Jesus Still Ministers to Us, Part 2 (Sermon for the Seventh Sunday of Easter: June 1, 2025)
- Rev. Raymond Doubrava
- 12 minutes ago
- 6 min read
Texts: Psalm 133
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Alleluia, Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia. And is seated and the right hand of the throne of God.
The text that serves as the foundation for our sermon is all of our readings, but especially these words at the beginning of our gospel reading, “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us” (John 17:20-21).
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus,
Christ our Lord ascended into Heaven on the fortieth day of Easter. We celebrated this event on Thursday. And yet, in His ascension, He promises that He is always with us, that He is always there, taking care of and providing for us. On Thursday night in our sermon, we looked at how Jesus is still ministering to us through the Word and the Sacraments, how Jesus is still here, taking care of, providing, serving us through the Word read and proclaimed, through the Sacraments administered. But this does leave a question. Because I don’t know about you, but if I put the Bible down in front of me, it doesn’t just start randomly talking to me. If a book started randomly talking to me, I’d be a little bit concerned. Likewise, we could fill up this baptismal font, we could have the elements ready for communion, and yet, they just would sit there. Jesus certainly still ministers to us through Word and Sacrament, but how are those given out? How are those good gifts given to God’s people? That is what we learn today in our readings. Today in our readings, we learn that Jesus still ministers to us through the men he has called into the office of the holy ministry.
Let us pray: O Jesus Christ, Son of the Most High God, who having left Your earthly humility, are seated at the right hand of Your Father as Lord over all things, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of our heart be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer, that You would send to us Your Holy Spirit, give us faithful ministers, preserve Your Word, curb Satan and every tyrant, and mightily uphold Your kingdom on earth until Your enemies are all laid at Your feet and we through You are victorious over sin, death, and all things. Amen.
Satan is quite loud. Satan, just because he is bound, just because he was defeated at the cross, tied up, just because he was given a short leash, he still got a really big bark. He still is quite loud and quite vocal. In so doing, he tries with all of his power to raise up as many people to echo his message as possible. He tries to get more and more people to believe the lies, believe the falsehoods that would drive us further and further away from God. He does this in many ways, whether that’s amplifying the voice of those who call for the death of the littlest ones still in the womb, whether that’s amplifying the voice of the LGBTQ+ community, not just this Pride month, but also throughout our world. But it’s not just amplifying those two big things. He also amplifies the voice saying, “Oh, it’s okay to live together outside of marriage.” “Oh, it’s okay to speak poorly of those who are in authority over us.” “Oh, it’s okay to gossip about our fellow church members. God’ll turn a blind eye to that.” Satan loves nothing more than being loud and trying to, with a cacophony of noise, silence the Word. He loves nothing more than to be flashy and try to, with a cacophony of visuals, blind us from the Sacraments and the gifts given therein. Satan wants nothing more than to drive us away from God.
And lest we think too highly of ourselves, we see in our first reading that none are immune to this. If Judas, one of the 12 disciples—who had been with Jesus from the moment that he witnessed the baptism in the River Jordan by John, who heard the voice of God the Father saying, “This is my Beloved Son”; if Judas, who had spent over two years walking with Jesus, seeing the good that he did; if Judas, who was in that upper room that first Monday Thursday—if Judas can fall away from the faith. and betray his Lord, whom he saw face to face, then on our own merits we have no leg to stand on. On our own merits we can’t hope to stand up to the attacks of Satan.
We need a Savior. And this is why Christ came. This is why Jesus took on human flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary. It’s why God became man so that He could dwell with us, so that He could live the perfect life you and I are incapable of living; so that he could share in our sufferings. So then He could go to the cross, taking our sin, our unworthiness, our unrighteousness upon himself, so that there He could shed his blood, life-giving blood, blood that forgives you your sins, blood that cleanses you from all unrighteousness. As sign and seal of this victory won, Christ was raised from the dead. Then Christ in victory ascended into Heaven, but He did so not leaving us alone. You see, this is the thing that is always, I think in many ways, hardest for us to understand. Because if I were to leave this room, would I be with you anymore? The answer is no. If someone leaves a room, leaves a place, they’re no longer with you. And yet, Christ ascended so that He could be with us everywhere all the time. Because He is God. And ascended and seated at the right hand of the throne of God, He now, in His state of exultation, is everywhere, fills everything. He now is able to take care of all of us everywhere, because He’s not just in one physical location anymore.
And yet, He also needs hands and feet to go and share that good news. “The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come.’ And let the one who hears say, ‘Come.’” (Revelation 22:17). Who is the one who hears? Well, we see that in our first reading, when the eleven take and appoint one to fill the office that Judas had vacated, to fill that role of apostleship, to be eyewitnesses with them to the resurrected Lord. And Matthias was chosen and put in that place. Even to this day, God continues to call men into the office of the ministry. We’re not eyewitnesses of the resurrected Lord, nor do we come of our own authority. But instead, called by God and ordained by the church, we come with the same message that God has. “The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come.’ And let the one who hears say, ‘Come.’” God continues to minister to us through his ministers that he gives to proclaim the word, to administer the sacraments, to give those gifts to you.
“And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price” (Revelation 22:17). That’s you. That’s me. That is us. As believers, we are the ones who are thirsty. We are the ones who hear that message of come and we come. And we eagerly drink the waters of life. We drink it in God’s Word, read and proclaimed, both here each and every week. as well as in our homes. We drink of this water of life when we partake of the sacrament of baptism, when our sins are absolved, when we partake of our Lord’s body and blood in, with, and under the bread and wine. Here we drink, we lap up that life-giving water. Here God gives it to us in abundance. What a wonderful thing that is.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, always eagerly come. Always eagerly hear that message from God through your pastor, that message that gives you that life-giving water. Receive that life-giving water through Word and Sacraments, knowing that it’s not the man that fills the office that’s important, but it’s that he is serving on behalf of your resurrected Lord. He is called to serve you. He is called to serve God by serving you. May you continue, today and every day, hearing and receiving that life-giving water, until at last we become partakers of the eternal joys that await us, both now and forevermore. Amen.
May the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
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