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[00:00:00] Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Hallelujah. Blessed Easter. Blessed week after Easter. Dear saints of St. Paul Lutheran Church. The second Sunday of Easter. How do we do that? The first Sunday of Easter is Easter. Second Sunday is today, April 12, year of our Lord 2026. Let's pray. Almighty God grant that we who have celebrated the Lord's resurrection may by your grace confess in our life and conversation that Jesus is Lord and God through the same Jesus Christ your son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
[00:00:39] That's, you know, that collect is capturing. Today should really be called My Lord and my God Sunday because it's today that Jesus appears to the 11 with Thomas in the room. Remember, all week I'm not going to believe unless I put my hands in his side and see the Prince with my own eyes. And then Jesus appears to them this a week after and Thomas is there and he says, my Lord and my God. We have that from John 20, but that's getting ahead of ourselves. So we have first. I mean we'll, we'll continue with all of our Easter hymns. Come you faithful, raise the strain. The hymn of the day. O sons and daughters of the King we walk by faith and not by sight. Awake my heart with gladness. I am content.
[00:01:23] I love that one. I am content.
[00:01:26] My Jesus liveth still.
[00:01:28] He's risen, he's risen. Our Paschal Lamb that sets us free. Kind of the deep track Easter hymns we have today, which is great.
[00:01:37] The entrance psalm is Psalm 33, which is interesting. I've been, I've been looking here at Psalm 33, trying to sort out why this is the psalm appointed as the entrance psalm for the second Sunday of Easter.
[00:01:51] I don't know.
[00:01:53] Here's what you'll notice. It's a long Psalm, 22 verses.
[00:01:58] The first 21 verses are a sermon preaching about God and then the last 22nd verse is a prayer.
[00:02:09] A lot of times when you see a 22 verse Psalm, you think, aha, I know about that. That's an acrostic psalm because there's 22 letters in the Hebrew Alphabet. And the Hebrew acrostic poem will start each verse with a different letter of the Hebrew Alphabet. So I'll bet you that Psalm 33 is an acrostic poem. And you would be wrong about that. It's just 22 verses. But it's not an acrostic. It has a lot to do with creation. In fact, it talks about how creation being an act of love by the Word of the Lord. The heavens were made by the breath of his mouth, all their hosts. That's verse six.
[00:02:50] He gathers the water, the sea, in a heap. That's reminding us of the third day when the Lord creates land.
[00:02:57] Let the earth fear the Lord.
[00:02:59] Verse 9. He spoke and it came to be. He commanded and it stood firm.
[00:03:05] That's the speaking of the Lord. And that's in fact, in some ways, that verse right there, 33, 9, should be the banner that goes over our minds when we're thinking of the creation. He spoke and it came to be. He commanded, it stood firm. He said it.
[00:03:21] Then the Lord also brings to nothing those who speak against Him. Verse 10. The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing. He frustrates the plans of the people. The counsel of the Lord stands forever right in the middle. Verse 12 has that key word of the Psalms.
[00:03:40] Remember the very first word of the book of Psalms. Blessed, blessed is the man. Here, it's in verse 12. So if you were building a mountaintop and the peak is right in the middle, here's the Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage. The Lord looks down from heaven. He sees all the children of men from where he sits in thrones. He looks out all the inhabitants of the earth, he who fashions the hearts of them all and observes all their deeds.
[00:04:07] So the Lord is there looking. And that's good for us because verse 18. Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love that he may deliver their soul from death and keep them alive and famine. Our soul waits for the Lord. He's our help and our shield, our hearts glad in him because we trust his holy name.
[00:04:27] And then all that preaching. And then right at the end, the prayer, let your steadfast love, O Lord, remember when you see that steadfast love, that's that chesed, that word that just sort of gathers up all the gospel attributes of God. Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you. It's a beautiful hymn of praise.
[00:04:50] Why here? Here's why. It's connected to Easter. I don't know. I hope you can figure it out. When you're singing it tomorrow, think to yourself, why are we singing this the Sunday after Easter? It's just appointed for us. Remember, there's sometimes the introits that appoint are appointed and the opening, the entrance psalm is appointed. And at some point they knew back 1500 years ago. Sometimes it's hard for us to see. Now, the Old Testament lesson is not so hard to see because it's the Lord. Give. This is the. The dry bones, them bones, them. Remember that. Is that a kid's song or when. Them bones, them bones, them dry bones.
[00:05:26] Where the. The song about the rattling. It's. It.
[00:05:29] We got to read this text in the Easter vigil, and I love it. It's one of my. My favorite passages. It's bone to bone. And he hears them all rattling. The Lord takes Ezekiel out to this valley that's full of these dry bones, and.
[00:05:44] And he says, can these bones live? And Ezekiel says, oh, Lord, you know. And he says, prophesy over the bones, oh, dry bones. Hear the word of the Lord.
[00:05:53] Thus says the Lord, God of the dry bones, behold, I'll cause breath to enter you. You'll live. So I prophesied as I commanded, and there's a sound, and behold, a rattling. And the bones came together, bone to bone. And he prophesies, and the flesh covers him, and he prophesies, and the breath fills him.
[00:06:09] And then the Lord says prophesy, say to them, thus says the Lord God. Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people, and I will bring you into the land of Israel. You shall know that I am the Lord when I open your graves and raise you from the graves, O my people, I will put my spirit within you. You shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord. I've spoken. I will do it. Declares the Lord. So Ezekiel sees. I mean, it's got to be the incredible vision of all these bones now becoming first skeletons, and then like muscly people with no skin, and then the skin covers them. Oh, and then the breath, and then they're alive. This is this picture of the resurrection on the last day, because remember, the. The. The resurrection of Jesus is the first fruits.
[00:07:07] First fruits means more fruits on the way, which is you and me, we're the more fruits of the resurrection of Jesus.
[00:07:14] Then the epistle lesson is 1st John 5.
[00:07:18] It would not be a bad idea. Dear saints, if you're thinking to yourself, I wonder if I should just sit down and read a book of the Bible this week. It would not at all be a bad idea to just go read through First John. It's an incredible little text to sit down and read. I think I sat down and read through it last week and a couple of days in a row just thinking about it, and this first John 5, 4, 10, is our epistle lesson.
[00:07:45] It's really, in some ways, the beating heart of.
[00:07:48] Says everyone who's been born of God overcomes the world.
[00:07:52] This is the. Remember, we've got these three great enemies, the world, the flesh and the devil.
[00:07:57] And they're attacking us, but they don't win. This is what it means to be a Christian. We win, God wins for us, and then we win in him.
[00:08:07] This is the victory that's overcome the world, our faith, which is also amazing. It's not our work, sir.
[00:08:15] It's not anything. It's the faith that the Lord gives to us. That's what overcomes the world because we believe the Lord, and he accounts that to us as righteous, and he gives us the Holy Spirit. And who is he that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. He's the one who came by water and blood. Jesus Christ. Remember the water and the blood that flowed out of his side. And John said, he who saw it testifies, and his testimony is true. He's not lying. It's the water and the blood. And that water and blood is still testifying. That water of your holy baptism and that blood of the Lord's Supper still continues to bring Jesus to you and create and strengthen that faith which overcomes the world and the devil and your sinful flesh, not by the water only, but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies because the Spirit is truth. There are three that testify. The Spirit, the water and the blood. These three agree.
[00:09:06] So good.
[00:09:08] This is the. So we have the spirit and the water and the Spirit and the blood.
[00:09:12] That's what it means to go to the church.
[00:09:15] You walk into church today, when you get there, and you're like. You look up and there's the word, there's the font, there's the altar. And you say, the spirit and the water and the blood. And these three testify, and they agree. And what do they testify? That Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God, who was crucified, dead, buried, raised on the third day. And all of this for us. So that the testimony of the water and the spirit and the blood is that our sins are forgiven, that we belong to God, that the devil cannot hold us, and that the corruption of this life, the. The corruption and mortality of this life has been destroyed by Jesus who has risen from the dead.
[00:09:56] Not only do we get to hear from John in his epistle 1 John 5, but we get to hear John preaching in his Gospel as well. The gospel lesson is John 20. This is a really unique lesson because it extends for a week. It starts on Easter Sunday. That's John 1, verse 19 through 20.
[00:10:18] And then verse 26 to the end is the Sunday after Easter today.
[00:10:23] So the first scene that we have is Jesus appearing. It's the first appearance of Jesus to all the disciples gathered together. He had made some individual appearances to the little group of women wandering around Jerusalem, to Peter at some point, to the two disciples on the way to Emmaus, to Mary Magdalene at the tomb. So, 1, 2, 3, 4 resurrection appearances so far. But here comes his fifth resurrection appearance. I believe if you count them up, we have 14 appearances of Jesus in the 40 days of his resurrection that are accounted for in the Scriptures. Maybe there was a few more, but those are the ones that are told us. And I think five of them occur on that first Sunday. This is going to be that fifth and last appearance of Jesus. He breathes on them. He. He says to them, peace be to you.
[00:11:14] This is always what the resurrection is, bringing peace. And then he gives them the absolution. Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven. If you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld so good so that Jesus.
[00:11:33] Jesus is going to give the gift of the absolution to the Church.
[00:11:37] This resurrection, Jesus says, was for the forgiveness of sins. And now you have the Spirit to preach that forgiveness.
[00:11:44] Thomas wasn't there.
[00:11:46] And this is a big part of the drama because there was only 10 in the room. And the 10 were there for fear of the Jews. They didn't want to leave the room. My suspicion is that Thomas was not there because he wasn't afraid. Remember Thomas, who, when they were worried about going down to rescue Lazarus and heal him, they said that, well, look, the Jews are plotting to kill you. And Thomas says, if we die, we die.
[00:12:10] Let's go. What does it matter?
[00:12:13] I think my suspicion is that Thomas is out looking for Jesus. This is just. I don't know if I've ever heard anybody say this, but why isn't Thomas there? I think he's like, come on, guys, look, people have seen Jesus out there, not in here. Let's go find him. And imagine then Thomas coming back into the room and they say, we just found Jesus.
[00:12:32] I think this also accounts for the rationale about why the disciples are still in Jerusalem. A week later, the angels told the women to tell the disciples, go to Galilee. Go to Galilee. Go to Galilee. He'll meet you In Galilee, like he said, remember Galilee? But they don't. A week later, they're still in Jerusalem, hiding. And Jesus is going to come find them in Jerusalem. My suspicion, it's just me, but my suspicion is they're still there because Thomas refuses to go.
[00:13:04] And then Jesus shows himself to Thomas.
[00:13:07] Don't be disbelieving, be believing.
[00:13:10] Thomas answers him, my Lord and my God, My Lord and my God. Sunday that happened, this is the anniversary of that.
[00:13:19] Maybe that might be the greatest confession of Christ. My Lord and my God.
[00:13:26] And Jesus says, have you? And then Jesus gives. He gives blessing to Thomas, but then he gives a blessing to you and me.
[00:13:33] He says, do you believe because you've seen?
[00:13:36] Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believed.
[00:13:41] And then John tells us, look, Jesus did a lot of other things, but these things are here written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and believing have life in his name.
[00:13:51] That's one of our great texts for the sufficiency of Scripture. Of course, Jesus did and said lots of things that are not written, but we have everything that we need to believe and have life in his name in the stuff that's written down.
[00:14:06] I want to make one note on the translation here.
[00:14:10] You'll notice in your catechism, even if you have one of the newer catechisms that uses the esv, when it gets to the absolution text, it switches over to the King James.
[00:14:20] Because a lot of the English, or new King James, a lot of the English, say, whoever sins you forgive, they're forgiven. That's right. And then if you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it's withheld. That's not what the Greek says. It's not what the text says. It's not what Jesus says. And it's not how it should be translated. It should be something like this. If you bind anyone, they are bound.
[00:14:43] The Greek is explicit. Both activities are.
[00:14:48] It's not like one is active and one is passive. If you withhold forgiveness, it's almost like if you don't go and forgive someone, their sins are not forgiven. That's not the case. There's lots of people that I have not absolved. There's lots of people that I have not forgiven their sins. That does not mean that forgiveness is withheld from them or withdrawn from them, or that they don't have forgiveness. That's not it. It is talking about the binding in sins.
[00:15:16] So that when the church gathers together, According to Matthew 18, to consider someone who's living in an outwardly unrepentant way and hands them over to their sins. That's that activity that Jesus is talking about.
[00:15:36] It's the binding someone in their sin. It's not just a passive, not withholding that forgiveness.
[00:15:43] King James says if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.
[00:15:49] I hope that makes sense. In other words, I think that the ESV and NIV before it, they were, I don't know, they maybe they were trying to soften it or make it sound a little more familiar. But what they ended up doing is actually changing the meaning because there's again, there's a lot of people that I have not forgiven, but that doesn't mean that they're not forgiven.
[00:16:11] Both of them are active activities.
[00:16:13] So we would retain someone in their sins.
[00:16:18] Now people say, well what if the Church excommunicates someone that shouldn't be excommunicated? Is Jesus going to say, well you're out of heaven because you're excommunicated? Even though it was a wrong excommunication? No, absolutely not. I suppose the same thing is true on the other side. Like if the Church, if someone comes under false pretenses and confesses their sins and receives the absolution with no remorse at all, or no thought of stopping to sin, is that absolution qualify? It's true, but it's faith that receives that gift. And so that's the Lord's work. Our hymn of the week. Hopefully that makes sense. Our hymn of the week is 471o sons and daughters of the King. And it's like a ballad of Easter. And it includes the events of John 20.
[00:17:06] When Thomas first the tidings heard that they had seen the risen Lord, he doubted the disciples word alleluia, etc.
[00:17:15] Then Jesus comes. Remember my pierced side, O Thomas, see and look upon my hands and feet. Not faithless, but believing be no longer. Thomas then denied he saw the feet, the hands aside. You are my Lord and God, he cried.
[00:17:29] How blessed are they who have not seen, and yet whose faith is constant been, for they eternal life shall win.
[00:17:36] It's a beautiful ballad of the Lord's mercy and a ballad of his salvation.
[00:17:43] That's great. And that's on the way. You'll notice all the alleluias are back.
[00:17:47] All of the. Well, we have the Kyrie and the Gloria Celsius is back.
[00:17:53] That's really nice to notice that all these Lenten liturgical deprivations are, are now restored to their proper place.
[00:18:01] And that's really, it's beautiful it's really wonderful. I. I don't know if I'd realized it.
[00:18:08] I. I think I realized it when I was in the middle of recording the Sunday drive to church last week for Easter, and I was talking about how the Easter Sunday liturgy is, is a little bit normal. And then I realized, wait a minute. No, no, no, no, no, no. It's. It's. Because every Sunday is a celebration of the Lord's resurrection, His destruction of sin, death, and the devil. These three great enemies that stand over us, they're gone. They're destroyed. Abolished by his resurrection from the dead. How glorious is that? Absolutely wonderful. All right, we got, we got Sunday school coming back up. We got Matthew chapter four tomorrow. Join me for that. That'll be really good. In the adult class, the kids have their normal Sunday school stuff. Norma, Bible study. This week, the vicar started working on two Peter in the Wednesday afternoon class. That's at 4:00'. Clock. Oh, if you didn't know, you can tune into that 4 o' clock Bible class by zoom. We use the same Sunday school zoom link for that. Normally we have five, six people joining for zoom. So if you want to join that Wednesday afternoon class, you can use our Sunday school zoom link. If you don't have that, send me an email and I'll. I'll send it to you. All right? Christ is risen. He has risen indeed. Hallelujah. I'll see you soon.