Title: God has made Jesus both Lord and Christ!
Text: Luke 24:16, 27, 29a, 30a
16 but they were kept from recognizing him.
27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.
29 But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; 30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him,
Today / tomorrow we celebrate the confirmation of 5 sons and daughters of Peace. And what a blessed joy it is / will be … as their Pastor, to hear their voices say, for some what they were unable to say as infants, but also for those children who were baptized as teens … to be able to confess what they have been taught and what they now believe and hold true by faith.
Faith is certainly not something that is in them or us by nature. For by nature we can neither see who God is nor come to him. But, as the third article of the Apostle’s Creed says in Luther’s explanation:
What does this mean?
I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.
In the same way He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. In this Christian church He daily and richly forgives all my sins and the sins of all believers.
On the Last Day He will raise me and all the dead, and give eternal life to me and all believers in Christ.
This is most certainly true.
God has made Jesus both Lord and Christ!
Last weekend we talked of unbelief and the story of Thomas. But in reality, and for all of us, we come into this life conceived in sin and as enemies of God. We are all brought forth in inequity and separated from the one who made us and desires to have fellowship with us. We are dead to God and can’t know him as a loving father … unless He … first comes to us.
For these confirmands God first came in His word connected to the water of Holy Baptism. This washing of water with the word washed away the original sin that we are all born with, replacing it with the righteousness of Christ that is foreign to us all, given as a gift, to precious children who are marked now as ones redeemed by Christ the crucified.
For most of them, over the last 13 years, they have been instructed and taught about our Lord and savior Jesus Christ from parents, Sunday school teachers, Vacation Bible School classes, pastors and yes … even through church attendance and … sermons!
God’s word has been proclaimed to them and this word is brought to them by the working of the Holy Spirit.
In the Gospel today we read of two followers of Jesus on the Emmaus Road.
15 As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself … came up and walked along with them; 16 but they were kept from recognizing him.
Remember this:
Now what they were discussing was the very hope they had … that this Jesus … was the promised Messiah. But, He had just been tried, and was crucified, dead and buried, and they heard something about being raised from the dead? They were distraught as they walked away from Jerusalem towards village of Emmaus, all hope seemed lost.
They were kept from recognizing the resurrected Lord.
We all are kept from recognizing our Lord and savior too. It is only by a gift of God’s grace, through faith that we can see … who Jesus is and what he has done. It doesn’t come from our own reason and understanding, so that is why our children are taught from little children to hear God’s word and learn about Jesus and to be in worship … so they can recognize HIM! It is also why the responsibility for their continued involvement in church is yours … their parents and grandparents and guardians. So, they can know Jesus.
John’s gospel tells us so.
3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. John 17:3
This Gospel truth gives faith to those who hear by the work of the Holy Spirit. This faith points back to Jesus, who He is as both God and man and what He came to do – for you. So that their eyes are opened and that they see … recognizing Christ!
As the desciples continued walking:
25 Jesus said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.
Much like Jesus, those who bring God’s word to those who need to be taught do the very same thing. They explain in the scriptures the work of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ and how through the entire word of God, both Old and New testaments that Jesus is the one present.
10 For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. 2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3 They all ate the same spiritual food 4 and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. (1 Cor. 10:1-4)
God has made Jesus both Lord and Christ!
Our confirmands will confess their faith and trust in whom they have been taught shortly. They have been examined and have and have been found prepared and ready and for that we thank those who made sure they got here and could take and pass their exams.
Looking at the bulletin cover, that poor fellow on the left of Jesus must be just getting ready to take his own confirmation exam! He seems concerned.
28 As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. 29 But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.
Now pay close attention to this:
30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight.
Soon too, these newly confirmed members of Peace Lutheran Church will be fed on that very body and blood of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ when they receive the bread and wine for the forgiveness of their sins.
It is comforting to know that by faith their eyes will be opened to Christ and His forgiveness through this blessed gift. This very same gift is here for you and me and all who have been instructed and who receive, not only the bread and wine but the very body and blood of Jesus and believing and trusting God’s word too receive forgiveness, comfort, peace and the strengthening of their faith.
God has made Jesus both Lord and Christ!
32 They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”
It is my hope and prayer that God by His means of grace, through word and sacrament, will keep these new confirmands connected to Jesus and recognizing Him. May they continue to grow in faith and in service to neighbor as they remain an important part of Christ’s body, the church.
For all of you veteran church members … look at these new members … as fellow saints … not Junior members, but fully an important part of this body of believers here at Peace and give them your prayers and love as they grow into those who will lead the church of Christ for many years to come.
33 They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together 34 and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” 35 Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.
Students, may you always see and recognize the church as a place where Jesus Christ comes to gives out his gifts – for you. And, may you find joy, peace and comfort here in the presence of God and all who come to Him by faith.
May the Peace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit be and abide with you all now and forever!
Amen
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