Deo Gloria
Sermon for Easter, April 4, 2021
Pastor Martin Bentz
Text: John 20:19-23
Theme: Life-Giving Hands (Jesus)
On her way out of the coffee shop, Mary ran into a classmate she hadn’t seen for years. Within moments they were visiting as though no time had passed, until her friend asked, “So how’s life?” Her mind raced as she tried to think of a way to deflect the question, because honestly her life was a mess. She was separated from her husband. She hated her job. And although her kids never said it directly, she felt like they blamed her for their marriage problems, which often had a negative effect on her relationship with them too. She was scared. She was angry. She felt trapped. This wasn’t the life she had imagined. And she dreamed about running away from it all and starting over.
Sometimes it’s the idealism of youth. Sometimes it’s a midlife crisis. Sometimes it’s burnout from 40 years of the daily grind and a readiness to embrace the golden years. But we all go through those cycles where we feel as though it’s time to leave behind the past and start really living. People tell themselves they need go backpacking through Europe, buy an expensive German convertible and cruise up and down the Pacific highway, or spend your golden years cruising the Mediterranean. These adventures, they say to themselves, will help them really live. But when those same people return home from their feel-good trips and realize their souls still feel empty, they’re left to wonder what it means to really live.
The Bible has something to say about really living, and it doesn’t involve a backpack or a BMW. Christians need no midlife crisis or end-of-life burnout to trigger a life worth living. They just need Easter. They need the empty tomb. They need the happy shouts, “Christ is risen! He is risen indeed.” They need Jesus’ appearance to the disciples in the upper room, showing them his life-giving hands, and then explaining to them that Easter gives them a life worth really living.
The disciples in the upper room might as well have been walking out of a coffee shop, because they were acting like that woman whose life was a mess. John tells us, “The disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews”(v. 19). If the Jews were so underhanded and corrupt as to orchestrate the crucifixion of an innocent man, what would stop them from coming after his disciples next? Seventy-two hours earlier, they had abandoned Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane and fled. Peter had disowned Jesus, just as Jesus had predicted. And, despite the fact that Jesus had been preparing them for months for his upcoming death, they still seemed genuinely shocked and surprised as they watched him die on the cross. They were acting like Jesus was dead and their lives weren’t worth living. They were afraid. They felt guilty. And they were trapped in that upper room.
Knowing full well their anxiety and fear, Jesus wanted to calm their hearts and bring them peace. He didn’t lead with, “So how’s life?” Instead he said, “Peace be with you”(v. 19). It was still Easter. Some of them had seen the empty tomb. They heard the reports of the women and the Emmaus disciples, but they still hadn’t seen Jesus with their own eyes. They weren’t really sure what to make of things. But then Jesus came and stood among them—alive, in person. And he gave them a moment or two to grasp the significance. “Guys, it’s me! I’m not a ghost, and I’m not dead. I’m standing right in front of you, alive and well.” “After he said this, he showed them his hands and side”(v. 20). The same hands that had been pierced with nails, the same side that had been pierced by that Roman spear, were now healthy and whole. Jesus’ bodily presence, together with the sight of his life-giving hands convinced the disciples that they were looking at their resurrected Lord. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed.
Friends, we have the witness of the women who visited the tomb on Easter morning. We have the testimony of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. We have the testimony of John and the other disciples on that first Easter evening. And as Peter tells us, we have the message of the prophets as well, a message “made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place”(2 Peter 1:19). This world is a dark place. It’s filled with doubt and disappointment, with guilt and grief, with punishment and pain, with death and despair. This world is so dark that it often makes us want to join the disciples in the upper room with the doors locked in fear! On Good Friday the whole world went dark when God laid on Jesus the iniquity of us all. As our Savior, Jesus suffered the anguish of all the ugliness and darkness of this evil world.
But today marks three days from Friday. It’s Easter, and Christ is alive! It took them a moment, but the disciples finally grabbed hold of the meaning of Easter—it’s joy! “The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord”(v. 20). Not sin-filled fear, but life-filled joy—that’s what makes life really worth living. Have you grabbed hold of Easter joy? The gloomy hopelessness of the world died on Good Friday, and so did the darkness of sin and guilt. Easter not only means joy, it means peace. Did you catch what Jesus said, the very first words out of his mouth? “Peace be with you”(v. 19). The fact that Jesus is alive means peace—peace because death has been defeated, peace because the devil has been disarmed, peace because our sins have been forgiven. That’s what Easter is all about. Grab hold of it, friends. Your Savior Jesus is alive and joy and peace are yours. This what makes life really worth living.
The easy part of Jesus’ visit was done. He had showed himself alive to his disciples. But Jesus had more in mind that Easter evening than simply showing them his life-giving hands. The joy and peace of Easter were too important and too precious to be kept among themselves. They needed to be shared, with everyone. So next Jesus spoke about how his life-giving hands connected to their life-giving mission. “Again Jesus said, ‘Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you’”(v. 21). The Father had sent Jesus from heaven on a mission to forgive people’s sins and to redeem the world. In the same way Jesus was now sending them to announce that wonderful news to the world. From now on they would be more than just disciples (followers of Jesus). They would be apostles (those who are sent out to proclaim a message). This is the way the apostle Paul puts it in 2 Corinthians, ch. 5: “He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us”(vv. 19,20). Serving as Christ’s ambassadors—that is a life really worth living.
The enormous privilege of Jesus’ call was only outmatched by its scope. They were to be his ambassadors to the world. The disciples’ heads must have been spinning. In a matter of minutes they had gone from hiding in fear to jumping for joy to now being commissioned as Jesus’ ambassadors to the world. Were they really up for such a task? On their own probably not, but Jesus made it clear that they wouldn’t be going alone: “And with that he breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’”(v. 22). What the disciples received was much more than the Spirit-given gift of faith. They received a special measure of the Spirit himself to empower them and enable them to carry out their calling. Fifty days later, the Holy Spirit came upon these disciples so powerfully that he turned uneducated Galilean fishermen into apostolic fishers of men, with amazing results. After hearing Peter’s sermon, 3,000 souls were added to the Christian church that day.
Jesus also reminded the disciples of the message they were to proclaim: “If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven”(v. 23). It’s a significant day when parents give a child keys to the house, and an even bigger day when they hand over the keys to the car. With these words, Jesus confidently handed over to his disciples, and every believer since, the keys to heaven. Forgiving sins or withholding forgiveness from those who reject Christ or who are plainly impenitent is tantamount to opening and closing the door to heaven. The keys are the special power and privilege Christ gives only to Christians. Forgiving sins and announcing peace is what Jesus did on Easter when he showed the disciples his life-giving hands. What better way to live Easter daily than to use our hands for God’s life-giving purpose—to forgive our brothers and sisters. What can be more meaningful than forgiving the sins of my spouse or my children and bringing peace to their troubled hearts? What can be more satisfying than reconciling with a coworker or a member at church with whom we’ve had a disagreement? What can be more rewarding than resolving differences with an old friend or relative? Remember, keys are valuable only when you use them. So be sure to use them. That’s why God gave them to you! Living at peace with God and living at peace with your neighbor—that’s what makes life really worth living.
Those disciples thought they had nothing to live for. They acted like Jesus was dead. Amazingly Jesus appeared in their presence on Easter and showed them his life-giving hands. Then he sent them on his life-giving mission, empowered by the Holy Spirit with his forgiving keys. Today there are more than two billion Christians scattered around the world who owe a debt of gratitude to those first disciples for not leaving those keys in their pockets.
So how are you? How’s life? Are you stuck? Do you think you’ve got nothing to live for? Stop acting like Jesus is dead, because he’s not. Look again at his life-giving hands. Our Savior is alive! So let’s act like it. Let’s pray like it. Let’s believe like it. And let’s embrace his call and bring his message of peace and salvation to the other five and half billion people in our world, one soul at a time. The fact that our Savior Jesus has risen gives us real hope in an often dark and hopeless world. It gives us real joy and real peace and makes life really worth living. Amen.