The Best News Ever
St. John 20:19-31
April 12, 2026 anno Domini
What is the best news you could have heard this week? The war in Iran is over and the Iranians surrendered unconditionally? Oil dropped to $50 a barrel? The doctor called and said your test results are all clear. The IRS sent you a letter of apology for overtaxing you and included a $10,000 check plus interest? Your unwed son phoned to say he met a lovely Missouri Synod girl at church and is bringing her home to meet you in a few weeks.
The best news you can imagine involves a change in your circumstances. You thought you had cancer and now you don’t. There was a war and now there isn’t. Gas was expensive and now’s it cheap. You gave up hope on your child finding a decent spouse and now there’s someone in his or her life.
In today’s Gospel reading the twelve, minus Judas and Thomas, hear the best news they could ever hear, but what’s interesting is that it doesn’t change anything. At the beginning of the story the doors are locked, the Jews want to kill them, and Pilate is the cowardly governor who will kill people to keep the populace happy. At the end of the story the doors are still locked, the Jews still want to kill them, and the ruling authorities of church and state are against them. Nothing has changed, except for the news they heard and that news gave them peace and made them glad.
From today’s Gospel reading we learn that there are three parts to the best news you can ever hear. First, Christ is risen from the dead. Second, that means your sins are forgiven. And third, you need a pastor to preach this good news so that you can hear it and believe it.
Nothing changed about the disciples’ situation, but something had changed. Christ was dead and now He is alive. The last week had been horrific. These men had pinned their hopes and lives and fortunes on Jesus. They told Him not to go to Jerusalem, but He went. Judas betrayed Him. The Jews convinced Pilate to crucify Him. At every moment they thought this can’t be happening. This is all wrong. But Friday ended with Jesus dead. The disciples were so shattered none of them even helped bury Him – that was left to Joseph, Nicodemus, and the women.
What happens when that which you fear, love, and trust above all else is taken away? dies? Is destroyed? You lose all hope, all joy, all purpose. And for these men this was not a normal loss. This was orchestrated evil. Jesus of Nazareth was hated by the Jews. He was found guilty of crimes against Caesar. Rome had put Jesus to death. Those Jews were right outside the door. Rome still ruled. What would they do to the followers of Jesus? So those men were behind locked doors – and note that’s more than one door. They had locked multiple doors to keep the Jews out but that did not keep their fear away.
Then, just as He had walked out of the sealed tomb, the risen Lord walked in to that room. He stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side.” Saint John, who was in that room, puts it all together for us. Jesus first speaks peace to their fear and then shows them the reason they do not need to be afraid. Their peace is this, your peace is this – Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. Here’s the proof – He still bears in His body the scars – the nail prints in His hands, the wound in His side.
Saint John says, “then the disciples were glad.” No kidding, who wouldn’t be? But there’s more to this gladness than Mary and Martha had when Lazarus was raised from the dead, or than the widow of Nain when Jesus stopped the funeral procession and raised her son — because Jesus resurrection means one thing. It means your sins are forgiven. The resurrection means the cross worked. Jesus’ death took away the sin of the world. His suffering paid the price for our lives to be won back from death and hell. You sin, you die, and if you die with your sins you are separated from God for all eternity. But if your sins are taken away, death will not hold you. You’re not going to hell. You must rise and live forever with God. Christ says so and Christ did so in the resurrection.
There is no better news than this – Christ is risen. That means your sins are forgiven. It means God no longer sees your sins but sees you in Christ. He is not angry with you because His anger was taken out on Christ. He looks on you the same way He looks on Jesus and says of you what He says of Jesus – you are my beloved son. You are my beloved daughter. Can you imagine anything better than God being your Father, having His heart and eyes set on you?
Jesus wants you to hear the same good news He brought into that double door locked up room of fear, so He sends His men out with His peace. “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.”
If you are going to hear the best news ever, you need a pastor, so Jesus sends them out – first He sent out the 12 – once they got Thomas on board and replaced Judas. And the 12 together with the church called and sent and ordained more men, so that this morning you heard something, and you hear it so often, you might even daydream during it, but you heard something you will hear only in a Lutheran church, only in the Lutheran liturgy. The Baptists don’t hear this, the Catholics don’t hear this, the Methodists and non-denoms don’t hear this. They never say this at the big box churches:
I, by virtue of my office, as a called and ordained servant of the Word, announce the grace of God unto all of you, and in the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ, I forgive you all your sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Now you might say, “Who do you think you are that you can forgive sins?” And being me, I would probably respond, “Well, me, I’m nobody, I’m just following orders” because that is what it means to be called and ordained. I take my orders from Jesus. He rose from the dead so I’m going to listen to Him. He said, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven.”
Or you might say, “Really forgiveness? I’ve got a lot greater problems than sin. There’s war in Iran. My latest tests results from the doctor. My children don’t go to church. My grandchildren aren’t baptized. And you’re preaching “forgiveness.” Once again, I would say, “Well, it’s not me. It’s Jesus. If God had to die on the cross for the sin of the world, then sin is the problem. And if the first thing He said after He rose was “forgive sinners” then that’s what you need and that’s what He gives, that’s what I speak.
Or you might say, “Forgiveness, me? Do you have any idea what I’ve done, what I’ve said, who I’ve hurt.” To that I might say, “Well, I’ve got a pretty good idea, but God knows exactly what you’ve done. Nothing is hidden from Him, and precisely because of that the Son of God was born of the Virgin Mary so that He could take your sins to the cross. And since He rose again it means that yes, you are forgiven all your sins.”
Nothing has changed for you since the beginning of my sermon. Whatever problems and fears you had at 9:00 am are still yours right now. But you have heard the best news that you will ever hear. Christ is risen. Your sins are forgiven and that means God is your God and the Lord is your Lord just as Thomas confessed. And that will make you glad. That will give you peace. Christ is risen. You are forgiven. I under orders to tell you that. In the name of Jesus. Amen.