Palmarum (Palm Sunday)

 Palmarum (Palm Sunday) – April 13, 2025

Psalm 22; Philippians 2:5-11

St. Matthew 26-27

In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.[1]

Christ our Lord rode into Jerusalem to die for the sins of the whole world. Like the wood carried by the donkey up the mountain when Abraham intended to sacrifice Isaac, Jesus is being carried to the altar of the cross on a mountain called Calvary. Our Lord willingly submits to the mockery, torture, and execution of sinful men to redeem even those wicked Pharisees and Sadducees.

Despite dying for the sins of the whole world, the whole world is not saved. There are those blatant pagans, who scoff at the Name of Jesus. They have never believed in Christ and so condemn themselves. What is more difficult for many of us are those who have known the Name of Christ, been baptized and taught from His Word, but through laziness, discontent, or the influence of the world, have abandoned their Lord.

St. Peter and Judas Iscariot are two such people. Judas has been embezzling money from the disciples for some time. It seems the anointing of Christ at Bethany was the last straw for Judas. Sometime after the woman poured the costly perfume on Jesus’ head, Judas ran to the chief priests and said, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver [Jesus] to you?”[2] They handed over 30 pieces of silver and left Judas alone to begin plotting.

St. Peter believes himself to be zealous for the Lord. While he is sorrowful at first, recognizing that he is capable of betraying his Lord, Peter later decides that he will never abandon, let alone betray, Jesus. When the crowd appears, Peter jumps into action, drawing his sword and cutting off the ear of the chief priest’s servant.

In his zeal, Peter has forgotten that the Christ rode into Jerusalem to die. He made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and the likeness of men so that he could be obedient unto death.[3] This death would seal the new covenant in His blood, atoning for the sins of the world. Peter thinks he will defend Jesus from the crowd, not allowing them to take Him away.

When such a power play doesn’t work, Peter follows behind the crowd to the courtyard of the Sanhedrin. I’m sure he was working hard to develop a plan to spring Jesus out of the chief priests’ custody. It is here, in a garden, he denies three times to know Jesus at all. By the time the rooster crowed, Peter realizes his sin. Zealous Peter, who was willing to die with Jesus rather than abandon Him, had denied his Lord three times. The gruesome parts of that Friday, the torture and crucifixion hadn’t even begun, and Peter had already fled like a startled lamb. He ran into the early morning light weeping bitterly.

About the same time, Judas is also having second thoughts. The Sanhedrin condemned Jesus and were now taking Him to Pontius Pilate, the Roman Governor. Judas knew the only reason to take Jesus to Pilate was for a death sentence. He suddenly realizes that his actions have sentenced Jesus to death. His reaction to the situation tells us that he didn’t fully understand the implications of betraying Jesus until he had already set them into motion.

Peter ran away crying.

Judas ran back to the chief priests

Judas confessed his sin before them and gave back the thirty pieces of silver, but the chief priests would not have it. They did not forgive Judas but left him to contemplate his own sin. Then Judas went and hanged himself.

St. Peter disappears for a while. We do not hear about him again until the day of the Resurrection. He hides himself for shame. The former spokesman of the disciples, the recipient of miracles, St. Peter is reduced to a child hiding in his closet after hitting his brother.

The sins of Peter and Judas weighed heavily on their souls. Peter overestimated his righteousness. He overestimated his ability to withstand temptation. Thus, when he fell, he fell hard. It seems a slight sin to have denied knowing Christ, but it is indeed blasphemy. He was denying the very God who took on flesh to die for him.

Whenever you are silent in the face of sin, you too deny knowing Jesus. When you see homosexuality portrayed on television or in the movies and are not disgusted by it, you deny knowing Jesus. For that matter, whenever you watch something, read something, or even visit certain restaurants and think to yourself, “Oh, I can handle watching this. The nudity, language, violence, tight clothing, or other blatant sins won’t affect me;” you may as well proclaim, “Even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble!” This overestimation of your own righteousness and underestimation of your sinfulness is the sin of Peter in your flesh.

Judas was greedy. His betrayal began with the question, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver Him to you?”[4] Every time you have chosen the respect of the world over the commandments of God, you have bargained for far less than 30 pieces of silver. Submitting to the government because “they said so” or preferring the word of “Science” to the Word of God is appealing to the chief priests. Being annoyed by a long sermon or bible study but being able to sit through a 2-hour movie unperturbed is a sin. At least Judas made 30 pieces of silver. Today, we are happy to betray Christ for 7 minutes of pleasure.

All of you will be made to stumble because of Jesus, for the ancient flesh which clings to you desires nothing more than to scatter the flock of Christ. All of you will betray Christ in word and deed. What then is our hope?

Judas had no hope. He was sorrowful for his sin. He expressed contrition, the first part of repentance. Yet he was without faith. He did not trust that Christ could and would forgive him. He ran to the priests to make atonement for his own sin. He gave back the silver, trying to buy a clean conscience, yet even these wicked men would have none of it. Judas ran outside the city and hanged himself.

Suicide does not automatically condemn you to hell. It is entirely possible for a Christian, possessing faith in Christ for his salvation, to be overcome by a moment of emotion and make a stupid decision. The shadow of depression can pass over anyone and if the shadow is dark enough, it can make us think there is no light, at least for the moment. Such a suicide certainly can be saved.

But we should not take that to mean that everyone who commits suicide is not responsible for his actions, nor that the act of suicide is not inherently sinful. It is. And there are some who commit suicide because they have despaired of Christ. They believe He cannot or will not forgive them. Judas is one of these. Our Lord said of Judas, “woe to that may by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born.”[5]

Since the fall, man has confused good and evil. Since the enlightenment, we’ve fooled ourselves into believing the world is never black and white, only shades of gray. And since at least the 1980’s, we have come to celebrate the so-called “anti-hero” in the United States. We cheer for the dark, brooding guy bad guy who is full of wickedness but rises above it, at least for a while, to save the day. Every hero must be flawed so deeply that he constantly questions what is good and what is evil.

What’s more is that we’ve become obsessed with the idea that every villain must have a reason for his evil. He must have an origin story. Someone committed evil against him so he has a reason, a right, to perpetrate his evil acts. Evil is no longer evil. It is the understandable, if inadvisable or regrettable, consequence of a difficult life. Christians must reject this thinking because we know the devil is a liar and the father of lies. He is the source of evil. The sin clinging to our flesh is the source of evil. Evil is never something to sympathize with nor something to be played with.

This tendency in our modern minds has turned Judas into a sympathetic character. Many Christians choose to believe that Judas is in heaven. Jesus says differently. It would’ve been better had he not been born. This is a statement of condemnation. Judas dies in his sin because he dies without faith. He despairs of the forgiveness of God and hangs himself because he thinks he cannot live with what he has done. For the rest of eternity, he will endure not the love of God, but His divine wrath.

There is a note of hope for us in the story of Judas, however. Each time our Lord predicts His betrayal, Jesus is calling Judas to repentance. By the foreknowledge of His divinity, Jesus knows that Judas will ultimately reject this call to repent, but that doesn’t stop Jesus from calling. The worst thing to happen to men on this side of glory is to hear the silence of the Lord. Notice how often Christ is silent before Caiaphas and His other accusers. When God stops speaking to you in His Word and Sacraments, it means He has left you to the passions of your own heart. He did not shut His lips toward Judas. Judas shut his ears to the Word of God. Judas chose the approval of man over the love of God, and seeing that he had lost the approval of man, Judas hanged himself.

This is a note of hope for us because it demonstrates how far Christ will go to keep His sheep in His flock. Being called to repent, being confronted by your own sins does not feel good. It hurts when someone points out your sin. It hurts because the wound inflicted on your soul by sin is being reopened. The call to repentance opens the wound so that the wound may be cleaned out by the confession of your sin. The wound is then healed by the salve of Christ’s Word of forgiveness. The whole life of the Christian is one of repentance because repentance has two parts: sorrow over your sin and faith that God will forgive that sin.

St. Peter is the narrative foil to Judas. He denied Christ and ran away weeping. Wherever he went that Friday morning, we know that he returned to the company of the disciples by Sunday. He is again with the disciples in time to hear Mary Magdalene proclaim the resurrection to him.

Peter was ashamed of his sin, but he did not try to purchase forgiveness. He came back to the place where Christ promised to be. “Where two or three are gathered in My Name, there I am in the midst of them.”[6] Peter returned to the place where he expected Jesus to be, even if he didn’t fully understand Jesus’ prophecies regarding the Resurrection.

For his threefold denial, Christ our Lord gives St. Peter a threefold absolution.[7] Peter demonstrates both sorrow over sin and faith that Christ has overcome even his sin.

Preachers often find themselves trying to help you recognize sins in your daily life. I am quick to point out that utter devotion to a local sports team is akin to offering sacrifice to Yahweh in the morning and Baal in the evening. But sometimes, we all need to remember the severity of grosser sins. Peter denied knowing Jesus. He said, “I do not know Him.” This is like saying, “I am not a Christian!” Judas betrayed Jesus to a murderous mob, resulting in the Crucifixion.

These were not sins of momentary passions. They were wicked, manifest sins. Yet the death of Jesus atones for them. No matter what you have done—from giving more time and attention to the sportsball than to reading Scripture, to sleeping with another man’s wife, murdering a man in the flesh, or denying the Name of Christ for the sake of a job, money, or reputation—the Blood of Jesus has atoned for you.

If a guilty conscience ever seizes you, certainly remember your baptism, but also come to your pastor. Remember your baptism because it was the sure and certain moment in which you were washed in the waters of regeneration and born again of water and the Holy Spirit. You were made a new creation in Christ and an heir of heaven.

But also come to your pastor for absolution. You need to hear that Jesus has forgiven your sin in this very moment. With the hands of the pastor on your head, hear that Christ died for you, for this sin that plagues your conscience, for all the sins you have committed. Do not think you can handle sin on your own, like Peter did. Do not think you can relieve yourself of sin, like Judas did. Confess your sins and trust that Christ forgives them. Meet with Jesus in the place He has promised to be and hear the Word of absolution again and again for your sins.

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

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[1] The following sermon is a modified version of the sermon preached in 2022.

[2] St. Matthew 26:15.

[3] Philippians 2:7.

[4] St. Matthew 26:15.

[5] St. Matthew 26:24.

[6] St. Matthew 18:20.

[7] St. John 21:15-19.

Reminiscere (Lent 2)

 Reminiscere (Lent 2) – March 16, 2025

Psalm 25; Genesis 32:22-32; 1 Thessalonians 4:1-7

St. Matthew 15:21-28

In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The woman who pleads with our Lord this morning is explicitly called a Canaanite. By blood, she is not of Israel. She was raised in a household that worshiped false gods. She spent the majority of her life worshiping the false gods of Canaan. Or perhaps she spent her life ignoring the divine, focusing only on the cares and pleasures of the flesh. Whatever the case, she was raised and spent her life contrary to the Word of God, outside of the faith. When she looks back over her life, she has nothing but sin to remember.

And we might spend a moment in pious speculation about the father of the demon possessed girl. Where is he? Why isn’t he the one to petition the Christ on the child’s behalf? He could be home, praying to false gods that their daughter would be healed. He could be promoting his daughter as a new oracle of one of these false gods, perhaps even seeking to turn her into a temple prostitute as a means of financial gain. Of course, those options assume the father is still in the picture. Perhaps this poor girl doesn’t have a father at home. Perhaps her origin is another of the sins her mother has committed.

Whatever the case, we have a woman approach Jesus who, in one sense, has no right to petition the Lord’s Christ. She is coming from the outside and making a commotion that even the disciples are bothered by. They want Jesus to send her away. Maybe they want Him to quickly answer her prayer so she will go away. They have no time for an outsider. They have no time for someone to join their ranks. They can’t be bothered to make room for someone unfamiliar in the Church. Maybe they want Christ to curse her to get rid of her. What we know for certain is they want nothing to do with this outsider.

At first, it seems Christ is of one mind with His disciples. He doesn’t even respond to the woman’s first cry. He seems to ignore her. He only answers the demand of the disciples, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”[1] At the same time, He doesn’t rush away from the woman. He doesn’t pass through her midst unseen. He allows her to catch up, to remain with the group. He doesn’t respond to her, but He continues to listen.

So the woman falls on her knees before Christ in an act of worship and begs for His help. This time, He responds to her but again seems to dismiss her request. “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.” Christ is absolutely correct. It is not good to take food away from your children to feed dogs. It is not good to take away that which rightfully belongs to someone and give it to others because your emotions tell you the dogs need it.

The Canaanite woman will not let Him go, just like Jacob refusing to let go of Christ as they wrestled through the night.[2] “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” The woman is also, absolutely correct. She acknowledges what Christ has said is true. She does not desire to take what rightfully belongs to others. She does not want to appropriate that which has been given to the house of Israel. What she wants is to receive what is rightfully hers according to her station in life. She wants only the crumbs from the master’s table. She does not ask for the children’s food, not even their crumbs. She wants the crumbs of her Lord and Master. The smallest portion of food will suffice to fulfill her need.

For this, Christ greatly praises her faith and grants her request. He does not set her up in a palace nor give her the wisdom of the ancients. He grants her the life of her daughter and blesses her faith in the Word of God.

So what is really going on here? Much could be said but we will focus on two aspects: 1) the person of the Canaanite woman; and 2) the struggle of her prayer.

As I said before, the woman has a history of unbelief and sin. What is remarkable about her is that she doesn’t deny it. In no way does she try to justify her past nor assert her rights as a human being before Christ. She doesn’t claim to be a good person. She doesn’t claim the suffering of her daughter to be unjust, unfair, or greater than the suffering of anyone else. She doesn’t even put her own needs before Christ. Remember, she is begging the Lord to help her by healing her daughter.

In the Canaanite woman, we see a beautiful picture of a faithful and repentant person. She is willing to be called a dog because she knows that before the Lord Almighty, she doesn’t even deserve to be called that. She is a worm and not a woman, a reproach of men and despised by people.[3] Neither she nor her daughter has a right to be healed. They both deserve to suffer. This is why she appeals to the mercy of Christ, the Son of David. She begs that the Lord would withhold that which she truly deserves.

This is faith. Repentance consists of two parts – that we acknowledge our sins (contrition) and that we believe the Lord forgives them (faith). She does not come into the conversation with Christ with a specific promise that He will forgive her daughter, yet she trusts that whatever Christ does will be for her good.

At some point prior to our reading, this woman has heard the Word of God, maybe even heard Christ preach or seen Him perform miracles. At some point, she has been confronted by her sins and the effects of those sins on her beloved daughter. At some point, faith, the Holy Spirit, has entered into her heart and led her not only to repent but to seek the love of Christ. She sought the Lord and begs Him not just to be God, but to be God for her; to hear her prayers and answer them.

This woman is a beautiful example for all Christians to follow, for all mankind to follow. The sin that clings to our flesh is strong. We all have a history of sin, a rap sheet against the Law of God. You can try to hide it, but the Lord sees all and knows all. Your sin cannot be hidden from God. So like the Canaanite woman, you shouldn’t try to hide your sin. You should acknowledge before the Lord your God that you are a sinner, little more than the dogs fighting over scraps. You are right to be ashamed of your sin. It is a filthy thing. But it is for this filth that the Son of God became man. It is for this filth that He died and rose again. He wants to feed the dogs with the scraps from His table. He is good and His steadfast love endures forever![4]

When speaking of the person of the Canaanite woman, we must also address our Lord’s words to His disciples, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Christ is not speaking of the blood descendants of Abraham. He is not saying that He was sent only to save the repentant sinners who were circumcised and traced their heritage through Israel. The Shepherd of the entire world is Christ. His lost sheep are those lost in their sins. The house of Israel is the house of God, the Church. The lost sheep of the house of Israel are all those sinners who believe in Christ. He is saying that He has been sent only to the repentant faithful, who look to Christ for salvation. In a sense, He is telling His disciples to be patient because He was sent for this Canaanite woman, too.

The promise of salvation was never limited to the blood descendants of Abraham. The promise of bearing the seed of the woman, of the descendant who would die for the sins of the world, that promise was limited to the offspring of Abraham. The promise of salvation was always for all who would believe, be they Hebrew, Arabic, Indian, or European, descendants of Shem, Japheth, or even Ham. For evidence of this, look to Ruth, Balaam, Job, or Namaan. That means the promise of salvation is for you, too, not because you happened to be born after the resurrection of Christ but because the Holy Spirit has kindled the flame of faith in you by the Word of God.

We must also consider the struggle of this woman’s prayer. At first, the Lord seems to ignore her. Then He seems to dismiss her. Yet she persists in prayer. God will often seem to ignore your prayers. He will allow you to suffer the consequences of sin – both your own and simply the consequences of a sinful world. Does that make Him unjust, unrighteous, or unfair? Of course not. While it seems He is ignoring your prayer, He is actually listening very intently. He allows for the suffering of the faithful that our faith would be strengthened.

And don’t hear that as though God delights in testing your faith as though you need to believe harder. He puts your faith to the test that you would trust in Him. Jacob is not stronger than the Angel of the Lord. Christ could have broken every bone in Jacob’s body if what He wanted was to be rid of Jacob. But that is not the case. God delights in being “caught.” He delights in being caught in His own words and promises. He will test your faith to the point where you have nothing left but to say, “I may lose everything I have, my children, my wife, and even my life, but I will not let You go, Lord of my salvation.”

While many of our prayers focus on the needs of this body and life, we shouldn’t forget to pray that the Lord would keep us in the true faith. You cannot by reason or strength come to faith nor keep yourself in the faith. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to sustain your faith. It is good to pray that the Holy Spirit would restrain your sinful thoughts and deeds from ever driving you away from the faith.

“When in the hour of deepest need, we know not where to look for aid…Then is our comfort this alone, that we may meet before Your throne; To You, O faithful God, we cry for rescue in our misery. O from our sins, Lord, turn Your face; absolve us through Your boundless grace. Be with us in our anguish still; Free us at last from ev’ry ill. So we with all our hearts each day to You our glad thanksgiving pay, then walk obedient to Your Word, and now and ever praise You, Lord.”[5]

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

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[1] St. Matthew 15:24.

[2] Genesis 32:26.

[3] Psalm 22:6.

[4] Psalm 106:1.

[5] When in the Hour of Deepest Need, LSB 615, sts 1, 2, 5, 6.

Quasimodo Geniti (Easter 2)

Quasimodo Geniti (Easter 2) – April 16, 2023

Psalm 8; Ezekiel 37:1-14; 1 John 5:4-10

St. John 20:19-31

In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Thomas knows and understands that the forgiveness of sins flows from the wounds of Jesus. He desires to put his fingers in the wounds of the Risen Jesus and his hand into Christ’s riven side because he knows that without these wounds, the Resurrection would mean nothing. If Jesus hadn’t died on the cross, Thomas would still be in his sins and accountable to God. He would be under the Law and knows that he would face eternal damnation. In this way, Thomas is a skilled theologian.

But like many skilled theologians, Thomas misses the forest for the trees. There were many sins committed that first Easter. All the disciples failed to trust the teachings of Jesus. Our Lord was very clear, teaching multiple times that He would be betrayed, executed, and then rise again.^[1] He taught this was necessary for the salvation of the world. He even commanded the disciples to meet Him in Galilee after He is raised from the dead.^[2]

Despite these teachings, the disciples act very confusedly when the tomb is found to be empty. They gather in the upper room behind locked doors. They fear the Jewish leadership will come for them next, forgetting that Jesus promised them that all who believe in Him shall never die, and at the same time, if the Master is persecuted, so shall the disciples be.^[3] The disciples did not go to Galilee. They did not expect the Word of God to be fulfilled.

The difference between the high theology of Thomas and the simple theology of the disciples is the remembrance of another of our Lord’s teachings. “Where two or three are gathered in My name, there I am in the midst of them.”^[4] The other disciples continued together. They may not have gone to Galilee, but they remained united with the Church. Thomas may be looking for the sign of the atonement, namely the wounds of Jesus, but he has abandoned the church while on his quest.

It is inevitable that there are fewer people in attendance today than last week. Thanks be to God so many gathered last week to hear of the Crucified Lord who has won their victory over sin and death. Where are they now? Thanks be to God you are here this week. Where will you be next week? It was not just a coincidence that Thomas missed the appearance of Jesus. He did not just happen to be on a snack run to the corner store and miss his Lord by a few minutes. Thomas specifically chose not to gather with the other disciples.

By not gathering with the disciples, Thomas missed our Lord’s Institution of the Office of the Holy Ministry. On that first night of the Resurrection, Jesus breathed on the Apostles and explained the chief duty of the church on this side of glory, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”[5]

Certainly, the Scriptures contain many commands for those born again of water and the Spirit – we are to care for the orphaned and the widowed, submit to our rulers, pray diligently, attend the gathering of the saints in worship, tell others about Jesus, and so on. But the chief duty of the Church is the forgiveness of sins. We are the people who are to be abhorred by our own sins. We are to point out the sins of the world not for the sake of derision, but so that the world would repent of idolatry, blasphemy, and other forms of degeneracy. The purpose of God’s commands is always to point us toward the forgiveness of sins.

When the disciples confronted Thomas about his absence, he made it clear that if Jesus did not prove His resurrection on Thomas’s terms and according to Thomas’s timeline, he would never believe. This is a blasphemous statement. Who is Thomas to give such orders to his Lord and God? Who are you to demand that God obey your wants and desires, giving Him boundaries in which to work or else you will not be satisfied? Thomas clearly says that if God doesn’t do what Thomas demands, he will never believe in the resurrection.

Thomas is tempting God exactly as Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness. He is pretending to have the authority that belongs to God alone. Thomas is tempting God exactly as Satan tempted Adam and Eve. ‘Did God really show you His wounds? I didn’t see it, so I don’t believe.’ Thomas is tempting God just as the Jews tempted Jesus on the cross. ‘If He really is the Son of God, let Him show me by doing as I command.’

The other ten Apostles loved Thomas such that they would show him his sin. They were worried about his eternal salvation. When he responded defensively, as one might have expected, they did not give up on him. They did not exclude him from the gathering of the saints. Instead, they kept a place at the table for him. Thanks be to God, Thomas returned to the church with the Apostles, eight days later.

The written word does not always effectively communicate tone. When Jesus appears in the midst of the Apostles the second time, the tone of His comments is not recorded. I cannot say with certainty but let me offer a suggestion.

Perhaps our Lord’s words to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing,” were not as kindly sounding as most of us would like to think. Perhaps, these words were spoken harshly. Perhaps they are not an invitation so much as a rebuke.

Jesus is certainly not giving Thomas what he wanted. When the rich man cries out from hell that Father Abraham would send someone back from the dead to warn his living brothers, Abraham responds, “If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.”[6] In other words, the rich man’s brothers have the words of Scripture, the commandments and the promises, but if those will not turn their hearts, nothing they might see will grant them faith. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God.

Therefore, it is not fitting that Jesus would be giving Thomas exactly what he wanted. In that case, Jesus would be rewarding the blasphemy of Thomas. Rather, it seems almost like Jesus is intimidating Thomas. “You think you know how to strengthen faith? You think you know what you need? I’ll tell you what you need. You need faith. You need to trust Me for I am your Lord and God!”

It is also for this reason that I don’t think Thomas ever touches Christ’s wounds. I think the rebuke of our Lord is sufficient to crush his prideful heart. Thomas wants forgiveness according to his terms and on his timeline. Jesus rebukes his pride and calls him to repentance. Thanks be to God, the Holy Spirit works through the Word of God and turns Thomas’s heart. He immediately falls to his knees and repents. “My Lord and my God!”

The same is true in the Church today. When Jesus instituted the Office of the Holy Ministry, He did so for the sake of the forgiveness of sins. The called and ordained ministers of Christ are called chiefly to bear the keys of the kingdom of God. These two keys, the binding key and the loosing key, are closely related. They both pertain to the forgiveness of sins.

On the one hand, he who is penitent, recognizes his sin, knows his sin is worthy of the wrath of God, is disgusted by his own sin, and desires to be free from it, it is the duty of the called and ordained ministers of Christ to loose this man from his sins. It is not a judgment to be made by the Pastor. He does not forgive sins according to his own will or his desires. He forgives sins according to the Word of God. Just as whosoever’s sins he forgives on earth are forgiven in heaven, so too is it his duty to forgive those sins which the Father in heaven would forgive.

On the other hand, he who is impenitent, who refuses to acknowledge his sin as sin, who denies God’s ability to judge him, or who recognizes his sin but desires to remain in that sin, it is the solemn duty of the called and ordained ministers of Christ to bind him in his sin. The gates to the kingdom of heaven are to be closed to this man. The blood of Christ was still shed for him and forgiveness flows from this blood, but he has chosen to ignore this grace and mercy of God. He is bound in his sin not because of the nature or severity of his sin, but because of impenitence.

Do not overlook that last point. The nature or severity of sin is not the grounds for excommunication or church discipline. The only grounds for the use of the binding key is impenitence. One sad example is those who are impenitent regarding their violation of the Third Commandment, “Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy.” Thomas failed to gather with the Apostles on Easter evening. When our Lord sees him, He commands Thomas to stop unbelieving, but be believing. This tells us that while he was absent from the gathering of the Church, Thomas was in a state of unbelief. He was impenitent concerning his breaking of the Third Commandment.

Those who are physically able to attend the gathering of the saints but refuse to are breaking the Third Commandment. They might be otherwise pious people. They might be very kind and loving. They might read their Bibles every day. They may even send money to the church. But they are still breaking a commandment of God. What is worse, if the Church is able to reach out to these people and they still do not return to the gathering of the saints, they are bearing the fruits of impenitence. If they continue in impenitence, then it is the duty of the church to excommunicate them.  

Do not fear the word, “excommunicate.” The purpose of excommunication is never punishment. The purpose of excommunication is to show someone his sin. It is to bring his sin to the forefront of his mind so that he would know the consequences thereof. If a man does not know that he is sinning but continues in that sin, he is still liable to judgment. The loving thing to do is to call his sin to his attention so that he might repent and be welcomed back into the Church.

Such was the case with Thomas. Had he died during that week between Easter and the following Sunday, Thomas would certainly have found himself in hell. He was an unbeliever. Jesus stood before him and showed him his sin. What’s more, Jesus showed him the consequences of his sin. Jesus also showed him the God who was willing to take on his sin and die for it. Jesus showed Thomas His wounds so that Thomas would receive the forgiveness which flows from them.

Jesus showed Thomas the way of salvation and in so doing, pronounced a blessing upon you. Jesus said, “Thomas, it took me appearing a second time and forcing your eyes upon the bloody wounds caused by your sins for you to repent. Blessed are those who come after you, who receive My Word upon your lips, because they have not seen and yet have believed.”

Blessed are you today for in hearing the Word of God, you have received the forgiveness of your sins. Blessed are you who hear the Word of God, and your heart is turned away from sin and toward the Holy Body and Precious Blood of Jesus. Blessed are you who hear the Word of God and believe it without seeing.

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

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[1] St. Matthew 16:21-23; 17:22-23; 20:17-19; 26:1-2; St. Mark 8:31-33; 9:30-32; 10:32-34; St. Luke 9:21-22; 9:43-45; 18:31-34. See also the “lifted up” statements according to St. John 3:14; 8:28; 12:32.

[2] St. Matthew 26:32.

[3] St. John 11:26; 15:20.

[4] St. Matthew 18:20.

[5] St. John 20:23.

[6] St. Luke 16:31.