St. Paul Lutheran Church, Minden, Nebraska
Sunday Sermon – Second Sunday of Easter – May 1, 2011
“Forgiveness: Put It To Good Use”
Text: John 20:20-23

If the good news of Easter is that Easter works; that Easter changes
things; that Easter means there’s life & hope for all of us; then
the good news from the Gospel of John this second Sunday of Easter
is that forgiveness works, God’s forgiveness in Jesus Christ changes
things too.
Let me start by talking about “blue in the face.”
A church is crowded with close to 500 people gathered for the
funeral of a friend who died in a car accident. More than half those
who come to the funeral are young people, a lot of whom have grown up
not knowing much about church or going to church. At the end of the
service, two friends having sat next to each other in the Fellowship
Hall and watched & listened to the service on a large, pulled-down
screen, as they leave the church and step out into the sunshine, one
of them says to the other “I don’t believe a word of it. The preacher
can talk until he’s blue in the face, but it isn’t going to change my
mind or make me see or do anything differently.”
“Blue in the face” can mean “a long time” or it can mean lot of
talking and preaching that isn’t going to change anything.
“Blue in the face” can also mean it’s so easy to judge people
who seem to have no use for church except for weddings or funerals.
It’s so easy to judge people who think church is all about religion
and taking away your fun and they don’t want any-thing to do with
religion. It’s so easy to judge people, who don’t know if God is for
real, or if heaven is for real, or if Jesus risen from the dead is
for real, and if Jesus really is risen from the dead, what difference
does that make with how people live out their daily lives?
To all of that I can boldly say whether the world is ready to
hear it or not, the resurrection of Jesus Christ not only assures us
of Jesus victory over the harsh realities of sin and death, but the
resurrection of Jesus changes things. The resurrection of Jesus not
only makes forgiveness possible, but it makes forgiveness work.
How important; how basic is forgiveness to the practice of
Christianity? That definitely shows up in the Gospel reading from
John 20 for this second Sunday of Easter.
First, Jesus’ sudden appearance in the midst of his frightened
disciples (without ever opening a door) “took their breath” away,
scared them silent, probably made them swallow hard and look down at
their feet not wanting to look at Jesus whom they had deserted.
What’s so noteworthy & encouraging about the first appearance of
the risen Jesus to His disciples is that the risen Jesus did not
waste any time getting back to those unfaithful, guilt-ridden disciples
to let them know, let them hear, let it surprise them, let it change

them & make them glad again: “Peace be with you.”
Was Jesus blue in the face? Was his face flush with anger? Did
Jesus tell them what a disappointment they were to him?
Did he say
to them, “Where were you guys? All that I said to prepare you for
what was coming and what did you do when I could have used some help!
You disappeared; you ran. And you call yourselves disciple?” Did
Jesus question them; accuse them; blame them, shame them?
No! Jesus forgave them. What DOES it mean to forgive someone?

I think Frederick Buechner has it right when he writes, “To for-give
someone is to say one way or another, ‘You have done something unspeakable,
and by all rights I should call it quits between us. Both my pride & my
principles demand no less. However, although I make no guarantees that I
will be able to forget what you’ve done and though we may both carry the
scars for life, I refuse to let it stand between us. I still want you for my
friend. (from “Wishful Thinking”, FB, p.29)

What does it mean to forgive someone? It doesn’t mean to
get “blue in the face about it.” It doesn’t mean “to forgive is to
for-get.” Buechner has it right because Buechner’s description of
forgiveness is exactly what the risen Jesus demonstrated toward His
cowardly disciples.
As those disciples sat still & looked at the floor & felt the
guilt & despair of what they had done, what an amazing thing happened
to them in the depths of their guilt & despair.
Fresh from His victory over the bondage of sin & death, guilt &
shame, when Jesus said, “Peace be with you,” Jesus released those
disciples from what separated them from Him, removed the guilt
of their failures.
In saying, “Peace be with you,” Jesus was
saying, “although I make no guarantees that I will be able to forget
what you’ve done and though we may both be deeply scared it all, I
refuse to let it stand between us.”
Forgiveness is at the heart of who Jesus is and what He has
accomplished for us and it is also what Jesus empowers us to do with
His forgiveness -- and that is to put it to good use, just as Jesus
Himself put it to good use.
How odd that the church should be known among many in the world as
a place of judgment and finger-pointing criticism and condemnation
of those who don’t know much about church or go to church. First and
foremost forgiveness is not about a right way to live, but first and
foremost forgiveness is about a right relationship to have with God,
with each other.
Forgiveness begins at home, in the church. We forgive no sin
among fellow Christians or non-Christians in the world that has not
already been forgiven by Jesus in us.
“Don’t judge a book by its cover,” we say. “Don’t judge people by
how they look,” and yet we do. Forgive us, Lord, and He does.
“Don’t find fault with your children, your spouse, your neighbor,

don’t point your finger, don’t keep a record of wrongs, don’t try to
get even,” we say, and yet we do. Forgive us, Lord, and He does.
There is no way for us to help others connect with the living Lord
Jesus Christ in a personal & meaningful way without forgiveness, lots
of forgiveness.
Forgiveness is the work, the action of the Holy Spirit in our
lives. More accurately, it is the action of Christ through the Holy
Spirit in our midst. By the power of the Spirit, the risen Jesus is
present both forgiving us and forgiving through us. The Spirit is
given to us by Christ himself. He breathed upon the disciples and
they received the Holy Spirit.
In one of her books, Corrie Ten Boom, who survived life in a Nazis
concentration camp tells of meeting a guard from the concentration
camp where she & her family had been held by the Nazis. She had been
speaking at a large church meeting, and after the meeting the former
guard came forward. He put out his hand to her, and she instinctively
pulled back, remembering the horrors to which that hand had been put
or horrors in which it had cooperated. But then, she writes some-
thing came over her, she knew not what, and she reached out and
grasped the guard’s hand and extended her forgiveness as the tears
rolled down his cheeks.
There will be those who stay away from church who say this is
merely sentimental and who grit their teeth, as they choose not to
believe it, or demand an “eye for and eye and a tooth for a tooth.”
I must not, I do not, I try not to judge them. I only know that to
forgive as the risen Lord Jesus has forgiven me again & again is
beyond human comprehension; it is the work of God and can only be
done by me through the grace of God at work.
Nor, is it this an attitude we Christians carry around with us
all the time, like “little miss goody two-shoes.” Corrie Ten Boom
received the grace to forgive in the moment the grace was needed,
and not before. Our Lord Jesus Christ, upon the cross, forgave
his executioners while He was being executed by them. There was no
plenary absolution in advance. Forgiveness, like the resurrection,
breaks in upon us through shut doors, when we are prisoners of our
own failures and guilt.
So, getting back to “blue in the face”, I would say this: if we
are going to try to be faithful, steadfast, thick-skinned, believers
in & followers of Jesus, then we sure better become accustomed to
needing and receiving a lot of forgiveness.
And the good news for this second Sunday of Easter, the good news
when we are “blue in the face” with our failures, our mistakes, our-
short-comings, our guilt, our talking and blaming behind the closed,
the good news is that Jesus gives what we need to be his disciples.
That first Easter evening, Jesus commissioned His disciples whom
He forgave even as He commissions and still sends us. In His Word,

in the Sacrament of Holy Communion, Jesus breathes upon us again and
again with His Holy Spirit and forgives us.
Every step of the way, with each faltering, stumbling step that we
take, Jesus forgives us. That is the great resurrection message.
That is putting this great gift of forgiveness to work. For where
there is forgiveness of sins, there is life and salvation. Where
there is forgiveness of sins, people to start to see things different
& even change their ways.