Easter 6 C
What a Difference a Day Makes
St. John 16:23-33
5 May 2013 – Redeemer
John1623 Easter 6 C 2013 Confirmation
“What a difference a day makes.” One day you can have 12 inches of snow and the next you can have summer. Wait another day and winter can return.
“What a difference a day makes.” Confirmation day is one of those days that make a difference. The most obvious difference is that last Sunday the communion rail was closed to you and in a little while it will be open to you. Your parents are probably reminiscing about how quickly this day came. “Why it seemed like just yesterday we were carrying our little Alex, all dolled up in his frilly white gown to the baptismal font.”
In today’s text Jesus is speaking to the disciple the night when He was betrayed and He talks about time – “in that day” “until now” “behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come.” In one day Jesus would be dead in His grave and two days after that He would be risen, breathing, and proclaiming life to the disciples. “What a difference a day makes” for Jesus, but most importantly for you.
Confirmation Day – does it make a difference? Well in one sense today makes no difference at all for you. The word “confirmation” is not found in the Bible. Jesus never commanded His church, “You shall confirm 7th and 8th graders after they have memorized Luther’s Small Catechism.” Nor did He promise that after you are confirmed you’ll notice a difference. The rite of confirmation is merely a practice of the church, a good practice, but it isn’t a sacrament. It doesn’t confer any special status or grace upon you. If kids called you names at school last week they will call you names this week too. If you aren’t very good at math this won’t help. Sorry mom and dad they disobeyed you last week and they will disobey you this week. God was your Father before the service and He remains your Father after the service.
I hate to say this, but in certain ways life might get worse after today. The world does not respect you for what you are about to confess. They think you are foolish for going to church. They think you are misguided and intolerant if you confess the truth of God’s Word – that faith alone in Christ alone is the lone, sole, single way to life everlasting with the Father. And God help you if in this world you believe in absolute truths like life (even of the unborn) belongs to God and marriage is between a man and a woman.
In those ways today makes no difference at all – you will still struggle with your sin, you are still God’s child, and the world will still stand opposed to everything you have learned from God’s Word.
But take heart and don’t think the goal of my sermon is to rain on your confirmation day parade. For one of the things you should have learned from the Scriptures is that God’s ways are not our ways and He often works in ways we don’t understand. While on the one hand, today makes no difference in your life, God’s Word tells us on the other hand that today makes all the different in the world for you. In fact you cannot help but be changed by what happened on this day.
Jesus begins the text with a time reference, “In that day.” Let’s have a quiz? (After all what’s catechesis without a quiz.) What day is Jesus referring to? What day is “that day” when the disciples would not ask questions, when the work of Jesus would be clear to them, when they would have heard God’s Word so that they could be ordained Apostles and begin preaching? What day is that day? Easter – the day when He arose? The Sunday after Easter – the day He appeared to Thomas? Ascension – the day He ascended into heaven to sit at God’s right hand? Pentecost Day – the day the Spirit came upon the Apostles so they could preach Christ and 3000 people could be brought to faith? Yes, all those days are that day.
You see, this day, Sunday, the day Christ rose, the day He appeared alive, the day the Holy Spirit came upon the Apostles, this day makes all the difference in the world for you.
Christ is risen (on this day) and that means your sins are forgiven. Every sock not picked up, every verbal jab to brother or sister, every Sunday you slept in – forgiven, gone, finished. Christ is risen and that means you are alive forever. No matter when you die – at 12 or 21 or 101 you live in Christ. For He has forgiven you sins and if sin is forgiven then death cannot hold you. If you don’t believe me look at Jesus – He is risen and living and 500 people saw Him alive. Christ is risen and that means your body will rise on the last day and you will never be sad. You will never attend another funeral – you will never weep over a friend or a grandpa. You will never be angry or be hated. You will never want to sin or find enjoyment in evil. That’s the life you have now because of that day.
And today, all of you are going to confess the truth about the day God changed your life, the day that made the difference between your death and your life. As a side note one of you ruined my sermon – I was pretty certain that every one of you was baptized on a Sunday –that 12 or 13 years ago on some Sunday God changed your life by connecting you to Christ in the waters of baptism. But one of you wasn’t baptized on a Sunday. I think your parents were so anxious to bring you from death to life that you were baptized on a Saturday. It doesn’t matter because whatever day that was it was the Lord’s day in your life and that day makes all the difference in the world. When little tiny Alex, Anne, Emily, and Reed were washed with water and the Word you were baptized into Christ’s death and you were raised to a new life. Not only were you forgiven your sin, but a new man was born in you. Now instead of being a rebel against God you are also a child who loves God and desires His will to be done in your life.
You’re wearing white today to remember that day God changed you. You are wearing white because you are sinless and you are righteous and you are holy. Now your parents and siblings might be wondering what I’m talking about. For surely that little robe might make you look good, but it doesn’t make you good. You wear that white robe as a confession of what Christ did for you in baptism. Your filthy rags of sin were washed white in the blood of the lamb and you are now clothed in Christ. Like Noah and his family, the flood of God’s holy water drowned your sin and evil desires and brought you life. Like Moses and the Israelites through water you were saved from your enemies.
You know your sin and most importantly you know your Savior. What a difference a day makes – the day Christ rose, the day you were baptized, the day when you are privileged to eat and drink the living, risen, body and blood of Christ. Christ’s resurrection changed the world. Let me give you a few examples of the difference this day has made in our world because of those who believed in Christ’s resurrection. The reason women can vote – Christians. Public school education for all people – Christians. Hospitals, Orphanages, Hospice care, Mental Health Units, Nursing homes – Christians. Respect for the dead, funeral homes, cemeteries – Christians. Freedom of slaves – Christians. Early childhood education – Christians. Human rights and freedom of religion – Christians. Standing for the life of the least, the last, and the lowest, the unborn and the disabled – Christians.
Do you want to know why Christians have made more of a difference in the world and contributed more to civilization than any other world religion? That day when Christ rose. That day when the heavens declared your sins are forgiven, death is dead, life and salvation are yours as a gift, graciously given to you. What none of us deserved, God gave to us freely in Christ. So we who have been loved, love. We who have been forgiven forgive. We who have received undeserved mercy and compassion are merciful and compassionate to others. We whose bodies have been saved from sin desire to be remain pure and chaste in speech and act.
What a difference a day makes – especially our Lord’s resurrection, especially our baptism into Christ, especially every Lord’s day when we receive His gifts from the cross and every day when we who have been forgiven, loved, and made alive, forgive our enemies, love the unlovable, and stand for the life of all even the inconvenient. What a difference a day makes. In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Pr. Bruce Timm
4 May 2013 anno Domini