1 May
2011
St. Athanasius Lutheran Church
Easter 2 Vienna, VA
“The Voice That Breaks the Silence of
Sin”
Text: John 20:19-31 (Acts 5:29-42)
Alleluia!
Christ is risen! [He is risen
indeed! Alleluia!]
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and
from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Amen.
As my
family and I were driving around recently, we saw a sign along the road that
said: Speak only to improve the silence.
That’s what Jesus did in the Holy Gospel today.
The disciples had gathered together
in a room that Easter night. They probably didn’t know what to say, and any words
they did say were probably awkward and inadequate. The tomb was empty -
Peter and John had seen that. The women reported seeing Jesus. But what did it
all mean? For them now? For the
future? What
were the Romans going to do? What were the Jewish leaders going
to do? What should they do? What should they say?
The silence in that room was perhaps
only surpassed by the turmoil in their hearts and minds. About what they could
have done, what they should have done, and what they would do if
they could hit the rewind button and do it all again. . . .
But they couldn’t. And now . . . now what?
That is the silence and turmoil when
sin reigns.
The silence like when Adam and Eve
sinned and their fellowship with God was broken. I think the garden suddenly
got very silent, as togetherness gave way to separation, as joy turned to
grief, and our first parents hid themselves in ashamed silence, in self-condemning
silence. We do it, too. Because of our sin maybe we separate ourselves from the
church, or our prayers grow silent, or we’re here, but in our hearts and minds we’re a thousand miles away.
It is the silence also when in sin
our fellowship with each other is broken - in churches, is marriages, in
friendships. We stop talking to one another; we give someone the cold shoulder;
we begin to avoid one another.
But all the while, while there is
outward silence, there is inward turmoil. The couldas, wouldas,
and shouldas. The doubts and fears, the worries and shame, the anger and
hatred directed at others, and that we direct at ourselves.
The silence and
turmoil when sin reigns.
And for the disciples, that was the
silence of death. The voice of the very Son of God had been silenced. The voice
that forgave sins, that comforted the lonely, that calmed the storms at sea,
that called them to follow, that taught with authority, and that raised the
dead . . . now silent. Oh, what they would do to hear it once again! To have one more chance. To repent of
falling asleep when He was praying, and of denying Him, and of running away in
fear . . .
The silence and
turmoil when sin reigns.
And then Jesus appears to them and
breaks the silence! Peace be with you,
He says. Twice. Which is not
just a way of saying “howdy!” It is much more than that. It is the
peace of God. It is the peace of sins forgiven. It is the peace of a restored
fellowship with God. It is the peace of the resurrection.
For God does not
give us the cold shoulder when we sin - He comes to us and breaks the silence. Lent and Holy Week were all about God coming to us and
taking our sin upon Himself. The
Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Easter is now about
God coming to us and giving us His victory, His forgiveness, His
now-resurrected life. That you might know. That you might
live. That you might believe.
And so He came to Adam and Eve and
called out: Where are you? And promised to send a
Saviour to overcome the silence and turmoil of their sin. He came to the
disciples and proclaimed to them: Peace! Promised
fulfilled. And now He comes calling you by the proclamation of His
Gospel of peace. That whoever you are, wherever you are, and whatever you have
done, peace be with you - your sins are
forgiven. Believe it. You do not have to deal with your sin - you cannot. But
Jesus did. The Lamb of God is your Lamb, your forgiveness, your life.
And so the voice of the Son of God
could not remain silent, but in His resurrection speaks now more loudly than
ever. To silence our doubts and fears. To silence our regrets - all our shouldas, wouldas, and couldas.
To silence the lies of satan.
No wonder the church breaks her
silence with so many alleluias during the Easter season! And from how
many mouths, all over the world?
Which is exactly as our Lord would
have it. For when Jesus gave His peace to His disciples, He then told them to
speak it to others.
“Peace be with you. As the Father
has sent me, even so I am sending you.” And when
he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive
the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you
withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”
The peace of forgiveness they would
now proclaim to the world. They would be the mouths that would deliver the
peace and forgiveness of Christ to the world. Which they
did, for it seems as if they immediately went out and told Thomas.
And which they continued to do, which is why the Jewish leaders got upset with
them in the first reading we heard from the book of Acts and wanted to kill
them. They could not keep silent. Jesus not only forgave them and gave them
their life back; He gave them a voice. He gave them His Spirit.
And now, pastors continue to speak as
the apostles did - feeding the flocks of Jesus entrusted to their care with His
Word of peace and forgiveness. That the silence of sin and
death continue to be broken by the voice of life and hope.
The voice of life as those born in sin
are raised to life through the Spirit-filled waters of Holy Baptism.
The voice of hope to call those mired in sin to repentance,
and then to speak forgiveness through the words of Holy Absolution.
And the voice of the one who feeds
the world with His own Body and Blood, conquering our death and mortality with
the food of immortality.
And in all these ways, our Saviour’s “Peace be
with you” is still sounding forth in all the
world. Our Saviour’s
forgiveness still being given in all the world.
But not only do pastors speak this
Word of life and hope, all of you also take our Lord’s peace and forgiveness out into the
world as well. That what you receive, you also give, and not keep silent. In
your families and marriages, in your schools and workplaces, you take:
Words of forgiveness
to those who are weighed down by sin.
Words of hope to
those who have no hope. Words
of life to those who are dying.
Words of truth to
the vexed and confused. Words
of peace to those in turmoil.
Words of comfort and
joy to those who are downcast.
Words of love to
those who are outcast. Words
of faith to the doubting.
Words of
resurrection.
Words that you can
speak because these are words that have been spoken to you. Words that actually do not improve the silence,
but shatter it and scatter it!
Just as Jesus did in
His resurrection. Just as Jesus did
in that room with His disciples that night. Just as
Jesus does for you.
That blessed be not only the small
number of those who actually got to see Jesus before His ascended, but blessed
be those who have not seen, and yet have believed. How? Through the Word. The Word that breaks the
silence and turmoil of sin. Our Lord’s
Word of forgiveness and peace.
That Word now comes to you today. Into your ears and into your mouths. That
you may not be unbelieving, but believing. That you may taste and see
that the Lord is good and take refuge in Him (Psalm
34:8). For as the disciples found out,
locked doors are no refuge. Locked hearts are only prisons of our own making.
But the one who broke the seal of the grave; the one who broke the power of sin
and death; the one who comes through locked doors; the one we welcomed at
Christmas as the Prince of Peace, yes, He is our peace.
For the tomb is
empty, and you are forgiven. You are
free.
For Christ is risen!
[He is risen indeed! Alleluia!]
In the name of the
Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Now the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.