The Word of God that calls for our attention as we continue to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord, is from St. John, chapter 14: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In My Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, I would have told you, I’m going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me, that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going. Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we don’t know where You are going so how can we know the way?’ Jesus answered, ‘I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.'”
Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
A wife looks one last time into the casket of the man to whom she was married for 50 years. Tears streaked down her cheek as the funeral director closes the coffin. Across town, the father and mother of a 5-year-old sit by a hospital bed as their daughter lingers near death. The leukemia seems stronger than their little girl. On the other side of the hospital, a doctor speaks with quiet compassion to the family of an accident victim. “We did everything we could,” he tells them, “we just couldn’t save him.”
I won’t ask if death has affected you. Death eventually affects everyone. I will ask, “How has death affected you?” Is it possible that a doctor has already told you that you don’t have long to live? Is life in its waning days for someone that you love dearly? Do you struggle to get through each day even now, because someone you care about has already gone to his grave? Do you fear for someone who is in Iraq or Afghanistan or in the midst of hostility somewhere else in this world? Or are you waiting to be deployed to one of those places? Then again, maybe you’re a police officer, a firefighter, or you have another job that puts you in danger every single day. Or maybe you’re like me–someone who doesn’t seem to be in any kind of immediate danger of dying, but who, like most of the people in this world, is afraid of death; afraid of the pain; afraid of what will happen to the children you leave behind; afraid of all the unknowns that come with the end of life.
Jesus says to you, “Let not your hearts be troubled.” And we wonder why shouldn’t our hearts be troubled? From the moment we’re born, it’s only a matter of time until we die. How could Jesus say, “Let not your hearts be troubled”? Didn’t Jesus know what life would be like in the 21st century? Didn’t Jesus understand that the end of life brings pain and heartache? Oh, yes, Jesus understood exactly what life would be like in the 21st century. And, yes, He understands that it hurts when people die. That’s why He said, “Let not your hearts be troubled.”
Over 200 years ago, a poet by the name of Samuel Medley composed a hymn, “I Know That My Redeemer Lives.” It’s brought comfort to countless Christians since then. Samuel Medley knew that the One who had been dead for three days is dead no more. That’s why he could write, “He lives to silence all my fears. He lives to wipe away my tears, He lives to calm my troubled heart, He lives all blessings to impart.”
Maybe Samuel Medley remembered that when Jesus said, “Let not your hearts be troubled,” He was talking to people whose hearts had every reason to be troubled. He was talking to 12 men whose trusted mentor was about to die unexpectedly on a cross. Twenty-four hours after Jesus said, “Let not your hearts be troubled,” He was laying in a tomb, dead. Jesus knew He was about to be crucified as He spoke to those apostles. And Jesus knew how deeply His death was going to affect those men. He knew how hard it was going to be for them to cope. Jesus knew how difficult life was going to get for them, while He was hanging on the cross. And He knew how tough it would be when He rose and sent them out to preach and to live in a world that was hostile to them. So Jesus said, “Let not your hearts be troubled.”
Jesus knows how deeply death affects you, too. Jesus knows all your worries in this world. He knows about your family; He knows about your job; your health; your grief; your stress. And that’s why He says to you, “Let not your hearts be troubled.” I think some times we believe that the Lord couldn’t possibly know what it is like to live in this messed up world, that He couldn’t possibly comprehend our fear of death or our anxieties in life. But our Lord knows exactly what it is like – He’s lived here on this earth. Jesus is a human just like you and me. He wept at the grave of Lazarus. Jesus had a frustrating family. Jesus had friends who abandoned Him when He needed them the most. Jesus even knows what it is like to be made fun of; what it is like to be persecuted for doing what is right. Jesus knows exactly what you are going through, and still He says, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in Me.”
We certainly can’t believe in ourselves. If we could believe in ourselves, if we could solve our own problems, our hearts wouldn’t be troubled. But why would we believe in Jesus instead of ourselves? Why would we entrust our entire existence to Someone who can’t even stop the Romans from executing Him? Why would we trust Someone who doesn’t even promise to make our earthly lives any easier if we do trust Him? Believe in Him for the same reason He invited the disciples to believe in Him that night before His death. Because the One who got hung from a cross was hanging there for you. You can trust Him because Jesus could have stopped them from crucifying Him, but He didn’t. He cared too much about you and your salvation to stop them. Nothing was going to stop Him from serving the death penalty for your sin in your place. Believe in Him. Because of all the religious leaders who have ever lived and died in history, only the One named Jesus brought himself back from the dead.
In the midst of your hardest trials in life, it is the risen Christ who says to you, “Let not your hearts be troubled.” It is the risen Christ who promises, “I’ve gone to prepare a place for you.” And He has gone to prepare a place for you. Forty days after Jesus rose from the dead, the apostles watched Him return to heaven. That ascension was not Jesus’ retirement party. Jesus is not up in heaven right now, sitting in His easy chair, relaxing as though all of His work is done. No, the One who provided just what you needed with His perfect life and His saving death, is still providing just what you need. Only now, He’s doing it from heaven. How? He’s preparing a place for you. He is making sure that the message of His saving work gets preached to you; making sure that the promises of His forgiveness reach your baptized ears; making sure His body and blood that bought your salvation are served, all so that He can keep you trusting in Him until the day of your death.
And that is not all He does. Dear Christian, He is coming again to raise your body from the dead and to bring you to be where He is. Where He is, there are no struggles; there are no sorrows; there are no troubled hearts. Where He is, there is no crying or pain. Where He is, death does not exist anymore, and where He is, there you will be also. That is His promise to every believer.
“You know the way to the place where I am going,” Jesus says to the disciples. Thomas has the guts to say what I think all of the disciples are probably thinking, “We don’t even know where you’re going. How can we know the way?” You and I do know where Jesus was going – to heaven. But we still ask, “How are we going to get there,” because we sure can’t get ourselves there. Scientists seem to be figuring out how to get ordinary citizens into space, but no one on earth is going to be able to find a way to get us into heaven, because nobody on this earth can get rid of our sin. So how will we get to heaven?
Jesus says to Thomas, and to you and me, “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life.” Jesus is the Way. I live in the southern part of Illinois, and every once in a while I make the five-hour drive north to Chicago. There are several different highways I could take. They’re all equally good; they’ll all get me to my destination. In other words, there are lots of ways to go to Chicago. But contrary to the prevailing notion in this world, there are not lots of ways to get to God. There is only one way. Jesus makes that clear. “No one comes to the Father, except through Me.”
Now I’m not all comfortable telling other people that they are wrong. You may not be comfortable, either, but if we care about the people that we know who don’t trust in Jesus, we must tell them that they are wrong. We must warn them about the consequences of unbelief. I’m telling you right now. If you do not believe in Jesus; if you do not trust Him as your only hope for heaven, you will spend eternity without God. Now we Christians don’t say that because we want to be exclusive; we say it because we want to be inclusive. Like our Lord, we want everyone in heaven. But Jesus is the only way to get to heaven. Only Christians, you see, worship the true God, because only Christians believe that Jesus is God–who came down from heaven to live–for us–the sinless life that we haven’t lived, and to suffer–for us–the death that we otherwise would have had to die ourselves.
There are a lot of religions besides Christianity in this world, but not a one of them will get you to heaven. It’s not that the people who believe in those religions aren’t sincere – they’re very sincere. But sincerely can’t get rid of your sin. People who followed those religions may be the nicest folks that you will ever meet; they may fervently believe whatever it is that they believe. But their religions have no solution for sin. And so they still have to live with their sins, or more to the point that they have to die with their sins, and no one who dies with sins can enter into heaven. They believe God is not going to let sin into His paradise. If He let sin into heaven, it wouldn’t be heaven. It would be this messed up world all over again.
Since sinners can’t enter into heaven, shouldn’t our hearts be troubled? I mean, you’re a sinner; I’m a sinner. And we can’t get rid of that sin that would keep us out of heaven. And yet Jesus says even about that, “Let not your hearts be troubled.” Jesus can get rid of sin. Jesus does get rid of sin, our sin. He takes it with Him to the cross. And once He has taken your sin to the cross, there is no sin left to keep you out of heaven. In other words, He has taken your hell and made it His, so that He can take His heaven and make it yours. Jesus is the Way, the only Way.
Jesus is also the Truth. Some years ago, a little boy in the town where I lived at the time, died. Other children were rightly worried about where their friend was going to spend eternity; and I heard some well meaning, but misguided, adults say, “Don’t worry, all children go to heaven when they die.” I know those adults intended to comfort the kids, but they didn’t tell the truth. There is no place in the Bible where Jesus promises that all children go to heaven if they die. Those adults were trying to care, but they were making empty promises; and empty promises cannot calm troubled hearts, only God’s truth can calm our troubled hearts. But here’s God’s truth in the Bible that can calm the troubled heart, even of parents who worry about the death of children. “He who believes and is baptized shall be saved. Believe and be baptized every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. This promise is for you and your children.” There’s the promise of Scripture. Being a child doesn’t get anyone into heaven, but being a baptized believer for whom Jesus lived and died gets you into heaven – no matter what age you are when you die. There’s a truth to calm your troubled heart.
Look at Jesus and you will see the truth: the truth about God and the truth about His love for you. Look at Jesus and see love that is willing to come down from heaven; love that is willing to give His life for you. Love that is willing to care for you, and to carry you through all of your grief; through all of your sorrows; through every thing that happens to you in this world, no matter how hard it might be. Jesus is the Truth, the Truth that calms your troubled heart.
Jesus is also the Life. He did not look like the Life on Good Friday. He looked like death. His body hung limp and bloodied; His head was pierced by thorns; His hands and feet were punctured by nails; His side was stabbed by a spear that confirmed the reality: there was no life left in this man.
But remember, Jesus had said, “The Son of Man must suffer … be rejected … be killed, and after three days rise again.” And what He promised is what happened. They put Jesus in a tomb, but He did not stay there. Easter happened. Resurrection happened. The One who is Life left His grave behind empty. And when He baptizes you into that resurrection, His life becomes your life. Do you understand what that means, dear Christian? They may put your body in a grave at the end of your life, but when Jesus comes again, your grave is going to be just as empty as Jesus’ tomb was on Easter morning. In the midst of a world that is filled with death, Jesus’ resurrection is what calms our troubled hearts, because Jesus’ resurrection is the assurance of our resurrection.
It is because Jesus came out of the tomb alive that death is not the end of life for us Christians. Death is the door back to life the way God meant it to be; life without any problems; without any of the struggles of this world; life without death. And because of Jesus’ resurrection, that is what is waiting for you. Jesus is the Life, your life, your life that lasts forever.
Jesus knows how hard it is for you to deal with death. He knows everything that makes you anxious in life. And in the midst of your deepest grief; in the midst of your toughest times; in the midst of your hardest difficulties, your Lord who came out of the tomb alive says to you, “Let not your hearts be troubled.” That doesn’t mean He promises to take away all of your problems. But it does mean He promises to carry you through all of your problems. And it means those problems are only temporary. For even now, He is gone to prepare a place for you – a place where there is no more sorrow, no more crying, no more pain, no more death, no more problems, period. And Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life to get you there. So as you face death, and as you face every other difficulty, you can confidently believe what Christians have been singing for centuries, “He lives … to calm my troubled heart.” In the name of Jesus, Amen.
LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers) for April 24, 2005
Topic: The Resurrection Of The Body (Part 1)
ANNOUNCER: And now, more about this uniquely Christian hope of the resurrection. I’m Mark Eischer, and my guest is Dr. Jeff Gibbs from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis. Dr. Gibbs, in the Apostles’ Creed we say we believe in the resurrection of the body and the life ever lasting. What does that mean?
GIBBS: Well, it refers to the great promise that God has given us, that because His Son, Jesus Christ, died for us to take away our sins, and He rose from the dead, that when Christ comes again in glory, He will, that is, God will raise our bodies, physically, and restore us to what can rightly be called, eternal life.
ANNOUNCER: And this body that is resurrected is not the same sort of body as we know it now?
GIBBS: Well stated. You said the same “sort” of body. Now, it is the same body, because the example that we have is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. His body buried in the tomb on Good Friday, Easter morning raised to resurrection and life. So it’s the same body, but we can see it’s not the same “sort” of body because He appears, He disappears, He passes through locked doors, He does all kinds of wondrous, miraculous, eternal kinds of things. And so, when the Apostle Paul is discussing this very issue in 1 Corinthians 15, in verse 35, he brings up a question, and it’s just the way you said it. “What sort of body will we have in the resurrection?” And the answer is a mysterious one – it’s a wonderful one. We can almost define it best by saying things that it will not be.
ANNOUNCER: OK.
GIBBS: That is, not mortal – but immortal, not perishable – but imperishable, not weak – but powerful. Then again, the Lord Jesus Himself is our firstfruits, He is the first to be raised from the dead, and on the last day, all who trust in Him will also be raised and their bodies, the same body, but not the same sort of body, that’s not a bad way of saying it.
ANNOUNCER: During the introduction, I referred to this as a uniquely Christian hope, and I’m wondering: How does the Christian teaching of the resurrection of the body compare to other cultural notions of an afterlife?
GIBBS: In our culture in North American, especially 21st century North American culture, if there is a future, it tends to be thought of in terms of a disembodied future. You know, we even speak of life after death, but that implies that you still stay dead. If unbelievers have a hope, it doesn’t involve the body; it doesn’t involve the creation, it’s almost kind of what we might call a Greek philosophical notion of escaping from the body, or leaving the creation behind. The Christian hope, on the other hand, is most focused on the Creator God who is also, then, the Recreator. And again, this is a God who is not ashamed of His own creation; in fact, He came down and became part of it. The incarnation of Jesus, the Eternal Son of God becoming a Man, and not just dying; again, His death is the price that He paid. But His own resurrection is also the beginning of God recreating our bodies and, as Paul teaches in Romans 8, not only our bodies, but the whole creation, which is still, he says, like a woman in the pains of labor waiting, waiting, waiting for that final, final great day.
ANNOUNCER: We’ve been talking with Dr. Jeff Gibbs, professor at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis. This has been a presentation of Lutheran Hour Ministries.