Ezekiel 37:1-14; 1 John 5:4-10; St John 20:19-31
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Beloved in the Lord, why are you here? What are you looking for? Whom do you seek?
Is it answers to the plaguing questions which haunt your life? Why did he have to die? What will they do now, now that their marriage is broken? Will she ever forgive me? Can I be whole again?
Why are you here? Whom do you seek? Is it a better version of yourself? To be a more faithful husband? A more dutiful wife? To have a less selfish character? To live sacrificially? In true repentance? To be free from besetting sin and lingering doubt?
Whatever you are looking for, whomever you are seeking, you will not find them staring into the dark abyss of the grave. For that is what you find when you look within yourself. A tomb. Deep and cold. Dark and menacing. Death lurks around every corner and within every shadow.
On Easter Vigil we heard from St Mary who stood weeping outside the tomb. Today’s Gospel narrative is really a continuation of that story. The Twelve, St Thomas and St Mary all run together. She longed for hope. She was looking for her Lord. He was not in the grave. He was not among the dead things, among the scattered refuse of those broken by the Law and feeling its sting deep in their bones, sucking out the very marrow of life itself. They have taken my Lord and I do not know where they have laid Him. Where is the place I may find Jesus? How do I lay hold of him?
For this she must turn from the grave. Turn from death and sin and doubt and despair. Turn around.
The Greek word for repent, μετανοια, means, “to turn around, to change one’s mind, to abhor your errors and misdeeds, to be contrite over sin and have sorrow for it.” It is to turn from sin and death and behold Jesus standing with Life Eternal. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?”
It is an essential question for the Evangelist and beloved disciple, St John. What are you looking for? Whom are you seeking? And this very question from the lips of Jesus bookends this entire Gospel, as it were. Recall the beginning of the Gospel, when the Baptizer was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as He walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him say this and they followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “Whom are you seeking?” (Jn 1:35-38).
The Johannine question, the Easter question, before us, dear Christians, is, “What are you looking for? Whom are you seeking? Where do you find the crucified Lord Jesus Christ?”
And the Evangelist is answering it for you. He is not in the tomb among the dead things. He is no longer in the grave. You must turn from the deadly curse wrought by the Law. You cannot find Him within. Neither in your heart, which is a valley of dry bones, nor within the righteous deeds of the Law, which is but a graveyard filled with dried up corpses. Repentance is needed. Metanoia. To turn and live.
For the risen, but crucified Lord Jesus is found exactly where He appears to His disciples on that first Easter eve. He is in His Church. Coming and standing among His fearful and downtrodden disciples, those who have been battered by their sin, who cower in misplaced fear, who are seeking and searching in all the wrong places. He comes among the likes of you. And the Son of Man prophesies over your dry bones, He speaks the Word of the Lord over your deadly flesh. Peace be with you.
Beloved, this is an absolution! It is the declaration of victory accomplished in the war between heaven and earth. Life and death have contended, in that combat stupendous. The Prince of Life who died, reigns immortal. Peace be with you, is the declaration of that victorious, eternal reign. It is His life-bestowing, creative Word, which accomplishes the purpose for which He sends it and does not return to Him empty.
As He breathed the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life, upon Adam in the beginning, so now, the Second Adam, raised up from the earth in His death and resurrection, draws you to Himself by the preaching of His Word and bestows His Holy Spirit upon you in that self-same Word. He whose hands scooped up dirt to lovingly form Man are the same hands that were pierced by the nails of our narcissistic, self- righteousness. Those are the same hands He shows to His disciples, still bearing the dazzling trophies of His love, the signs of true Peace and real Fellowship.
These are the same hands which He invites Thomas to inspect and to touch. For the one who is called the Twin, is your brother. He is like you. He is looking for the same thing is you. Answers to his questions, “Why did He have to die?” “Can I be whole again?” He was seeking that which you seek. To be a faithful and obedient child of God, living in repentance and trust. And unless he saw the One who was nailed to the Tree, the One who side was ripped open by the soldier’s spear, the One who bled and died for him, he would never believe.
How could he? How can you? Unless you have the self-same One? Unless you too encounter the risen, but always Crucified Christ Jesus, as He comes to you by His Word and Spirit, through His Sacraments, in His Church, how can you believe?
Indeed you cannot. Not by your own reason or strength. You cannot find what you are looking for or Him whom you are seeking, nor even come here, apart from His life-breathing Holy Spirit, whom He has placed within you as He washed you with water and His Word flowing from His pierced side. Put out your finger, beloved, and touch the Baptismal Font. It is the scarred hand of your risen, yet always crucified Lord Jesus, here for you.
By this life-giving stream from He who is the Resurrection and the Life, you share in His victorious death. You have been born of God. You believe and are baptized. You overcome the world, with all its doubt and pain, with all its lingering questions and uncertainties. Here you have the One who testifies to you by water and Spirit. Here you have the One who sends His men to prophesy to you, to speak peace to your dead bones and bring them the Word of Life once more; to open graves and heaven, to forgive sins and calm troubled consciences.
Put out your hand, beloved, for in it He places His risen, but always crucified Body. He is not among the dead things. But gives His life bestowing Body and Blood into your life-less, dead bodies, that you may live. This is He who came by water and blood - Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood.
Like St Thomas, He does not reprimand or reject you. He invites you. Come and see. Listen and believe. Receive Him who receives sinners. Receive Him who puts Himself here, in His Word, by His Spirit, among His Church, with His Sacraments, that you may find Him.
Turn away, beloved, for you are not trapped within the tomb of death nor lost in the darkness of your own heart. You have not seen, and yet, by His grace, you have believed. The Spirit, by the Word, has testified to you. You believe and have life in His Name. You are in the right place, o sons and daughters of the King. Christ is here for 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!
Beloved in the Lord, why are you here? What are you looking for? Whom do you seek?
Is it answers to the plaguing questions which haunt your life? Why did he have to die? What will they do now, now that their marriage is broken? Will she ever forgive me? Can I be whole again?
Why are you here? Whom do you seek? Is it a better version of yourself? To be a more faithful husband? A more dutiful wife? To have a less selfish character? To live sacrificially? In true repentance? To be free from besetting sin and lingering doubt?
Whatever you are looking for, whomever you are seeking, you will not find them staring into the dark abyss of the grave. For that is what you find when you look within yourself. A tomb. Deep and cold. Dark and menacing. Death lurks around every corner and within every shadow.
On Easter Vigil we heard from St Mary who stood weeping outside the tomb. Today’s Gospel narrative is really a continuation of that story. The Twelve, St Thomas and St Mary all run together. She longed for hope. She was looking for her Lord. He was not in the grave. He was not among the dead things, among the scattered refuse of those broken by the Law and feeling its sting deep in their bones, sucking out the very marrow of life itself. They have taken my Lord and I do not know where they have laid Him. Where is the place I may find Jesus? How do I lay hold of him?
For this she must turn from the grave. Turn from death and sin and doubt and despair. Turn around.
The Greek word for repent, μετανοια, means, “to turn around, to change one’s mind, to abhor your errors and misdeeds, to be contrite over sin and have sorrow for it.” It is to turn from sin and death and behold Jesus standing with Life Eternal. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?”
It is an essential question for the Evangelist and beloved disciple, St John. What are you looking for? Whom are you seeking? And this very question from the lips of Jesus bookends this entire Gospel, as it were. Recall the beginning of the Gospel, when the Baptizer was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as He walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him say this and they followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “Whom are you seeking?” (Jn 1:35-38).
The Johannine question, the Easter question, before us, dear Christians, is, “What are you looking for? Whom are you seeking? Where do you find the crucified Lord Jesus Christ?”
And the Evangelist is answering it for you. He is not in the tomb among the dead things. He is no longer in the grave. You must turn from the deadly curse wrought by the Law. You cannot find Him within. Neither in your heart, which is a valley of dry bones, nor within the righteous deeds of the Law, which is but a graveyard filled with dried up corpses. Repentance is needed. Metanoia. To turn and live.
For the risen, but crucified Lord Jesus is found exactly where He appears to His disciples on that first Easter eve. He is in His Church. Coming and standing among His fearful and downtrodden disciples, those who have been battered by their sin, who cower in misplaced fear, who are seeking and searching in all the wrong places. He comes among the likes of you. And the Son of Man prophesies over your dry bones, He speaks the Word of the Lord over your deadly flesh. Peace be with you.
Beloved, this is an absolution! It is the declaration of victory accomplished in the war between heaven and earth. Life and death have contended, in that combat stupendous. The Prince of Life who died, reigns immortal. Peace be with you, is the declaration of that victorious, eternal reign. It is His life-bestowing, creative Word, which accomplishes the purpose for which He sends it and does not return to Him empty.
As He breathed the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life, upon Adam in the beginning, so now, the Second Adam, raised up from the earth in His death and resurrection, draws you to Himself by the preaching of His Word and bestows His Holy Spirit upon you in that self-same Word. He whose hands scooped up dirt to lovingly form Man are the same hands that were pierced by the nails of our narcissistic, self- righteousness. Those are the same hands He shows to His disciples, still bearing the dazzling trophies of His love, the signs of true Peace and real Fellowship.
These are the same hands which He invites Thomas to inspect and to touch. For the one who is called the Twin, is your brother. He is like you. He is looking for the same thing is you. Answers to his questions, “Why did He have to die?” “Can I be whole again?” He was seeking that which you seek. To be a faithful and obedient child of God, living in repentance and trust. And unless he saw the One who was nailed to the Tree, the One who side was ripped open by the soldier’s spear, the One who bled and died for him, he would never believe.
How could he? How can you? Unless you have the self-same One? Unless you too encounter the risen, but always Crucified Christ Jesus, as He comes to you by His Word and Spirit, through His Sacraments, in His Church, how can you believe?
Indeed you cannot. Not by your own reason or strength. You cannot find what you are looking for or Him whom you are seeking, nor even come here, apart from His life-breathing Holy Spirit, whom He has placed within you as He washed you with water and His Word flowing from His pierced side. Put out your finger, beloved, and touch the Baptismal Font. It is the scarred hand of your risen, yet always crucified Lord Jesus, here for you.
By this life-giving stream from He who is the Resurrection and the Life, you share in His victorious death. You have been born of God. You believe and are baptized. You overcome the world, with all its doubt and pain, with all its lingering questions and uncertainties. Here you have the One who testifies to you by water and Spirit. Here you have the One who sends His men to prophesy to you, to speak peace to your dead bones and bring them the Word of Life once more; to open graves and heaven, to forgive sins and calm troubled consciences.
Put out your hand, beloved, for in it He places His risen, but always crucified Body. He is not among the dead things. But gives His life bestowing Body and Blood into your life-less, dead bodies, that you may live. This is He who came by water and blood - Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood.
Like St Thomas, He does not reprimand or reject you. He invites you. Come and see. Listen and believe. Receive Him who receives sinners. Receive Him who puts Himself here, in His Word, by His Spirit, among His Church, with His Sacraments, that you may find Him.
Turn away, beloved, for you are not trapped within the tomb of death nor lost in the darkness of your own heart. You have not seen, and yet, by His grace, you have believed. The Spirit, by the Word, has testified to you. You believe and have life in His Name. You are in the right place, o sons and daughters of the King. Christ is here for you.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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