Easter 2A Sermon: Breathless

Preached on John 20:19–31
The Second Sunday of Easter (Series A)
19 April AD 2020

Video: Click to view the YouTube video of Breathless. Includes reading of the Gospel, Collect for the Word, Luther’s Evening Prayer, and Benediction.

Audio: Alternatively, choose Breathless, MP3 audio of the sermon.

Summary: We shouldn’t be surprised that Jesus breathes on His disciples as He bestows the Holy Spirit. In Scripture, both the Hebrew ruach and the Greek pneuma are commonly used for breath, wind, and spirit. Therefore, His breathing out is a physical sign of the divine gift He gives. Later, on Pentecost, the sound of a “mighty rushing wind (Acts 2:2)” announces the coming of the Holy Spirit even before the tongues of fire appear.

So what happens when that breath is withheld? In common usage, you might be breathless if you exercise vigorously and are aching for oxygen. People with asthma often find themselves breathless, as do those with lung or circulatory troubles. We even talk about “breathless anticipation,” as if we’re afraid that drawing a breath might scare off good news.

What else can be breathless? Among other things, a rock, a statue, or a corpse. None of these can breathe on its own. Just as the first man needed God’s breath in order to have life, so we need His breath in order to move from spiritual death into new life in Him.

With this in mind, we see how Jesus’ breathing the Spirit into the disciples echoes the Creation, when “the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. (Genesis 2:7)” Jesus signals the dawning of the New Creation by building on what was done in the beginning. Just as He brings life to Adam, so He brings new life to all who believe on His name.

The Holy Spirit now breathes into every believer. He is our breath of life and a cleansing wind that blows through us, carrying off sin and decay. He inspires us to listen to God’s Word and to follow His ways — and we note that the Latin spiritus, from which we take our word “spirit” also means breath, as in “respiration.” So when the Spirit “inspires” us, He breathes into us, not air to support physical life, but Himself, in order to support spiritual life and to preserve us unto eternal life.

Text: On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.

Jesus said to them again, “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.”

Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.”

But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.”

Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.”

Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”

Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. John 20:19–31

Scripture quoted from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Video: Click to view the YouTube video of Breathless. Includes reading of the Gospel, Collect for the Word, Luther’s Evening Prayer, and Benediction.

Audio: Click Breathless for MP3 audio of the sermon.

Other Readings: Psalm 148; Acts 5:29–42; 1 Peter 1:3–9

Lent 5A Sermon: These Bones Live

Preached on Ezekiel 37:1–14
Fifth Sunday in Lent
With an Abbreviated Service of Prayer and Preaching
29 March AD 2020

Video: Click to view the YouTube video of These Bones Live. Sermon begins at the 13:10 mark, following Responses, Scriptures, Creed, and Lord’s Prayer. The service concludes with the Prayers of the Church, Collect of the Day, Collect for the Word, Morning Prayer, and Benediction.

Summary: When they are caught up by the Spirit of the Lord, His people end up in some interesting places. Today we witness Ezekiel, prophet to the exiles in Babylon, receiving a vision of restoration for Israel in a valley of dry bones. These are not the recently deceased, as was Lazarus in today’s Gospel. They are long-dead, barely a memory among the people. Yet they receive new lives as a gift of God.

Just as the Spirit reassembles and reanimates the dry bones, so the Lord promises to revitalize the Children of Israel and to return them to the land promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Furthermore, we know that the same God who grants life to all creatures and spiritual life to all who believe in Him will lead us from mortal life in this fallen Creation to everlasting life through Christ in the New Creation.

Text: The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones. And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

And I answered, “O Lord God, you know.”

Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord.”

So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But there was no breath in them.

Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.”

So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.

Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.’ Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord.” Ezekiel 37:1–14

Scripture quoted from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Video: Click to view the YouTube video of These Bones Live. Sermon begins at the 13:10 mark.

Other Readings: Psalm 130; Romans 8:1–11; John 11:1–53

Pentecost 6 Sermon: Never Alone

Preached on 1 Kings 19:9b-21
The Sixth Sunday after Pentecost — Proper 8C
26 June AD 2016

Title: Never Alone (MP3 Audio)

Summary: We all experience bouts of loneliness, of feeling that no one cares. Few, probably, match the sense of abandonment that Elijah expressed on Mount Horeb. Perhaps those in nursing homes such as the audience for this sermon come as close as anyone.

Yet Elijah wasn’t truly alone — neither are we nor are those who gathered tonight to hear these words. Each of us is intimately known and deeply loved by God. Each is special in His sight and He desires to abandon no one.

Christ guaranteed our place with the Father by allowing Himself to be forsaken by God and man. Abandoned on the cross, He paid for our sins so that He might draw all people to Him. He faced this ultimate loneliness that we might be together with Him and with each other in the communion of His Church.

The Holy Spirit brings us together to encourage us. He also gathers the believers that we might be prepared to reach out to the lonely and marginalized among us. He draws us out of our bouts of self-pity and leads us to have pity on others, meeting their needs with God’s love in Christ Jesus.

Text: Behold, the word of the Lord came to [Elijah], and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

He said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.” And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.”

And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper. And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.

And behold, there came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

He said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.”

And the Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria. And Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint to be king over Israel, and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint to be prophet in your place. And the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael shall Jehu put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha put to death. Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”

So he departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen in front of him, and he was with the twelfth. Elijah passed by him and cast his cloak upon him. And he left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, “Let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.”

And he said to him, “Go back again, for what have I done to you?”

And he returned from following him and took the yoke of oxen and sacrificed them and boiled their flesh with the yokes of the oxen and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and went after Elijah and assisted him. 1 Kings 19:9b-21

Scripture quoted from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Audio: Click to hear the MP3 of Never Alone.

NB: A few people have had problems trying to play the inline audio with Windows Media Player. If this occurs, you can either change to QuickTime or another default browser player, copy and paste the link directly into a selected player, or download it to your computer, where it seems to work regardless of which player. Several folks have suggested VLC Player from VideoLAN.

Other Readings: Psalm 16; Galatians 5:1, 13-25; Luke 9:51-62