Category: Easter

Text: John 14:1-14
Date: Easter V + 5/18/14

I suspect that those first Easter celebrants were still hiding behind those locked doors for fear of the Jews during these forty days, these strange days, even though they had seen the risen Lord Jesus alive again. For as joyful and wonderful as are these Easter days, there were still a lot of questions. Maybe more! Today we, with those first disciples, recall and ponder the words we heard Jesus say on the night when He was betrayed: “Let not your hearts be troubled.” Of course their hearts would be greatly troubled the very next day. And our hearts are often troubled, too. Continue reading “By His Death we Live”

Text: Psalm 23

Outline: Alton F. Wedel[1]
Date: Easter IV + 5/11/14

“One of Holy Scripture’s most appealing portraits of the Savior is the theme that underscores His tender mercies: ‘The Lord is my Shepherd.’” Interestingly this Psalm tends to be heard mostly at Christian funerals. Yet “the valley of the shadow of death” is where threats to our life and faith assail us in this life before the grave. It is believed that David of old composed this psalm during the time of the rebellion under his third son, Absalom who intended to take the inheritance of kingship by force. Continue reading “Shepherd and Overseer”

Text: Luke 24:13-35
Date: Easter III + 5/4/14

Last Sunday we heard St. John conclude his Gospel account beginning with the words, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples which are not written in this book.” Today St. Luke tells us of one. One of the “other signs” was this appearance to the two disciples on their journey to Emmaus. What is most interesting and important to this resurrection appearance is the identity of these two disciples. For neither are one of the apostles as Luke tells us the name of one of them, Cleopas, and also tells us that these two “returned to the eleven.” Continue reading “Bible Study Awakening”

Text: John 20:19-31
Date: Easter II + 4/27/14

He never did it. Though Thomas insisted on examining the evidence, seeing in His hands the mark of the nails and placing his finger into them, and placing his hand into the wound in Jesus’ side, when Jesus appeared he never did it, he never followed through. Jesus even invited him to do it. But that invitation sounded almost more like deserved mockery when the risen Lord suddenly was standing right in the middle of them all in that upper room. With a word the objections Thomas raised were overruled and he believed. Continue reading “Objections Overruled”

Text: 1 Corinthians 15:53-57
Date: Easter + 4/20/14

In Greek Orthodox iconography or church art there is the most interesting symbol. Surrounding a cross are Greek capital letters which stand for the phrase, “Jesus Christ” “NIKA” or Victor. If you search on the internet for the word NIKA you either get a listing of women models with that name or the famous athletic shoe company. In Greek, however, “NIKA” is translated “victory,” “victor,” “conqueror” or “to overcome.” On Easter we sing and proclaim the victory of Jesus Christ and of a creation redeemed and reclaimed as belonging once again to God its Creator. “This is the feast of victory for our God, Alleluia!” Continue reading “Jesus Christ, NIKA”

Text: John 17:20-26
Date: Easter VII + 5/12/13

Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord. For having come into the world, having come to us, having come for us and for all, He now ascends to rule all in glory and in grace. He leaves behind a world similar to the one He came, but now redeemed in hope that looks to His coming again. This world was and is filled with the variety of cultures and languages and ethnicities, physical variations of God’s creative design. For all that variety, however, as someone has said there is but one race, the human race. The sinful world divides and alienates people over differences of culture or language or physical appearance. The redeemed people of God are being gathered into one and see that oneness to be God’s will for all people. Continue reading “With the Lord”

Text: John 16:23-33
Date: Easter VI + 5/5/13

Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord. With those words Jesus was welcomed into Jerusalem…for the last time! “I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father.” These were His last words to His disciples in the upper room that night in which He was betrayed. This was His last attempt to equip them to endure through the next days of His cruel and brutal suffering and death. This was the “hour” of which He spoke and told them, “you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone.” And they were. When Jesus was arrested later that night, “then all the disciples left him and fled” (Mt 26:56). But we remember His words from last Sunday, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy” (John 6:20). These words pointed to the day of His resurrection from the dead. But not only that day alone! For He also means all the coming days up to His ascension, which we celebrate this coming Thursday. Ever since the Day of Pentecost to this day He invisibly shows Himself to the eyes of faith by the power of the Holy Spirit through the preached Word and the Sacraments. This is His promised place of dwelling, where faith not only sees Him but also receives His constant supply of the forgiveness of all our sins. Continue reading “Enlightenment”

Text: John 16:12-22
Date: Easter V + 4/28/13

Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! The whole world is blessed because He came to us in our own flesh so that we might be “sanctified through the offering of [His body] once for all.” “When Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God” (Heb 10:10, 12). “And he who was seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new’” (Rev 21:5). But in a world and a life seemingly filled with nothing but the “same old, same old,” when will God make all things new? And what things? Continue reading “All Things New (already now and forever!)”

Text: John 10:22-30
Date: Easter IV + 4/21/13

Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord. At least that’s the shout of the faith of those who truly hear His voice, who are known by Him, and who follow Him. The others are all those who do not follow Him, who, though they are known by Him, do not truly hear His voice. Today, I’m told, in our country that’s about 4 out of 5 people! These do not shout in praise, “Blessed is the King who comes,” but grumble in protest, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense? Tell us plainly if you are the Christ.” But the demands of unbelief will never be satisfied, because their purpose is only to discredit, to despise and reject, to expose what they consider to be a fraud. Continue reading “The Lamb is the Shepherd?”

Text: John 21:1-14
Date: Easter III + 4/14/13

As we noted last Sunday John 20:30-31 was clearly meant to be the conclusion of this apostle’s gospel. The addition of another resurrection appearance by Jesus in chapter 21, therefore, makes us ask why he was originally planning on leaving this out. And, if he originally planned on leaving out this resurrection appearance, it makes us wonder further if there were even more resurrection appearances of which we’ve never been told. Think of St. Paul’s mention of the risen Jesus appearing “to more than five hundred brothers at one time” (1 Cor 15:6). What are we to make of this additional resurrection appearance by the sea of Tiberius, that is, of Galilee? Continue reading “Surprising Places ("It is the Lord!")”