Presidents Piece for Peace
The blessed festival of Easter has come, but it has not gone. Maybe the festival day itself won't be celebrated for another year, but the fruits of the Feast continue for eternity. We find that truth in the Words of Jesus to Mary Magdalene on the day of His resurrection (John 20:17). As she was grasping Him in her unexplainable joy Jesus said: "Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended unto the Father; but go unto my brethren, and say to them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and my God and your God." One of the many fruits of the Easter message is that the victory of Christ creates a relationship between God the Father and lost humanity. As Jesus joined our flesh in His human nature, He took the sin of our flesh and placed it on His flesh that He could make atonement for our sins in our place. Now, in His resurrection, He has made it so that our flesh may be received by God the Father as though it is spotless and clean from all sin and unrighteousness. We become His even as He has made us to belong to Him. That is why Jesus uses family language when talking to Mary Magdalene about the Apostles. They (the Apostles and the rest of all fallen humanity) are His brothers. By the blood of Christ we are family with one another under the parentage of the One Holy, God the Father. To believe this is to be received into the Holy Family with eternal fruit and blessing.
Luther hi-lights this point when preaching a sermon on the Easter Festival of 1538 in Wittenburg, Germany. His emphasis is on the benefits of being family under God the Father with Jesus as our Brother. Here is what the great Reformer of the Church had to say on that date:
"Therefore, though your own unworthiness rebukes you, when you engage in prayer, and so you think: alas, my sins are too many, and I am afraid that I cannot be Christ's brother, strike out about you and defend yourself as best you can, that such thoughts may find no room in your mind. For here you are in great danger of committing the sin against the Holy Ghost. With all confidence and boldness reply to such thoughts of the devil: I know very well what I am, you need not tell nor teach me, for it is not your business to judge this case; therefore, away, you lying spirit! I will not and must not listen to thee. Here is my Lord Jesus Christ, God's only son, who died for me and rose again from the dead; he tells me that all my sins are forgotten, and that he will be my brother, and that I likewise am to be his brother; and it is his will that I should believe this from my heart without wavering."
Who could express that more beautifully than the preacher of the Gospel. Christ Jesus has made us family in His name. The Church, our beloved Synod, the members of Iowa District East, your own congregation; brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ our Lord. The Easter festival may have come, but it certainly is not gone. In the blood of Christ we are family now and for eternity. He is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!
Brian Saunders, President IDE
