Touch Your Risen Savior
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. The Word of God through which the Holy Spirit kindles Easter joy in our hearts is the account of Jesus’ resurrection recorded in John 20:19-31
On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.”
A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Jesus did many other miraculous sings in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:19-31 NIV)
This is the Word of our Lord.
Dear friends who celebrate our risen Savior,
The 5-year old had been missing all night. When his mother had looked out yesterday afternoon, she no longer saw him playing in the yard as he had been doing fifteen minutes earlier. Had he been abducted? Had he wandered off? Soon she and her husband, the neighbors and the police were all searching. It had been a long, horrible night.
But at 10:30 the next morning, a neighbor found him in a nearby woods, cold and crying and hungry, but unharmed. He had wandered off and fallen asleep hidden under the leaves. When his mother and father saw him they ran and hugged him and didn’t want to let go. Being able to touch him meant so much. Touching assured them that he was really there. Their dear son whom they loved was really there.
On that first Easter night Jesus appeared to his disciples and invites them to touch him. Luke tells us that Jesus said, “Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see” (Luke 24:39). The following Sunday Jesus invites Thomas to touch him. Jesus wanted his disciples to be assured that he was really there. Their Jesus whom they loved was really there.
Through these disciples we, too, touch our risen Savior. That’s why Jesus wanted them to touch him and see that he really had risen – not only to drive out their doubts, but also to assure us through their testimony that he has truly risen.
Through the testimony of these disciples, may the Holy Spirit lead you to keep touching your risen Savior. That’s the theme: Touch Your Risen Savior. As we keep touching him, we all the more 1) Believe that his wounds are for us, and we all the more 2)Breathe his forgiveness. Through the Word of God, touch your risen Savior.
1) Believe that his wounds are for you
On that first Easter night, the disciples’ faith in the risen Jesus was growing, though it was still weak. Since morning they had been hearing the good news. The women had seen angels at the tomb who said, “He is not here. He has risen!”. Peter and John had found the tomb neat and empty. Jesus had spoken to Mary Magdalene outside the tomb. He appeared to the other women on their way back from the tomb, and later to Peter, as well. The two Emmaus disciples had just returned reporting how Jesus had walked with them and opened up the Scriptures for them. Yes, the evidence was mounting. Jesus had risen. But the disciples were still scared. They still hid behind locked doors for fear of the Jews.
They were not ready for what happened next. Jesus appeared right there among them. Was it really him? Could it be? “Peace be with you!” (John 20:19 NIV) he says. He shows them his hands and side. It is really Jesus! Their stunned fears turns to joy.
Thomas though was not there. His blind unbelief demands physical evidence. He wants to investigate himself. He wants to touch those wounds. “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” (John 20:25 NIV)
Although I don’t think any of us would speak such words of unbelief, yet how often don’t our choices in life amount to saying, “It doesn’t matter that Jesus has risen. As far as my life,I’ll do it my way. I’ll blend in with the world around me, if I so choose”? Or how often do we cower in fear behind our own lock doors? We know our Lord has risen, but we cower in fear clinging to our money or retirement accounts for security. We know Jesus has risen, but we cower in fear afraid to be labeled “too religious” if we stand up for him too often. We know Jesus has risen, but we cower in fear behind our worries or we try to build up our self-esteem by tearing others down. We know Jesus has risen, but we cower in fear wondering how God could really forgive someone like me.
And isn’t that a pertinent question? When we rightly see our sins, when see them in the flaming light from God’s holy Law, we see how serious and deadly they are. We see how powerless and helpless sin makes us. We see how we have made ourselves fit for nothing but God’s anger and hell.
To such people like you and me, who tremble behind the lock doors of our horrid sins and doubts, Jesus appears and says, “Peace be with you . . .Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe” (John 20:26, 27 NIV).
Touch your risen Savior! Believe that his wounds are for you. Yes, those nail marks paid for your sins. The blood that flowed from his side washed away your guilty stains. For this Jesus is your God. He became flesh and blood to die in your place. His wounds prove that. He came to win forgiveness for you, which only the God-man could do. His living body proves that has accomplished that. You are fully forgiven. He is your living Lord, who has purchased you with his holy, precious blood.
Your Lord and your God says to you, “Peace be with you.” Not the trembling doubts that wonder whether God forgives you, but the peace that rejoices, “God has forgiven me, because my Jesus lives. He is my Lord and my God. I am his child, ransomed by his blood and forgiven by his resurrection.” Touch your risen Savior and believe that his wounds are for you, for your peace, for your forgiveness.
2) Breathe his forgiveness
But how do we touch our risen Savior and drive away our doubts? The answer brings us to the second part today. When Jesus appeared to his disciples that first Easter night, he breathed on them and said , “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Jesus breathes his Holy Spirit onto us through his promises of forgiveness. We touch our risen Savior by breathing in his forgiveness. Although we can not touch him physically like Thomas did, we do touch him spiritually and sacramentally.
Breath in his forgiveness by touching him spiritually with the hands of faith. Faith holds on to the promises that we have through the eyewitness testimony of the apostles. Faith holds on to the promise that Jesus is the Christ, the Lord’s anointed Savior, the Son of God. Faith holds on to the promise that in Jesus and in the work he did for us, we have eternal life. Where does faith find these promises? In the Word. “These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20: 31 NIV). Breathe in Jesus promises and touch him spiritually as your hands dig into God’s Word day after day and bring home his promises from this building week after week.
We also breathe in Jesus’ promises by touch our risen Savior sacramentally in his Holy Supper. In a way that is beyond our senses, Jesus comes to us with his body and blood that is just as real and true as his body and blood that appeared to his disciples on those first two Sunday nights of Easter. Instead of “put your finger here” or “reach out your hand,” Jesus says to us, “Take and eat. This is my body.” “Drink from it all of you. This is my blood.” As you touch your risen Savior in this sacramental way, he assures you, “Yes, my wounds and death have paid for all your sins. Yes, you are forgiven. Yes, it is all true, because I have really risen from the dead.” Breathe in his forgiveness. Touch your risen Savior by coming to the Lord’s Supper often.
Touch Jesus spiritually and sacramentally in his Word and in his Supper. Touch him by breathing in his promise of forgiveness continually, just as we continually breathe in air.
But what about breathing out? We want to breathe out Jesus’ promises as well – not in the sense of losing them but in the sense of sharing them. Breathe his forgiveness. Don’t just breathe it in. Breathe it out as well. For Jesus has given his followers the power breathe out and share the Good News of forgiveness. He says, “If your forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven” (John 20:23).
How do we breathe out Jesus’ forgiveness? First by showing forgiveness to others. As Christians we have no reason to hold grudges or get even. We have no reason to keep a record of wrong. Why? Because you know that in Jesus you are forgiven a much greater debt than anyone has done to wrong you. What is more you know that in Jesus, through faith in his forgiveness, you have eternal life and heaven which no one can take away from you. There is no reason for a Christian to hold a grudge, get even, or keep a record of wrongs. For you already have your risen Lord.
Secondly, we breathe out Jesus’ forgiveness by telling others about Jesus. Share the Good News that Jesus is their Lord and their God. Jesus has ransomed them and paid for all their sins. He has really risen because God forgives them. All this is a free gift that God promises unconditionally so that saving faith holds on to God’s promises alone. Through this Good News the Holy Spirit lets them touch Jesus.
Like those parents of the lost child, we want to touch our risen Savior to be assured that he is really here and you have touched him through his word and sacrament. Keep on touching Jesus believing that his wounds are for you, for your forgiveness. Keep on touching Jesus breathing in his forgiving promise and breathing it out so that others to may touch him in saving faith.
