5th Sunday of Easter Sermon
I have a joke for you. Which two disciples are from Missouri? Thomas and Philip. How do I know? Because they were always saying, “Show me. Show me.” Did anybody get that? Missouri is “the show me state.” Well, I didn’t say it was a good joke.
There’s an old saying, “Seeing is believing.” Perhaps you have heard someone say, “I’ll believe it when I see it.” Maybe you’ve said this yourself. I know I have. It was that way in Jesus’ day and it is still that way today. It is hard to just take someone at their word, especially when what they say seems to fly in the face of everything you think you know. We can see this played out in Scripture. God’s people were always asking the prophets, the Apostles and even Jesus for a sign. They wanted something to confirm that the message they were hearing was in fact from God.
In today’s world people are still asking for a sign; they are still looking for proof of God’s love…His power…His faithfulness. Well, in today’s readings we are challenged to hear and believe that God has left a sign for the world. It is a marvelous sign that I think we as God’s people often take for granted or simply overlook completely. But before we get there let’s look at the texts for today.
In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus tells His disciples that He is going to be leaving them soon to prepare a place for them in His Father’s house. He promises them that He will return to get them and bring them to the Father.
In Jesus day and age this kind of talk was engagement talk. In their culture this is the kind of discussion you would expect to hear between a guy and his fiancé. Often times before getting married the eldest son would build onto his parents’ house and that would be the home for him and his bride-to-be. Not until he was finished preparing the new home would he and his betrothed be able to get married and start their life together.
This promise Jesus gave to return and bring His disciples to the Father was not just for them. This promise is for us. We are the Church. We are Christ’s bride, awaiting the day when He will return and bring an end to our brokenness; an end to sin and the threat of death and hell. He will return to bring us to His Father’s house to be with Him forever in the life of the world to come. Amen?
But Christ did not just leave us behind to wait for His return. He tells His disciples that we know the way to the Father. At this point Thomas speaks up saying, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
And then Jesus says the famous line, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” He goes on to say that to know Him is to know the Father. He says, “From now on you do know Him and have seen Him.” At this point Philip gives a sure sign that he is from Missouri. He says, “Show me.”
Just a few weeks ago we heard how Thomas would not believe the news that Jesus had risen from the dead. He wouldn’t believe that Jesus was alive until he saw Christ with his own eyes, and actually touched the death wounds of our Savior. And just like Thomas said, “I’ll have to see it to believe it.”, in today’s reading Philip says to Jesus, “Show us the Father and it is enough for us.” Philip is saying what many people before and after him have said; that seeing is believing.
And how does Jesus reply? He says, “I have been with you so long, and you still do not know Me, Philip? Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father.” Jesus is telling them here, in no uncertain terms, that He is God. He says that He is in the Father and the Father is in Him. He says that the work He has been doing is the work of the Father.
Christ goes on to say that if they cannot trust His words, at least they can look at what He has done and believe on account of what they have seen. Essentially, Jesus is saying, “If you want to see God, look at me. If you want to see God’s power and character (His steadfast Love and Faithfulness); if you have to see to believe, look to the work I have been doing.” But what Christ says next is perhaps the most unbelievable thing recorded in Scripture. Christ says that whoever believes in Him will also do the works that He does, and even greater works.
Now, I know that the ladies here know how to feed a good crowd, and from time to time there are a good amount of leftovers after we’ve gathered for a meal and have all had our fill but, when was the last time that they fed 5000 families with one sack lunch and had enough leftovers for each of the women eat for a week. When was the last time that any of you guys walked on water when it wasn’t frozen? Have any of you gone to a wedding reception and helped out the host when they ran out of alcohol by changing water it into wine? I didn’t think so.
These things (and many more) were the types of signs that Jesus did. If we who believe in Him can’t even do these things, how can it be true that we can do greater signs than Him? Can I offer a suggestion? When I look at all of the things Jesus did (all of the miraculous signs that showed us that He is God in the flesh) sometimes I am tempted to say, “Well, sure! Easy for Him to do. He is God!
Of course He can stop the storm. Of course He can give sight to the blind. Of course He can raise the dead. All things were made through Him. There is nothing He can’t do. These and the many other signs He did were the things we were told of in the Old Testament Scriptures, so that we could recognize our Savior when He would finally come.
He did these signs as proof that He had the authority to do what nobody except God has the right to do. That He has the authority to forgive sins…to not only raise the dead, but to completely undo death and give eternal life…to free us from our eternal condemnation.
And like I said before, our bridegroom did not just leave us hear to wait for Him until He returns. He gave us great signs and wonders to do in His name; signs to show the world the truth of who He is – the truth of God’s steadfast Love and faithfulness through Christ. But what are those great signs and wonders? Scripture tells us that as well.
In the verse right after our Gospel reading Christ says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” In the Acts reading for today we see how Stephen showed His love for Christ by fearlessly preaching Jesus as the Christ; rejected, condemned, crucified, risen, and ascended on high at the right hand of the Father. When questioned about his proclamation, Stephen pointed his attackers to the promises of God in the Old Testament Scriptures. He pointed out how all along the way God was faithful even though His chosen people continually failed to trust in Him or obey His will, even killing those whom God sent to proclaim the coming of Jesus the Righteous One.
Likewise, we in our Epistle reading are told what message we are to proclaim. We are to proclaim the excellencies of God; that He has called us out of our sinful darkness, into His glorious light; into Christ’s righteousness. We are to proclaim that through Christ we have received God’s mercy; His forgiveness and salvation. Just after that reading the text continues with these words which I shared last week as well:
Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
What are the great signs and wonders Christ has given us to do? He has given us what is impossible for us to do. He has given us the message of forgiveness to proclaim. We who have no earthly right to forgive the sins of another, have been charged to do so in Jesus’ name; by His power and His authority. We, who by our own power are completely self-serving and only self-righteous, have been called to Love God with every fiber of our being and to love our neighbor as ourselves.
By the power of His Holy Spirit in us we are able to do what we could never do on our own. We do the work (God’s work) of forgiveness and reconciliation. We do God’s work of sacrificial love for the sake of the eternal salvation of others. Now don’t get me wrong, our sacrifices cannot earn our salvation or anybody else’s salvation. But through our loving sacrifice and testimony concerning Jesus others will come to know and trust in Him; through our lives and words of witness they will come to trust in Him for their salvation.
Do we fail at this? Yes. We fail daily. When we pray the Lords Prayer we pray , “Hallowed be thy name” Luther teaches that in this petition we ask that God’s name would be kept holy among us by how we, the people who bear His name, live as his representatives. How often do we fail at properly representing our loving and holy heavenly Father? Every day. And yet we know our heavenly Father’s forgiveness for us in Christ. But in addition to trusting in our forgiveness through Christ, we also have been called to daily die to sin and live out His righteousness. We do this by showing the world the signs He has given us to show; by living according to His will and by lovingly granting forgiveness to all who sin against us.
It is in Christ’s nature as God to do all that He did. But it is completely against our sinful nature to love God or to love others rightly. It is completely outside of our human ability to offer the forgiveness that only God can give. But that is the amazing work (these are the amazing signs) that Christ gave us to do. And by the power of the Spirit, in Jesus name, we can do this, to the Glory of the Father.
The people of our world demand a sign of God’s love. They want signs of His goodness and power. God has given them us (the Church, Christ’s Bride) as a living breathing sign. The acts of obedience, love and forgiveness are great signs to all those around us. They show others that just as Jesus is in the Father and the Father is in Him, we are in Christ and Christ is in us. These signs are greater than Christ’s signs because the signs He did you should expect from God.
The signs we do, nobody should expect from sinners like us. But God will use His Church to bring others out of darkness and into His glorious light. The people of the world demand a sign from God that He loves them; that He is good; that He is worthy to be praised. What sign has He given them? He has given them the Church. We are His living witness. May we be bold in showing His love, His forgiveness and His power to the Glory of His holy name.
Please pray with me.
Loving Father, You sent Your only begotten Son into the world with powerful signs and wonders to show us that He is our Savior and our God. Fill us with Your Spirit so that we too would do the great signs you have given us to do; signs of love for You and our neighbor, signs of obedience and forgiveness. As we wait for Christ’s return, help us to walk in the way that leads to You. Help us to rely on Christ for our forgiveness and salvation and to follow His example of steadfast love and faithfulness, so that many people might see our good deeds and glorify You on the day of Christ’s return. All this we ask through Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit one God now and forever. Amen.