Lamentations 3:22-33; 1 John 3:1-3; St John 16:16-22
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Alleluia! Christ is risen! (He is risen indeed! Alleluia!)
Concerning the activity of our Lord Jesus following His resurrection from the dead, prior to His ascension into heaven, little is recorded. St John tells us of a particular appearance of the risen Christ to seven disciples at the Sea of Tiberias. He called to them from the shore while they were fishing and provided them with another miraculous catch and another meal of bread and fish.
St Paul and St Luke allude to a special revelation to Simon Peter, but no details are given. The one who considered himself untimely born also proclaims our Lord’s appearance to over 500 brethren at one time as reasonable evidence for His post-ascension appearance to himself! We don’t know when or where or in what context this occurred. It’s possible it was during regular worship that was already going on before Jesus’ ascension.
The point is, we don’t know much about what Jesus and the disciples were doing during the forty days from His resurrection to His ascension. It is speculation and pious assumption. St Luke, however, records this important statement of Jesus, which may be used as a summary of activity: He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem” (Lk 24:45-47).
After His resurrection from the dead, before His ascension to the right hand of the Father, Jesus was catechizing His apostles and young Church from the Old Testament concerning the divine necessity of His atoning death for the redemption of the cosmos. Thus does the Church, in her godly wisdom, return to the pre-passion prophecies of our Lord Jesus Christ during this in which we continue to celebrate His resurrection from the dead.
Why? Why go back to the predictions of the Cross after His resurrection? Because the empty tomb is not the victory. It is the vindication. The Cross is the victory. Crux sola nostra theologia. The Cross alone is our theology. A few years ago, while grocery shopping during Holy Week, one of the cashiers asked my children if they were looking forward to Easter. One of them astutely responded: “He has to die first.” Amen! Even during and following Easter we are people of the Cross. We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God (1 Cor 1:23-24).
It is in divine wisdom that our Lord Jesus Christ speaks with such compassion and love to His frightened disciples on the night of His betrayal. He who forgoes His glory and in lowly humility dons an apron and towel, stooping low to wash the feet of His followers, prepares them for what is to come. He institutes His salvific meal, His holy Supper of His true Body and precious Blood, handed over into death for them, but does not neglect to leave them with words of comfort and peace; a peace which the world cannot give.
For in a little while - a matter of hours - He shall be betrayed, rejected, falsely arrested, wrongly accused, unjustly punished, and though innocent, gruesomely put to death. And they will see Him no longer. Their Lord and Master, among them as One who serves, shall graciously and willingly serve them by His obedient suffering and death.
For it is in this way that, by His innocent suffering and death, by way of His Cross, that Jesus goes to His Father. You know what it means that He came from the Father. It “means nothing else than that He, the true Son of God from eternity, became a true man and revealed Himself on earth in human nature, essence, and form; that He let Himself be seen, heard, and touched; that He ate, drank, slept, worked, suffered, and died like another other human being” (AE 24:375). He is coming from the Father to us and He is going from us to the Father.
Do not skip ahead, dear Christians, to His resurrection and ascension. These are the vindication and coronation, but the Way of the Cross is the manner in which our Lord goes to the Father. It is in the Cross, being lifted up from the earth in order to draw all men to Himself, that the Father glorifies His Name in His beloved Son. And though the disciples see Him lifted upon on the scaffold of the Cross, they do not see Him, for their hearts are darkened and they don’t yet understand or believe.
That is why, after His resurrection, we return to the meaning and purpose of His Cross, not only during Easter, but always. That by His Word and Spirit our eyes may behold the glory of the only Son of the Father, who reveals the Fullness of the Truth in His death for sinners.
That which is foolishness to Jews and folly to Gentiles is also the fabricated, faux-joy of the world. Those who rejoice at wrong-doing, who revel in sin, who scoff in unbelief, they rejoice at the death of the only Son of God; for they do not know what it means, indeed they cannot. Their hearts being hardened and their eyes blinded, they do not see in His vicarious suffering and death, the penalty and punishment for their sins. In pride and hubris, they rejoice.
But you, beloved, who sorrow over your sins and mourn their wretched bands, in contrition and repentance you weep and lament at the death of your beloved Savior. Not because you're sorry for His atoning death, but sorry that your sins caused and necessitated the shedding of His redeeming blood.
Though you weep and lament Jesus’ sacrificial act of love, so also do you rejoice, for it is the act of your salvation, the price of your redemption, the evidence of the steadfast love of the Lord, which never ceases; the sure and certain sign that His mercies never come to an end. Great is His faithfulness! Let your joy rise full and free, Christ our comfort, true will be! Alleluia!
The disciples of our Lord also knew such joy upon seeing their crucified and risen Lord on the eve of His resurrection. Remember how Jesus appeared to them? How He revealed to them His identity? 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.” When He had said this, He showed them His hands and side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord (Jn 20:19-20). They knew Him by the marks of His crucifixion, the tokens of His victory, and the scars of their salvation.
Beloved, though you have sorrow now, though your hearts weep and lament, not only your own sins, but the consequences of sin upon your family, your loved ones, the world; though you struggle under grief over burying a husband and father, a wife and mother, perhaps even a child; though it seems as if you sit alone in silence and are filled to the brim with insults, do not despair, do not give yourself over to the grief and burden, Christ is near, with His cheer, never will He leave you.
You live, dear ones, in the little while between our Lord’s ascension and His second coming, even as the disciples lived in the little while between His death and resurrection. As He did not leave them as orphans, so has He not left or forsaken you.
What does St John, in His Epistle of love say? See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. Present tense. You are a dear child of our Father who art in heaven. The world does not know you. But He knows you. Your Jesus knows you. He has engraved you on the palms of His hands. He has gone the way of death and the Cross for you, as your saving Head, and returned once more from the dead, never to die again. For a little while you do not see Him. But again a little while and He shall return to take you with Him. He shall appear and you shall see Him as He is, for you shall be like Him. And your hearts shall rejoice, even the unbelieving world shall stand in awe and fear, and no one will take your joy from you; for it is eternal and unconquerable.
In a little while you shall see your Lord once more, as He comes to you in Bread and Wine, His Body and Blood, given and shed for you. He does not cast off forever. He has compassion according to the abundance of His steadfast love. He invites you, dear children, to the Table of the Lamb and His Feast. He is paschal Victim and paschal Bread, His Body given into death, His Blood shed for the redemption of mankind, back from the grave, bringing life and immortality to light; Easter triumph and Easter joy! This alone can sin destroy.
Lift up your rejoicing hearts, dear Christians. Here is your great joy: the Sacrament of the Altar, the Feast of the Lamb. Your enemies lie vanquished, death is undone, sins are washed away, you are adopted by grace and redeemed in body and soul. A little while and you shall see Him and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.
In the Name of the Father + and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Alleluia! Christ is risen! (He is risen indeed! Alleluia!)
Concerning the activity of our Lord Jesus following His resurrection from the dead, prior to His ascension into heaven, little is recorded. St John tells us of a particular appearance of the risen Christ to seven disciples at the Sea of Tiberias. He called to them from the shore while they were fishing and provided them with another miraculous catch and another meal of bread and fish.
St Paul and St Luke allude to a special revelation to Simon Peter, but no details are given. The one who considered himself untimely born also proclaims our Lord’s appearance to over 500 brethren at one time as reasonable evidence for His post-ascension appearance to himself! We don’t know when or where or in what context this occurred. It’s possible it was during regular worship that was already going on before Jesus’ ascension.
The point is, we don’t know much about what Jesus and the disciples were doing during the forty days from His resurrection to His ascension. It is speculation and pious assumption. St Luke, however, records this important statement of Jesus, which may be used as a summary of activity: He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem” (Lk 24:45-47).
After His resurrection from the dead, before His ascension to the right hand of the Father, Jesus was catechizing His apostles and young Church from the Old Testament concerning the divine necessity of His atoning death for the redemption of the cosmos. Thus does the Church, in her godly wisdom, return to the pre-passion prophecies of our Lord Jesus Christ during this in which we continue to celebrate His resurrection from the dead.
Why? Why go back to the predictions of the Cross after His resurrection? Because the empty tomb is not the victory. It is the vindication. The Cross is the victory. Crux sola nostra theologia. The Cross alone is our theology. A few years ago, while grocery shopping during Holy Week, one of the cashiers asked my children if they were looking forward to Easter. One of them astutely responded: “He has to die first.” Amen! Even during and following Easter we are people of the Cross. We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God (1 Cor 1:23-24).
It is in divine wisdom that our Lord Jesus Christ speaks with such compassion and love to His frightened disciples on the night of His betrayal. He who forgoes His glory and in lowly humility dons an apron and towel, stooping low to wash the feet of His followers, prepares them for what is to come. He institutes His salvific meal, His holy Supper of His true Body and precious Blood, handed over into death for them, but does not neglect to leave them with words of comfort and peace; a peace which the world cannot give.
For in a little while - a matter of hours - He shall be betrayed, rejected, falsely arrested, wrongly accused, unjustly punished, and though innocent, gruesomely put to death. And they will see Him no longer. Their Lord and Master, among them as One who serves, shall graciously and willingly serve them by His obedient suffering and death.
For it is in this way that, by His innocent suffering and death, by way of His Cross, that Jesus goes to His Father. You know what it means that He came from the Father. It “means nothing else than that He, the true Son of God from eternity, became a true man and revealed Himself on earth in human nature, essence, and form; that He let Himself be seen, heard, and touched; that He ate, drank, slept, worked, suffered, and died like another other human being” (AE 24:375). He is coming from the Father to us and He is going from us to the Father.
Do not skip ahead, dear Christians, to His resurrection and ascension. These are the vindication and coronation, but the Way of the Cross is the manner in which our Lord goes to the Father. It is in the Cross, being lifted up from the earth in order to draw all men to Himself, that the Father glorifies His Name in His beloved Son. And though the disciples see Him lifted upon on the scaffold of the Cross, they do not see Him, for their hearts are darkened and they don’t yet understand or believe.
That is why, after His resurrection, we return to the meaning and purpose of His Cross, not only during Easter, but always. That by His Word and Spirit our eyes may behold the glory of the only Son of the Father, who reveals the Fullness of the Truth in His death for sinners.
That which is foolishness to Jews and folly to Gentiles is also the fabricated, faux-joy of the world. Those who rejoice at wrong-doing, who revel in sin, who scoff in unbelief, they rejoice at the death of the only Son of God; for they do not know what it means, indeed they cannot. Their hearts being hardened and their eyes blinded, they do not see in His vicarious suffering and death, the penalty and punishment for their sins. In pride and hubris, they rejoice.
But you, beloved, who sorrow over your sins and mourn their wretched bands, in contrition and repentance you weep and lament at the death of your beloved Savior. Not because you're sorry for His atoning death, but sorry that your sins caused and necessitated the shedding of His redeeming blood.
Though you weep and lament Jesus’ sacrificial act of love, so also do you rejoice, for it is the act of your salvation, the price of your redemption, the evidence of the steadfast love of the Lord, which never ceases; the sure and certain sign that His mercies never come to an end. Great is His faithfulness! Let your joy rise full and free, Christ our comfort, true will be! Alleluia!
The disciples of our Lord also knew such joy upon seeing their crucified and risen Lord on the eve of His resurrection. Remember how Jesus appeared to them? How He revealed to them His identity? 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.” When He had said this, He showed them His hands and side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord (Jn 20:19-20). They knew Him by the marks of His crucifixion, the tokens of His victory, and the scars of their salvation.
Beloved, though you have sorrow now, though your hearts weep and lament, not only your own sins, but the consequences of sin upon your family, your loved ones, the world; though you struggle under grief over burying a husband and father, a wife and mother, perhaps even a child; though it seems as if you sit alone in silence and are filled to the brim with insults, do not despair, do not give yourself over to the grief and burden, Christ is near, with His cheer, never will He leave you.
You live, dear ones, in the little while between our Lord’s ascension and His second coming, even as the disciples lived in the little while between His death and resurrection. As He did not leave them as orphans, so has He not left or forsaken you.
What does St John, in His Epistle of love say? See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. Present tense. You are a dear child of our Father who art in heaven. The world does not know you. But He knows you. Your Jesus knows you. He has engraved you on the palms of His hands. He has gone the way of death and the Cross for you, as your saving Head, and returned once more from the dead, never to die again. For a little while you do not see Him. But again a little while and He shall return to take you with Him. He shall appear and you shall see Him as He is, for you shall be like Him. And your hearts shall rejoice, even the unbelieving world shall stand in awe and fear, and no one will take your joy from you; for it is eternal and unconquerable.
In a little while you shall see your Lord once more, as He comes to you in Bread and Wine, His Body and Blood, given and shed for you. He does not cast off forever. He has compassion according to the abundance of His steadfast love. He invites you, dear children, to the Table of the Lamb and His Feast. He is paschal Victim and paschal Bread, His Body given into death, His Blood shed for the redemption of mankind, back from the grave, bringing life and immortality to light; Easter triumph and Easter joy! This alone can sin destroy.
Lift up your rejoicing hearts, dear Christians. Here is your great joy: the Sacrament of the Altar, the Feast of the Lamb. Your enemies lie vanquished, death is undone, sins are washed away, you are adopted by grace and redeemed in body and soul. A little while and you shall see Him and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.
In the Name of the Father + and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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