Having come in the flesh to save you, having fulfilled all the Law and the Prophets and the Psalms by His Cross and Resurrection, having atoned for the sins of the world with His holy and precious Blood, and having reconciled the world to God in Himself, the Lord Jesus now comes and takes His stand in the midst of His disciples. Where two or three are gathered together in His Name — which is to say, where His disciples are gathered by and for the preaching of His Word — there He is also. That’s what the Liturgy is, namely, the coming of Christ Jesus to be with His disciples, to forgive their sins, strengthen their faith, raise them up to new life, and grant them His Peace.
He is here to speak His “Peace” to you, really throughout the Liturgy. As you pray for His Peace in the Kyrie, the Gloria, and the Agnus Dei, so is He with you to bestow that very Peace upon you in the Salutation, the Benediction, and the Pax Domini at the heart of His Holy Supper. Thus do you depart in Peace, as you sing in the Nunc Dimittis, because His Word is here fulfilled in you.
Why, then, does He seem like such a ghost, as though He were a disembodied spirit, a fantasy or specter? Why do He and His Liturgy of the Gospel feel like a mirage or pretense, a make-believe play that comes and goes and leaves you with nothing practical or substantial to hold on to?
His Words to His disciples then, once upon a time, now sound almost like a taunt or a tease: “See My hands, My feet, My side; touch Me and see; stretch out your hand and take hold.” But, what? What do you see? What do you touch and taste and handle? What do you feel and experience?
He does not yet appear as He actually is, and neither do you. He and His Church — and you, as well — are presently hidden under the Cross in the frailties of fallen flesh, which withers, fades, and perishes in death, never to return again. Why should you expect anything other than a ghost?
It’s not like you can recline upon His breast at His Supper Table, not in the way that St. John the beloved disciple once did. Nor can you investigate the wounds of His Passion as St. Thomas and the other Apostles did. You cannot share your fish and chips with Jesus, nor your waffles and pancakes, either. He doesn’t tuck you in at night or give you a hug when you’re afraid or lonely.
So, where is Jesus? And where is the Peace He declares? Some days you feel it, many days you don’t. And rarely does there seem to be any direct or tangible connection between the Liturgy and whatever peace you do manage to find in this body and life. Maybe the Divine Service makes you feel good, or maybe it leaves you cold, but either way you leave this place and find yourself up to your neck in the stew and smack up against a brick wall of sights and sounds and smells and stuff you can touch and handle, whether you want to or not. In contrast to all of that solid experience, what evidence is there that Jesus and His Word are even real?
It’s a matter of faith, not sight. To rest in the Peace and promises of Christ Jesus is nothing you can muster up or manage on your own. Not because the Gospel is unreal or a fantasy, but because you are a sinful mortal, subject to death and the grave, and the Lord has come, not simply to mend or modify this fallen world, but to make all things new, to bring about a New Creation in Himself. That’s not something you can find or obtain by way of any scientific examination or experiment. It is rather by way of the Cross, which contradicts everything you thought you knew about God, about life, the universe, and everything — and which crucifies and recreates you in Christ Jesus.
Historical investigation can help you to some extent, because all of these things concerning Jesus of Nazareth really happened at particular times and in particular places. That He is true Man of flesh and blood, of skin and bones, was evident and verifiable to all who knew Him on this earth. But that He is the incarnate Son of God, the Christ, your Savior, is known only by the preaching of His Word. And as to His bodily Resurrection from the dead — that He is not a ghost, but fully risen from the grave in His own Body, still bearing the marks of His Cross, but now glorified and immortal — that you know and believe only by the eyewitness testimony of His holy Apostles.
Now, then, by the ongoing Ministry of that Apostolic Word, the Lord Jesus shows to you His wounded hands and feet. Not in the same way that He showed to those Apostles, but in the hands and feet of His disciples, in those whom He sends to serve you in His Name. It is by their feet that He comes to you and takes His stand here with you, as it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the Gospel.” So, too, by their hands He stretches out His hand to absolve you, to bless you, and to feed you with the Meat and Drink that He provides by the power of His Word.
These hands and feet of His are wounded, marked, and scarred by the Cross — as He was, and as you are, as well. So did St. Paul, in particular, bear a thorn in his flesh and the sufferings of Christ in his body. But that is true for all who are baptized into Christ the Crucified, who have received the sign of the Cross upon their forehead and heart, and so also in their hands and feet and side.
The incarnate Son of God, your Savior, Jesus Christ, suffered the wounds of His Cross for your Atonement and Redemption. Now you and all of His disciples receive and bear those wounds of Christ unto repentance and faith in His Gospel — and in love for each other in His Name.
His power is made perfect in such weakness; and so from His wounds He pours out His Life and salvation for you. It is precisely by His wounded hands and feet, as by His riven side, that He is recognized and received. Not His face but His scars distinguish Him. The marks of His Cross do not call into question but verify who He is and what He has done; not only in His own crucified and risen Body, but in His Church, in the servants of His Word, and in all His Christians, even you.
In the gathering of His disciples in His Name, from His wounded hands He shares a Meal with you, here and now. And you, for your part, eat and drink this Meal of His in His presence. This eating and drinking is inherently a matter of the body — His Body given into your body — as both His Cross and His Resurrection are bodily accomplished for the salvation of your body and your soul.
What is more, as He took the fish and ate it before the Apostles, so do you eat and drink this Meal that He sets before you in the company of His congregation, in the fellowship of His Body, the Church. Preaching and Baptism and Holy Absolution each require at least a giver and a receiver, a minister who is called and sent, and at least one person to whom he is sent. But all the more so is the Lord’s Supper a holy communion. It may be given to you by your pastor, one on one, in your home or hospital room, but the norm is within the gathering of His disciples in His Name.
The bodily eating and drinking of His Body and Blood in the communion of His Body, the Church — side by side, shoulder to shoulder with other disciples of Jesus — is the demonstration that He is no ghost, no disembodied spirit, but true God and true Man, crucified and risen in the flesh.
With this Food and Drink He gives to you the Peace of which He speaks — not only in your heart and mind, but in your body, also. Your body, too, shall rest in hope, as surely as it has received His Body and Blood. Dr. Luther thus describes this Supper as Medicine for both body and soul.
And yet, the Word and promises of Jesus concerning this Sacrament seem too good to be true, too amazing and too wonderful, especially when what you see and experience still seems so contrary.
Your body of flesh and blood, even after eating and drinking the holy Body and precious Blood of Christ Jesus, is still subject to suffering, sin, and death. Your flesh is still frail and falling apart, returning to the dust. And you continue to think and say and do many things that you should not.
Yet, this vicious circle of suffering, sin, and death is precisely the arena into which the Son of God has come in flesh and blood like your own, in which He has fulfilled the Holy Scriptures for the salvation of the whole world — for you and for all the sinful, mortal children of Adam. He has borne and suffered everything for you — not only in His Body on the Cross, but also in His truly human heart and mind, in His soul and spirit. He has endured the wounding of His flesh, even unto death, in order that your wounded flesh might be healed and made whole in His Resurrection.
With the wounding of His heel He crushed the serpent’s head under His foot, removing the assaults and accusations of the devil, the temptations and the guilt. Not as though you would no longer feel or experience those attacks, but that you should be delivered from them and win the final victory in the same Lord, Jesus Christ. As He has risen from the dead, so shall you also rise. But the fact that He still bears the wounds of His Cross — that He bears those wounds of your sin and death, even now in His risen Body — shows that He has not left you alone, but He is with you; not only when you are strong and confident, but especially when you are confused and afraid, when you are struggling to make it, and when you are barely hanging on.
What you have brought upon yourself by your arrogance and your ignorance, by your self-idolatry and your selfishness, by your unbelief and lack of love, He has voluntarily taken upon Himself; and He has resolved and rectified it all in Himself by actively trusting the promise of His Father, and by handing Himself over to the Cross in love for His Father and in His love for you and all.
His Cross and Resurrection are your salvation from sin, death, the devil, and hell. So are His Cross and Resurrection also the way and means of your repentance, that is to say, your dying to sin and your rising to new life in Christ, as these are now worked in you by His Word and Holy Spirit.
Your repentance and salvation are not something you could ever do or accomplish for yourself by your own intention and willpower, no more than even the holy Apostles could recognize or receive the crucified and risen Body of Christ Jesus except by His gracious revealing. But because He loves you, and because He desires your life and salvation, He sends His “hands and feet” to preach and administer repentance unto you for the forgiveness of all your sins in His Name. And by this preaching He opens the Scriptures to you, and He opens your heart and mind to Himself, and He brings you into faith and life — through His Cross into His Resurrection — and so into His Peace.
This Peace, which He speaks to you throughout the Liturgy and bestows on you by His Word, is unlike anything the world knows or understands or even attempts to give. For this Peace that Jesus speaks, right here and now, is the comfort and safety of God’s acceptance and good pleasure and your permanent place with Him. It is not the fluctuating whimsy of your emotions but the certainty of the Holy Spirit, whom God the Father has poured out upon you generously through Jesus Christ, His Son. It is the Righteousness of the same Lord Jesus Christ with which He has clothed you. It is the Love of God, who has named you with His Name and made you His own. It is the Peace of being able to go home — of knowing that, according to His promise, He will receive you gladly.
Wherever and however you have withdrawn from His presence, turned away from Him, and closed your ears, your mind, or your heart to Him, Repent, and return to the Lord your God. That is not to say that you must travel far and wide to seek Him in the heights or in the depths. But return to Him here, where He is already present with you and for you. Return to Him by remembering your Baptism, by giving attention to the Word that He speaks, and by receiving the Fruits of the Cross.
Do not be troubled or afraid, but lay hold of Him who lays hold of you here. I know that you can’t see Him with your eyes, not yet. But He sees you in love, He beholds you in His mercy. He has come to be with you, indeed, He is near you, even now. He is in your ears, because it is the Lord who speaks His Peace to you. He lays Himself upon your heart and mind, upon your body, soul, and spirit, by His Word of forgiveness. And with this Word He wipes away all of your sins.
Returning to the Lord who loves you does not require running to and fro, nor traveling of any kind, nor searching or striving, but simply receiving — receiving what His wounded feet have brought to you and His wounded hands stretch forth to give you. Here at the Lord’s Table is refreshment and rest for your weariness in the presence of the Lord. Here is perfect healing for your wounds of body and soul. For in these good Gifts, His Body and His Blood, is the surety and guarantee of the Resurrection of your body and the Life everlasting of your body and soul in Him forever.
In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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