Sent with Peace: Sermon for the Installation of Rev. Phillip Booe
“On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. 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’” (John 20:19-23).
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and
the Lord Jesus Christ!
To say it had been a few stressful days would
be a huge understatement. Jesus had been arrested, tried, convicted, crucified,
and buried on Friday. Saturday, they’d been in lockdown, no doubt observing the
most isolated, sorrowful Sabbath of their lives. That morning Mary Magdalene
had run back from the tomb exclaiming, “I have seen the Lord.” The other women
also saw Jesus and added their testimony. The apostles, however, remained
skeptical. Confused and apprehensive, they gathered behind locked doors for
fear of the Jews.
But there was one whom the locked doors did not
keep out—Jesus. We don’t know much about His resurrected body, but we know He
left a sealed tomb with even the grave cloths still intact and that He appeared
inside a locked room.
Jesus hailed the disciples with the typical
Hebrew greeting: “Peace be with you!” But on the lips of the risen Savior, it
was more than a casual wish. He brought them the peace that the world cannot
give, the peace that would sustain them through all earthly troubles, the peace
of forgiveness and life. Jesus showed them His resurrected body that still bore
the marks of the nails and the spear of the crucifixion to erase their last
doubts. The disciples rejoiced. It was the Lord, alive!
Having discipled them carefully for three
years, having finished His saving work of suffering, dying, and rising, Jesus,
again, spoke peace to them and authorized them to carry on His work by bestowing
on them His Spirit.
As the Holy Spirit once hovered over the dark
empty chaos at the dawn of creation to bring light and order into the universe
(Genesis 1:1-3), as God the Father breathed His divine Spirit into the nostrils
of Adam on the sixth day, creating a living soul from inanimate dust (Genesis
2:7), so also on the first Easter evening, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, fresh
from the grave, brought life and immortality to light by breathing out the
Spirit upon His chosen disciples to equip them to continue His work on earth—preaching
repentance and faith.
So abjectly ruined is humankind since the fall
into sin that people are unable to come to faith under their own volition. “No
one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:1).
Therefore in the work of evangelizing, preaching, teaching, catechizing,
comforting, warning, consoling, and equipping Christians for daily life, the
presence and the power of the Holy Spirit is essential. Only the Holy Spirit
can accomplish the ministry, and He does that through His called and ordained
servants like you, Pastor Booe.
That’s not exactly correct. The Holy Spirit
doesn’t work through you as a person, but through the means you’ve been given
by Jesus for the blessing of His Church and for the benefit of all the world. The
ministry of Christ’s Gospel is always a ministry of the Spirit, for the Holy
Spirit is at work in the Word and sacraments and is given through these means
of grace.
Even in this passage, where Jesus breathes on
them, it is His Word that gives the Spirit. “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you
forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness
from any, it is withheld” (John 20:22-23). That is the essence of ministry—forgiving
penitent sinners by the power of the Holy Spirit through the means of grace.
That’s especially important to note in our day.
People have a lot of different ideas of what a pastor’s job is. For many,
pastors are irrelevant in our secular age. For others, pastors are nice to have
on call to apply religious bandages to some of the bumps and bruises of life
but otherwise not much needed. Even among deeply spiritual and religious
people, pastors are variously understood as chief executive officers, religious
activity directors, conflict managers, or motivational speakers.
Each of these roles comes with its own job
description, of course. No wonder then that we find a lot of churches confused
over what to expect from their pastors. No wonder we find pastors and church
leaders frequently in conflict. In fact, it’s no wonder that every year many
clergy are leaving the pastoral ministry, chewed up by dysfunctional
congregations, discouraged by failure to meet their own unrealistic expectations.
Should we be surprised? When you hand someone a job-description so wide-ranging
and complicated that it’s unmanageable—or so nebulous and undefined that it can
apparently be changed on whim—wouldn’t that deplete and discourage the best of
men?
So what is a pastor’s job? How do you carry out
the work of forgiving and retaining sins? A good place to start is the vows
that you, Pastor Booe, will be making in a few minutes as you are installed as
pastor here at St. John. In addition to confessing the canonical Scriptures to
be the inspired and infallible Word of God, and affirming your subscription to
the Lutheran Confessions because they are in accord with the Word of God, you
will be asked to make these promises:
Do you promise that you will perform the duties
of your office in accordance with these Confessions, and that all your preaching
and teaching and your administration of the Sacraments will be in conformity
with Holy Scripture and with these Confessions?
Will you faithfully instruct both young and old
in the chief articles of Christian doctrine, will you forgive the sins of those
who repent, and will you promise never to divulge the sins confessed to you?
Will you minister faithfully to the sick and dying, and will you demonstrate to
the Church a constant and ready ministry centered in the Gospel? Will you
admonish and encourage the people to a lively confidence in Christ and in holy
living?
Finally, will you honor and adorn the Office of
the Holy Ministry with a holy life? Will you be diligent in the study of Holy
Scripture and the Confessions? And will you be constant in prayer for those
under your pastoral care?
To be certain this is not an exhaustive list,
but it is safe to say that if a task doesn’t fit under one of these categories,
you may need to rethink doing it.
Members of St. John, you also will be making promises
that will help your new pastor to carry on the work that Christ has given to
the Church:
Will you receive him, show him the love, honor,
and obedience in the Lord that you owe to the shepherd and teacher placed over
you by your Lord Jesus Christ, and will you support him by your gifts and pray
for him always that in his labors he may retain a cheerful spirit and that his
ministry among you may be abundantly blessed?
Will you honor and uphold your pastor as he
serves Christ in all his God-pleasing responsibilities? Will you aid him as he
cares for his family? Will you be diligent to “put the best construction on
everything,” recognizing that “love covers a multitude of sins”?
The promises that both pastor and congregation make
are simple to understand but impossible to keep on your own power. That’s why
you all will make the promises with the words, “I/we will, with the help of
God.” That’s why we will be praying for the Holy Spirit to grant grace to pastor
and congregation through this ministry of Word and Sacrament. That’s why Pastor
Booe will be installed as pastor of St. John Lutheran Church in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Pastor Booe, I know you’ve been told this many
times, but it’s always good to be reminded. You must rely on the Holy Spirit
for the work of this ministry. It is beyond the ability of any fallen man—even
one as gifted and talented as you—to carry out this ministry on your own power.
You’ll end up burned out in the ministry very quickly if you don’t remember
this one central truth: By your own power or strength you can do absolutely nothing
as a servant of Christ and steward of His mysteries. Rather, in Christ’s Church
the Holy Spirit does everything. In the Small Catechism, Martin Luther puts it
this way:
I believe
that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or
come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me
with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith. In the same way He
calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth,
and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. In this Christian church
He daily and richly forgives all my sins and the sins of all believers. On the
Last Day He will raise me and all the dead, and give eternal life to me and all
believers in Christ.[i]
From beginning to end, the life of the Christian is a gift of
God’s Spirit. Since the fall of Adam every human from birth is spiritually
blind, dead, and an enemy of God. That’s why it always takes the Spirit’s power
for anyone to come to faith and trust in Jesus. Through means of the Gospel,
the Holy Spirit calls us to faith. Having enlightened us with His gifts of
forgiveness, life, and salvation, He also shares His holiness and keeps us in
the one true faith.
And He has chosen to call you, Pastor Booe, at this time, here at
this congregation. What a privilege! You get to preach the unsearchable riches
of Christ and to administer His life-giving sacraments. You get to be the hands
that hold the infant over the font and pour the water, who speaks the Word that
makes him a child of God. You get to be the ear that hears confession and the
voice that speaks the forgiveness of God to the penitent sinner in the stead
and by the command of our Lord Jesus Christ. You get to hand deliver the very and
blood of Christ for the forgiveness of sins and strengthening of faith. You get
to be the one through whom God binds one man and one woman in holy matrimony
for life. You get to be the feet that travel to bring the Church to the patient
at the hospital, the resident at the nursing home, or the person who is
homebound. You get to be the one who comforts the dying and mourning with the hope
of Christ’s resurrection and the promise the Holy Spirit will raise all believers
to eternal life.
And members of St. John Lutheran Church, you get to receive these
blessings. You get to support this work. You get to work with and beside Pastor
Booe, as he oversees this flock to which the Lord has called him.
By our Lord’s own mandate, He has so arranged it in His Church
that we grow, are fed, nourished, guarded, and protected not out of the
weakness and ineptitude of our ministers but rather by the tools Christ has
entrusted into their hands. The Gospel and sacraments are filled to the brim
with the energy and life of God’s own Spirit. The actual words that originated
from the mouth of Jesus are the instruments and tools of the Holy Spirit to
create and sustain faith. Jesus has entrusted into your pastor’s all too human
and very flawed mouth and hands the Gospel and the sacraments by which the Holy
Spirit continues to call, gather, enlighten, and sanctify His Church on earth.
So, go in the peace of the Lord. The ministry is safely in the
hands of the Holy Spirit. Serve your neighbor with joy. You are forgiven for
all your sins.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture
quotations are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001
by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by
permission. All rights reserved.
[i] Luther, M. (1991). Luther’s Small
Catechism with Explanation. Saint Louis, MO: Concordia
Publishing House.
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