell us at the end of that text? It says that the people that saw it glorified God “who had given such authority to men.” Does God still give such authority to men? Is He still present with His Church today, and does He still speak to us now? Of course, He does! And one of the ways that He does is through the Called and Ordained servant of the Word.

Finally, look at Matthew chapter 18. That’s the place where Jesus tells the Church how to deal with unrepentant sinners. He says, “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault between you and him alone.” Then, and I’m paraphing here, if he doesn’t listen to you, take some other people along, and if he doesn’t listen to them, bring it before the Church. And if he doesn’t listen to the Church, treat him like a gentile or a tax collector. For truly I say to you, “whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again, I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.” 

It's not like the pastor who says “I forgive you” is giving out his own forgiveness. We’ve never taught that. It’s not his forgivness, its God’s. But the forgiveness that comes from God, doesn’t come to us directly. Even when we ask for it in prayer, it’s not like we should expect to hear a voice from heaven saying that we have it. But God in heaven does send us people here on earth so we can know it and believe it. As Jesus also says in our reading today, “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” God sends us our pastors. They’re not better than the people they serve. They’re not holier than the people they serve. But they do serve God’s gift to the people so that they can have the assurance of the forgiveness of their sins. And when they, “In the stead and by the command of Christ, I forgive you of all of your sins,” Jesus is saying it too. That’s why they use the that language. It’s to show how Christ is present through the Ministry. It’s one of the ways that He still comes among us to gives us the forgiveness that He purchased on the cross.

Now, I know that was a little bit long, but bear with me, because I do also want so say a few things about the practice of private confession and absolution as well since these two things are related. Again, as I mentioned at the beginning of this sermon, we Lutherans got rid of a bunch of junk during the time of Reformation. But one of the things that we actually kept was the practice of going to the pastor privately to confess our sins and hear the absolution. I already gave you those quotes from the Catechism and showed you where it’s at in the hymnal, but here’s another one from the Augsburg Confession: “Our churches teach that private Absolution should be retained in the churches, although the listing of sins is not necessary for Confession. For according to the Psalm, it is impossible. ‘Who can discern his errors.”

The problem with private confession and absolution wasn’t that the Catholics did it, it was that they gave the impression that you had to do it, and that you couldn’t be forgiven unless you literally listed out all of your sins. But no one could ever do that! That’s what Kind David means in Psalm 19 when he asks, “Who can discern his errors?” If we can’t have God’s forgivness until we literally say all of our sins out loud, then we’re never going to be able to get it. Because we commit too many sins! 

But that isn’t the purpose of private confession and absolution. It’s not about securing your forgivness through the act of confessing, or saying every single bad thing that you’ve ever done out loud, it’s about people who are especially troubled by certain sins having an avenue to get special comfort for them. The devil is a jerk! He preys upon our solitude and he wants to make us think that we’re all alone. He tries to get us to believe that our sins are uniquely bad, and that there’s no way we could ever have forgivness for them. Yes, we can get it through reading the Bible. And we can have it in corporate confession and through taking the Lord’s Supper too. But since other people get those things along with us, and we don’t take them alone, sometimes Satan can tempt us to doubt that they are really for us all, but there only for the other people. He can isolate our guiltily conscience so that we can’t have any peace.

And so, God gives us a place where we can go to hear His Word directly applied to us so that there’s no mistaking who His forgivness is for. We can go to the pastor. We can call him on the phone and set up an appointment with him in his office. Then we can tell him the sins that are bothering us, and he’ll forgive us for them in Jesus’ Name. He also promises never to speak of those sins again. All of our pastors, including myself, vowed to do that at our Ordination. Under the threat of being kicked out of the Ministry, and no longer being able ever to be pastors again, we said that we would never divulge the sins that had been confessed to us. Since Christ buried them in His grave when He died, they die in our ears too, and we bever bring them up again. We don’t use them as examples in sermons. We don’t ask you about them later. We forgive them and move on.

If you got something that’s eating you alive, and you need to get it off your chest, that’s what private confession is all about. Yes, you’ll have to get over the fear of telling someone else your sins. But I can tell you from personal experience, that that’s nothing compared to the relief of hearing God’s absolution for no one but you. And yes, for some reason there’s the idea that its embarrassing to be seen going to talk to your pastor to make confession. But you should be no more embarrassed by that than you are to go to Communion. Why do we go to Communion? What is every single person saying about him or herself when they walk up to the rail to take the Sacrament? They’re saying that they got some sins that need forgiving. The same is true when someone goes to Confession.

The main point of today’s sermon is that God wants those who are troubled by their sins and want to do better to be absolutely certain that they have the forgivness for them in Jesus Christ. That’s why the pastor says, “In the stead and by the command of Christ, I forgive you” and that’s why we still offer private confession for those who want it. It isn’t for the sake the confession. It’s for the sake of the absolution! It’s so that faith, which is often a weak and feeble thing, no bigger than mustard seed, can be made strong and confident in the redeeming work of Christ. It’s so that just like those disciples, who once cowered in fear, but became glad when they saw the risen Lord, we can be glad too, and be certain once and for all that we really do have peace with God in heaven. We have it because Jesus paid for it. We have it because His Word proclaims it. And we have it because His pastor’s say it. As our Lord once said, “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you,” and “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.” In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Alleluia, Christ is risen!

He is risen indeed, Alleluia!

There’s no denying the fact that the Easter narrative makes for one incredible story. The characters. The conflict. The emotion. The drama. The plot-twist, if you want to call it that. It’s great writing. But there are lots of stories out there that are good stories too. And we don’t get together as Christians every year, or every Sunday for that matter, just to hear another good story. This isn’t entertainment hour. At least, it’s not supposed to be. No, we gather together as the Body of Christ because of what actually happened. We gather together because of how it benefits us eternally. And we gather together because of what it means for our daily lives here and now.

The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is not a fairy-tale. It’s not just some religious version of “Goldilocks and three bears” or “Harry Potter.” The things that we read about in the Gospels actually did take place in real life. They are historical facts. There really was, and is, a man named Jesus of Nazareth. He actually did heal the sick, cure the blind, and walk on water. He preached and taught the Word of God publicly for three years, claiming the whole time to be the Son of God, and then He was brutally put to death by Roman crucifixion. But after three days in a borrowed tomb, that same Jesus who was crucified and killed, came back to life again. 

The only reason why people are skeptical about the resurrection of Christ is because they’ve never seen something like that happen before. Sure, people still get sick and die all the time. But how many of them have you ever met that have come back to life again? I’m not talking about the guy who loses a pulse for 3 minutes in the hospital and then has to get CPR. I’m talking about somebody who was scourged, stabbed, suffocated, and then wrapped up like a mummy for multiple days. I’m talking about an Individual who was so obviously dead, that the only explanation for seeing Him walking around and talking again, would have to be that He actually rose from the grave.

Everyone who is suspicious about this being possible, though, should consider the fact that that’s exactly what all the other disciples of Jesus thought at first too. They didn’t believe it either. In fact, that’s why the women were on their way to the tomb that morning. They were going to anoint the body of Christ with spices so that it wouldn’t start to stink. And, of course, it wasn’t just the women who had their doubts. The men had theirs too. Thomas, who we’ll hear about next week, famously dug in his heels and said that he would never accept that Jesus was risen from the dead unless he got to physically touch the wounds on His hands and side for himself. And we all know what happened next, and Who showed up.

Besides all of the internal evidence from the Bible itself, and the litany of prophesies from the Old Testament that match up perfectly with the events that took place in Christ’s life, even though they were written down hundreds of years before any of it happened, the most compelling proof for the veracity of Jesus’ resurrection has to be the witness of the Apostles. These same men went from running away from Christ during His arrest, and denying that they ever knew Him, to later on maintaining that they saw Him alive even to the point of being tortured and killed for it. Who holds on to a lie for that long? Who makes up something like that and then refuses to let it go despite what they went through? Bartholomew was flayed alive. Peter got crucified too. Paul was beheaded. And John had years and years to think things over in exile. But none of them would take it back. Maybe one crazy person with a mental illness would fabricate a story and take it all the way to their grave. But all of them together? And that’s not even to mention the groups of people who saw Jesus alive at once. Remember how Saint Paul talks about that in 1 Corinthians 15? He says, “Then Jesus appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time.” If somebody can get convicted of a crime in court today by the evidence of two or three witness, then this case should be open and closed. Jesus Christ really did die and rise again. It’s not just a feel-good story. It’s what actually happened.

And yet, just because something incredible happened a long time ago, that isn’t a good enough reason by itself for us to be here today. Incredible things happen all of the time. But what makes this event even more incredible is what it accomplished for us. The Scriptures teach us that Jesus died and rose for a reason. His death and resurrection have real and eternal benefits for us.

To being with, it assures us of the forgivness of our sins. God’s Word teaches us very clearly that the wages of sin is death. That means that the reason why people die is because they deserve it on account of their sins. So, when God raised Jesus from the dead, one of the things that it proved, was that Jesus, unlike everyone else, didn’t deserve to die. He was made alive again because His dying was not for His own sins, but for the sins of others. As the Scriptures tells us in Romans 4, “He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for ourjustification.” When Jesus rose from the dead that was God’s way of telling us that all our sins have been forgiven. It was His way of showing us without a shadow of a doubt that all of our sins really have been paid for by Christ, and that God the Father has accepted that payment. The fact that Jesus’ lives means that you and I are forgiven. Salvation and eternal life are ours because Christ did not stay dead. He came back to life again.

And that, of course, isn’t all. Not only did Jesus’ death and resurrection purchase for us the forgiveness of our sins, but it also guaranteed us our own resurrection from the dead too, as well as for all those we love, who have died in the faith. Saint Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15, “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a Man has come also the resurrection of the dead.” When Jesus rose from the grave on Easter morning, He foreshadowed our own resurrection too. That’s what it means when the Bible calls Him the firstfruits of them that sleep. He was the first One made alive, never to die again, but He isn’t the last. The same thing will happen to all those who trust in Him too. They will not stay in their graves, but their bodies will be raised and glorified to be like that of Christ’s own body. They will be healed and restored. They will be transformed and made new. They will be perfected in every way possible, and they will be like that forever.

The resurrection of Jesus from the dead is the proof of our own resurrection. It’s the promise of future glory. It’s God’s assurance of a joyful reunion with all those who share our faith. We gather together not just becauseof what happened, but because of how it benefits us eternally. 

And yet, just because the resurrection Jesus has eternal benefits for us, that doesn’t mean it has no meaning for us here and now. As we heard on Good Friday from 2 Corinthians 5, “For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.” The impact and meaning of the resurrection should change our lives. It’s not something that we’re supposed to simply keep in our back pocket to take out whenever we want to. It ought to effect and guide every single aspect of our existence. Saint Paul said, we don’t live for ourselves anymore, but we live for the one who for our sake died and rose. We live for Jesus. 

That means we listen to His Word and seek to conform our actions to it. We follow His teachings and abide by His commands, repenting of where we fail, and seeking His grace to do better. His death and resurrection give us the forgiveness of sins, but it doesn’t give us permission to commit sin on purpose. We read the Bible daily, because it is the voice our Good Shepherd, who laid down His life for us. We seek to grow in our knowledge and understanding of the Scriptures because is the very Word of God. We pray and look to Christ for all good in every situation, because know that if He would suffer and die for us, He can be trusted to do all the rest. We come to Church weekly to receive His gifts in the Word and Sacraments and to be with our fellow believers. Every Sunday is a little Easter for us, because every Sunday the risen Lord enters into our midst to feed our souls us with the food that keeps us in the one true Faith. We cannot pretend to the Body of Christ while at the same time staying away from Christ’s actual body and blood. Jesus wants to be with us all the time, and not just once a month, or a few times a year. Everything that happens in our home, every decision that we make with our families, every thought, word, and that deed we do, yes, every single aspect of our lives is to be done for Jesus, because of what Jesus did for us.  

Our Lord has been raised from the dead. It’s more than just a good story. It’s a fact of history. Jesus died, but Jesus lives. And because He lives you have the forgiveness of your sins. Your body will be raised even after it has been put into the ground, and you will live with Christ forever. So, live for Him today too. Come and feast with Him at this holy altar. Take the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord. Do it today, next week, and the week after. And Christ who laid down His life for you and took it up again, will strengthen you by His grace, to life everlasting.

Alleluia, Christ is risen!

He is risen indeed, Alleluia!

In Jesus’ Name. Amen