April 23, 2006

Easter 2

All my life, I’ve hated missing out on things.  I can’t stand the thought I might be missing something that might be going on.  All total, I missed one day of school in eight years of grade school, and one day of school in four years of high school.  Even if I was sick, I wanted to be there, because I didn’t want to miss anything.  Who knew what would happen in class that day?  One of those classic humorous events?  Someone getting in trouble?  A great time with friends at lunch?  A chance to meet someone new?  The thought of missing out on anything drove me nuts.  So I made sure I was there.

Maybe you aren’t as psycho as I am, but don’t you feel that way a bit, too?  Don’t you hate the thought of missing out on something important happening?  Something great?  Something funny?  Something joyful?  Something inspiring?  A great time with friends?  A momentous occasion?  You don’t want to miss all the excitement, do you?

Imagine you had purchased a lottery ticket.  Your hopes of it actually winning weren’t too high.  And so you basically forgot about it.  When the winning number was announced, you didn’t even set aside time to be there to hear it.  And when that winning number was announced, the one that matched the number on your ticket, you were off doing other things you thought were more important, because you weren’t even thinking about it.  And so you missed getting a big prize.  How would you like to miss out on something like that?

What if you were part of the Athens governing body, working on a surrender – a treaty of peace – with the Persians while the battle at Marathon was being fought?  How would you and your fellow senators liked to have missed the chance to hear the message of victory that the exhausted Pheidippides was running to bring to you?  “Hey, there’s a tired soldier outside…says he has a message for us!”  “Tell him to wait… we have to send this message of surrender to the Persian army…”  How would you have felt if you missed out on the message that your army had actually defeated the Persians?  Look at what you’d miss!

And look what you missed if you weren’t here last week!  The message of victory that Jesus is risen!  That He has cancelled our reservations with Satan!  That He has removed our guilt forever!  That He has given us victory and eternal life in heaven!  You would have missed an inspiring service!  Full to the brim with people!  Our largest attendance ever!  Cindie’s beautiful singing!  A wonderful meal and fellowship!  A warm celebration!  You would’ve missed seeing and hearing the risen Christ!

Look at what Thomas missed.  He missed seeing and hearing the risen Christ.  He missed that first Easter service too, and because of that, he missed out on a lot.  He missed out on seeing that Jesus was alive.  He missed out on hearing Jesus speak.  Hearing Jesus’ words.  Hearing that message of peace.  He missed out on hearing that he was forgiven.  He missed out on being assured that death was defeated.  He missed out on the comfort of knowing that he was at peace with God and the relief of knowing his reservations with the devil in hell had been cancelled.  He had a chance to see and celebrate the risen Lord and he missed it!  Look what he missed!

Look at what you miss when you miss the chance to hear and see Jesus in his Word.  When you miss the chance to gather together with other disciples and worship Him.  When you miss the opportunity to attend church.  When you miss the opportunity to be strengthened by Him in Word and Sacrament.  When you miss the opportunity to be encouraged by your brothers and sisters.  When you miss Jesus’ message of peace.  You miss out on having doubt erased.  You miss having fears stilled.  On having hope restored.  On having faith strengthened.

We don’t even like to miss our TV shows! If we can’t watch them, what do we do?  Tape them!  Gotta stay caught up on what’s going on, right?  But then why aren’t we so fanatic about staying caught up with what’s going on with our Lord Jesus?  We miss out on so much more!

But you have a Lord who loves you.  A Lord who wants to make sure you understand and embrace his message of peace.  A Lord who came back again the week after his resurrection to let Thomas see Him and touch Him to assure Him that He was risen and that Thomas’s sins were forgiven!  So friends, if you missed out on it last week, if you have been missing out on it, if your faith needs some strengthening, if you need to be assured that our Saviour is risen, well, then it will be good for you to know that He is back with us again this week!

And just like with Thomas, Jesus is offering to let us see Him and touch Him this morning.  He is going to let us see and touch his body and blood, the things He sacrificed for us. The week after Easter, Jesus let Thomas touch the nail prints, where his blood had flowed from his body, to assure him that the price had been paid for his sins, and He was alive again.  This morning, friends, Jesus again is letting us touch his body and blood, as we partake of his supper, to make sure we know that the price for our sins has been paid.  To make sure we know we are forgiven.  To strengthen our faith in the fact that our Saviour is risen!

On the first Easter, Thomas missed out on the first chance to see Jesus.  But a week later, his faith was strengthened when he got to see and touch Jesus.  So for those of you who weren’t able to be here last week, today is a chance for you to be strengthened in your resurrection faith, just like Thomas was.

But you know what?  Thomas wasn’t the only one whose faith was strengthened that second Sunday of Easter.  The other ten disciples, believe it or not, needed their faith strengthened!  They again needed Jesus to come in and tell them “Peace be with you.”  How do I know their faith was weak?  Look at the text!  The doors were still locked!!  They hadn’t gone out with the awesome message of the resurrection yet!  They had seen Jesus the week before, but they were still hiding!  Nothing much had changed since they were hiding the week before, thinking Jesus was still dead!  They KNEW He was alive now, but were STILL hiding!

Those idiots!  Right?  Well, what have you done since last Sunday?  Those of you who were here?  Those of you who heard and celebrated the message of our risen Savior?  Those of you who were inspired by the singing of the 172 people surrounding them?  Those of you, who like those other ten disciples, know Jesus is risen?  Did you go running out with that message this week?  Did you carry the message of victory to all you could find?  Like Pheidippides?  With your words?  And actions?  Did you live a whole new and inspired life because of Easter?

Or did you find yourself still hiding inside?  Did you keep your faith to yourself?  Did you let the message vanish by Sunday evening?  Did you let guilt get into your heart again this week?  Forgetting what to tell Satan when he tries bringing that up in your heart?  Did Satan get to you this week?  Make you think he was still holding the victory?  Did your doubts get to you again?  Did all those great devotional habits you began during Lent fly right out the window?  Did you start second-guessing your faith?  Did your Easter joy and enthusiasm burn out?

Then, friends, know that Jesus was also strengthening you with these words: “Peace be with you.”  Your sins are still forgiven.  Your standing with God is still in tact.  Your reservations in hell are still cancelled.  Your home in heaven is still reserved.  Because you have a God who loves you in spite of yourself.  Don’t miss out on that message.  Look at what you’d miss!  Don’t be skipping church!  Don’t be skipping the chance to see and hear Jesus Christ!  You can’t afford to miss that!  You can’t afford to miss out on seeing just how much He loves you.

Leslie Flynn told a story of a small boy being raised in a frontier city by his grandmother. One night the house catches on fire. The grandmother, trying to rescue the boy who was asleep in the bedroom upstairs, is overcome by the smoke and dies in the fire. This town doesn't have much of a fire department. A crowd gathers around the house and they hear a small boy crying out for help. The lower floor is a wall of flames and no one seems to know what to do. Suddenly, a man pushes through the crowd and begins climbing an iron drainage pipe which runs to the roof. The pipe is hot from the fire, but he makes it to a second floor window. The man crawls through the window and locates the boy. With the crowd cheering encouragement, the man climbs back down the hot iron pipe with the boy on his back and his arms around his neck.

A few weeks later, a public meeting was held to determine in whose custody the boy would be placed. Each person wanting the child would be allowed to make a brief statement. The first man said, "I have a farm and would give the boy a good home. He would grow up on the farm and learn a trade."  The second person to speak was the local school teacher. She said, "I am a school teacher and I would see to it that he received a good education." Finally, the banker said, "Mrs. Morton and I would be able to give the boy a fine home and a fine education. We would like him to come and live with us." The presiding officer looked around and asked, "Is there anyone else who would like to say anything?" From the back row, a man rose and said, "These other people may be able to offer some things I can't. All I can offer is my love." Then, he slowly removed his hands from his coat pockets. A gasp went up from the crowd because his hands were scarred terribly from climbing up and down the hot pipe. The boy recognized the man as the one who had saved his life, and ran into his waiting arms.

The farmer, teacher and the banker simply sat down. Everyone knew what the decision would be. The scarred hands proved that this man had given more than all the others.  Friends, the hands of Jesus prove that you are his child!  Don’t miss the chance to see that!  Look at his hands.  Look at his side.  Look at his body.  Look at his blood.  See what He did for you?  See how much He loves you?  Let your heart be filled with that message again today!  Let that give you what you need to get through the week again.  And then come back here next week to hear again… just how much He loves you.   Amen.

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