All Locked Up

[00:00:00] In the name of Jesus, Amen. [00:00:07] Alleluia. Christ is risen indeed. [00:00:13] Still works well from our text. [00:00:19] On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, peace be with you. [00:00:38] Now, like I did a little while ago, I want you to just picture that scene. Put yourself again in that room that. Well, that's where John is putting us today. [00:00:49] Picture it. These disciples hiding behind closed doors. [00:00:57] That's the disciples. [00:00:59] Peter, James, John, Andrew, Philip, Nathanael, Matthew, James, Jude and Simon. [00:01:21] And they're a mess. [00:01:26] Can you picture it? [00:01:28] Each of them a mess. [00:01:31] All of them together a mess. [00:01:37] And the images of what had just taken place, it's got to be floating around in their minds. Those images of Jesus all bloodied and beaten, nailed to a cross. [00:01:49] Jesus carried from that cross to a tomb. [00:01:57] Now that's all fresh in their minds. [00:02:00] And when they're not thinking about that, they could well have been thinking about the shouldas and wouldas and couldas. [00:02:13] Of each of their individual lives. [00:02:16] Peter remembering his denials. [00:02:19] Why did that rooster have to crow? [00:02:23] James and John. [00:02:25] James and John, who wanted seats next to Jesus in his kingdom. And all they can see is those two on either side of Jesus. [00:02:39] Yeah, right. [00:02:41] Or the others. [00:02:43] They're remembering their cowardice. [00:02:46] And look at them. Look at them now. [00:02:52] Philip, double check the lock on that door. [00:02:55] Andrew. Andrew, peek outside. Is there anybody coming? [00:03:03] Actually, the only thing worse than living through that day is the worries about tomorrow. [00:03:10] Will they be coming for us tomorrow? [00:03:15] Will our fate be arrest tomorrow? [00:03:28] Will we be tried and crucified. [00:03:34] Got the picture? [00:03:37] And then Jesus shows up. [00:03:41] And if you think our pyramids are white, just imagine the faces on those disciples when Jesus shows up. I mean, they had to be white with wonderment. White with fear, with embarrassment, maybe guilt, with wonderment. How? How? Questions, doubts, awes, shame, terror. And then Jes unloads upon them these wonderful words, peace be with you. [00:04:18] Of course, then they see the scars, the hands, the feet, the side. Oh, it's Jesus. No doubt about that. [00:04:26] And then he says it again, peace be with you. [00:04:33] And they needed to hear it again. [00:04:36] Look, he holds nothing against them. [00:04:40] He knows their sin, he knows their doubts. And yet he forgives everything. Everything. [00:04:49] All the guilt, all the shame, it's all gone. [00:04:57] This is Jesus not only giving them what they need, it's Jesus teaching them about what they saw. [00:05:03] Because all of his wounds, because his death, there is now peace with God. [00:05:17] Peace With God. [00:05:20] In other words, they're completely reconciled. [00:05:24] All they deserved has been taken away, and everything they don't deserve has been given to them. [00:05:33] That's why it's so wonderful when he says to them, peace be with you. [00:05:39] Which, if you think about it, reconciliation with God, peace with God is the same as saying to them, I forgive you all your sins. [00:05:51] I forgive you. [00:05:53] And then, Then. Did you see that word today? [00:05:58] Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. [00:06:03] Well, not before. [00:06:06] Before forgiveness, there were only doubts and fears and shame and all mixed up and jumbled with confusion and guilt. [00:06:15] After forgiveness, after peace, they're glad they're absolved. Jesus is not mad at them. [00:06:23] Jesus is not their enemy now. [00:06:26] Jesus is holding nothing against them. [00:06:30] It's almost as if nothing ever happened. [00:06:34] It's what Jeremiah said. Jeremiah 31. Spend some time in Jeremiah 31 later on today, where he writes, I will forgive their sins. [00:06:46] I'm sorry. I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sins no more. [00:06:51] That's Jeremiah 31. So then, big word, then. The disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. [00:06:59] They didn't have to hide anymore. [00:07:03] They didn't have to run anymore. [00:07:07] And if you were listening during the reading from Acts, they didn't. [00:07:13] They left that locked room to share the joy of Christ with the rest of the world. [00:07:19] Did you hear it? No fear of the Jews. [00:07:24] Just boldness, actually. [00:07:27] Some defiance. [00:07:29] We must obey God rather than men, they said. [00:07:35] And they left the presence of the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. The name of God who doesn't condemn but forgives. The name of God, who unlocks their prisons of sin and shame and instead absolves and forgets that name. [00:07:57] Jesus. [00:08:00] Jesus. [00:08:06] So do you ever think about hiding? [00:08:14] Do you ever think about running? [00:08:18] Do you ever think about where you might be locked up? [00:08:25] Not me, Pastor. I'm fine. Really. [00:08:30] Everything's great. [00:08:34] Couldn't be better. [00:08:37] Finer than a frog's hair. [00:08:41] Well, truth be told, we all hide. [00:08:47] We all have things to run from. [00:08:53] What is it for you? [00:09:00] I think at the base of all of it, it's because we don't want anybody else to find out what our problems are. [00:09:07] Just as an example, what would you think of me if you really knew me? I mean, if you knew the problems I have and the sins that I am struggling with and my failures and my goofball decisions that have strewn along the way my whole lifetime, that I'm really a mess, that I don't have a perfect family, that I don't have it all together. [00:09:34] What would you think if you knew all of that? [00:09:38] Well, we'd be terribly embarrassed if someone knew that all we really wanted to do was be like those disciples and go and hide out in our room and lock the door and try to keep troubles out or try to forget it for a while or just hope it's going to blow over someday. [00:10:01] Because, well, we're afraid. [00:10:08] Because we know ourselves too well, just like the disciples. [00:10:20] Well, this is why we start worship every week the way that we do, just like that first Easter night. [00:10:34] Jesus comes here. [00:10:39] Jesus comes here to you. [00:10:41] Jesus comes here to me. We're locked in our sin and our shame, and we're afraid to let anyone know what we're really like and how bad of sinners we really are and that we don't have it all together. [00:10:53] So what do we do? [00:10:57] Well, we start with Jesus. [00:11:01] We start with his name. [00:11:03] In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. [00:11:08] That's his name. [00:11:11] And it's not so that we hope he shows up. [00:11:14] It's to pronounce the truth that he's already here. [00:11:19] And then what happens next is, bam. We're flat down in our faces confessing to him that we are sinful and unclean, that we have sinned against him in thought, word and deed, that we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. [00:11:40] And what happens if we confess our sins? [00:11:46] God, who is faithful and just, will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. [00:11:56] All your sins forgiven. [00:11:59] The name Jesus. [00:12:06] His name. [00:12:12] It's as though we should add a question, whereupon, going through that opening part of our worship, add the question, why would you hang on to what he's already taken away? [00:12:27] Because what he had for the disciples is what he has for you. Forgiveness. [00:12:33] And you and I need to hear it again and again. And you and I need to come and receive that good news word again and again. We need to come out of our locked doors. We need to stop hiding, stop running and start living. [00:12:51] Listen again. [00:12:52] Jesus said to them, peace be with you, as the Father has sent me, even so, I am sending you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said, receive the Holy Spirit. [00:13:05] And if you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven. [00:13:10] And if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld. [00:13:18] Well. These are the keys of the kingdom that Jesus gave to Peter in Matthew 16 and announced to the disciples in Matthew 18. [00:13:26] Now, those are some powerful words Aren't they? And I've even heard people use this very passage as a reason to not forgive someone who has wronged them. They say Jesus says I don't have to forgive. [00:13:40] Here's my proof text. [00:13:44] That's not what's going on here. [00:13:47] The issue of forgiving or withholding forgiveness is always, always to restore, to reconcile. If someone cannot repent of their sins, you don't want to offer forgiveness because it will be nothing. But if they do confess their sins, we announce forgiveness to restore the relationship. [00:14:11] How do I know? Because that's what Jesus is doing in this very text. He is reconciling with his disciples. He's restoring relationship. So you come to Word and Sacrament for the forgiveness of sins. And Jesus loves it when you do. And he's overjoyed and he wants to give you these gifts. [00:14:33] It's his joy to give them to you. [00:14:36] And in turn, you and I can speak forgiveness to others. Look, look at it this way. If God can forgive those deceitful, conniving, betraying, abandoning, fearful, hiding disciples and us deceitful, conniving, betraying, abandoning, fearful, hiding Christians living in 21st century Greeley, Colorado today, then certainly we can forgive those who sin against us. [00:15:13] Do you know though, those are the hardest words to say sometimes the hardest words to speak. [00:15:25] I am sorry. [00:15:29] These are hard to say also I forgive you. [00:15:36] Hard words to say sometimes, maybe the hardest. But you can speak them when you don't. [00:15:46] You're hanging on to what Jesus has taken away, which Satan absolutely loves, by the way. Those words, I am sorry and I forgive you. [00:15:57] We so often would rather say anything but those words. But when you refuse, when you refuse the humility of I'm sorry, when you refuse, I forgive you. [00:16:22] You're just like a cowering disciple. [00:16:31] Well, my admonition there, dear friends, is speak those words. Don't lock yourself up. Don't look at the sin committed against you. Don't look at the sin that's in you. [00:16:41] You don't have to hide from that anymore. You don't have to run anymore. Look to Jesus. Look at his wounds for you so that you can leave the locked up heart and live in that joy and peace that he offers today. [00:17:07] And you know what? [00:17:09] You may suffer for it. [00:17:13] Just like the disciples did the Christian life. Well, let's be honest, it's not always rosy. Not everyone will forgive you. [00:17:23] You'll even be betrayed by fellow Christians because fellow Christians are sinners too. [00:17:33] And you might be betrayed by family members or friends. [00:17:38] And it'll hurt. [00:17:42] Maybe you will do that too. [00:17:48] Well, not maybe, right? [00:17:52] And so we come back here again and again, and Jesus is here again and again to forgive, to absolve. [00:18:00] Never grow tired of it. Which is sometimes hard to believe, right? [00:18:05] I mean, there must be a limit to God's forgiveness. [00:18:09] He couldn't possibly forgive me this time. [00:18:13] Well, no, that's not true. [00:18:15] You can't out sin the cross. [00:18:19] You can leave the cross behind. You can reject forgiveness. It's possible for you to do that. [00:18:25] You can even think that you don't need it today. [00:18:31] But you cannot out sin the cross. [00:18:35] That's the nature of forgiveness. [00:18:38] St. Peter wrote it so clearly when he said in our New Testament reading today, an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading. [00:18:51] That means God's forgiveness endures forgiveness forever. [00:18:59] But I want to go back to those six words for just a moment. [00:19:05] Perhaps the greatest trial we face. [00:19:08] Humbling ourselves enough to say to someone, I'm sorry. [00:19:18] Loving others enough to say I forgive you. [00:19:26] Or turn that around. Loving others enough to say I am sorry and humble enough to say, I forgive you. [00:19:35] But here's the point when we remember Jesus has been to the cross to reconcile us with the Father, to literally say to you and to me today, peace be with you. [00:19:46] Then maybe it's not such a stretch for us to think that we can be reconciled with the person that we have offended or who has offended us. [00:20:02] May God grant it for Jesus sake. [00:20:08] Christ is risen. [00:20:10] He has risen indeed.