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Alleluia! Christ is risen!  (He is risen indeed! Alleluia!)

Thank you for visiting the website of Trinity Lutheran Church of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. Trinity rejoices in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Spirit. We invite you to rejoice with us in the gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation, which our gracious God bestows upon us through His Word and Sacraments. Please feel free to contact us with any questions.

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.  Jude 24-25

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Come and adore the Christ Child this Christmas!

God’s love was revealed among us in this way:

God sent His one and only Son into the world so that we might live through Him.

Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son

to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

1 John 4:9-10

Christmas Eve service

December 24 at 4:00 p.m.

Christmas Day service

December 25 at 10:00 a.m.

† The Risen Christ and the Forgiveness of Sins †

John 20:19–23 (ESV)

19 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.”  20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.  21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”  22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of anyone, they are forgiven; if you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is withheld.”

† † † 

Doors are locked. Hearts are trembling. Hands are sweating.

Three days after their Lord was executed,

the disciples fear that they will be discovered

and hauled off to be executed as well.

And so they hide.

But the Person from whom they are hiding the most is Jesus.

Oh, it’s not that they are expecting to see Him again.

But they know that they have sinned grievously,

and in their minds they are reliving all the ways 

they denied, abandoned, and refused to believe Jesus.

They have no way of undoing the evils they have committed,

and so they hide in fear. 

† † † 

Long ago, in the Garden of Eden,

the Lord God walked in the cool of the day

to find Adam and Eve, who were hiding in fear,

and to give them the promise of a Saviour.

And now, in the cool evening of Easter,

  that Saviour—newly risen from the dead—

walks into a locked room 

and says to the disciples: Peace be with you.

† † † 

Among the fear-filled disciples stands the victorious Christ.

The strife is over, the battle is done, the war is concluded.

The Almighty Judge has dropped the bomb packed with all His wrath

onto Jesus the Crucified.

Upon Jesus, the bomb of divine wrath has imploded.

Jesus died, taking upon Himself not just our sins 

but also the divine wrath intended for us.

And with His death cry, It is finished,

His strange victory over sin, death, and the devil is complete.

† † † 

And now, Jesus is risen from the dead.

And He stands among His disciples, saying, Peace be with you. 

All is well. 

For Jesus speaks peace and points to His hands and side.

Jesus shows His disciples the scars of battle. 

He does not say, “See what you did to me” 

but “See what I did for you.” 

His wounds are the wounds of love for sinners.

† † † 

To the disciples Jesus says: 

Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you. 

Twice Jesus says: Peace be with you. 

Why the repetition? 

First, He speaks His peace to men with fear-filled hearts.

Jesus gives His peace to the disciples

who had hid themselves in fear behind locked doors.

And then Jesus speaks another word of peace— 

a word not for them but for others, 

for others who have their own locked rooms, 

their own trembling hearts, for people such as you and me. 

Jesus then sends the disciples as the Father has sent Him, 

    that the world might be saved through the Jesus whom they preach.

† † † 

Jesus speaks to the disciples the peace they are to speak to others.

Jesus sends the disciples as He Himself was sent.

And now, Jesus breathes the Spirit upon them. 

Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of anyone, they are forgiven;

if you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is withheld. 

Here we see that the peace of Jesus is not of this world.

This peace proceeds from the Father and the Son—

the peace of the Lord and Giver of Life, the peace called the Spirit.

And this holy peace has a deep and unbreakable connection 

to forgiveness, to God’s gift of Holy Absolution.

† † † 

In the cool of the first Easter evening, 

into these men Jesus breathes His Spirit, 

just as He has time and again within His Church, 

in the ordination of His pastors. 

In a sense, every ordination is also an inspiration. 

For to be inspired is to be breathed upon. 

At his ordination, a man is breathed upon by the Holy Spirit

for a special calling—the Office of the Public Ministry—,

    in which a man is sent by God to absolve fear-filled sinners.

† † † 

Every Lord’s Day, 

we confess that we are poor, miserable sinners.

Now, almost everyone talks about sin. 

But most people will say 

that our sinfulness is just a tendency to do wrong, 

that we have an inclination to sin

  but that we also have the willpower to choose not to sin. 

Do you see the difference? 

People do not like to confess 

that they are poor, miserable sinners, 

and that they are by nature sinful and unclean.

They are only willing to admit that they tend to make mistakes.

But the truth is that we are indeed poor, miserable sinners.

Everything we think, say, and do is stained with sin.

† † † 

That is why we come for Confession every Lord’s Day.

We do not come to boast of being able to somehow overcome sin

through sheer willpower. 

Rather, we come to die. 

We come to confess our sins, to say before God and all people 

that we are poor, miserable sinners. 

We are saying 

that we have come to the end of ourselves and our own resources

and that there is nothing we can do to be good or better. 

Our only hope is that the Lord, in His mercy, 

would forgive us our sins and renew us in faith and love.

† † † 

Now, this confession that we are poor, miserable sinners sounds strange

because it is something you will hear nowhere else. 

It sounds strange because this confession conflicts

with the silent pep-talk that we are constantly giving ourselves: 

“You’re good. You deserve good things. 

You’ve worked hard. At least you tried. 

At least you are not as bad as that person. Don’t worry, you’ll do better next time.”

The pep-talks we give ourselves fill our hearts with pride.

But this strange talk of our being poor, miserable sinners

puts our pride to death; even more, it puts us to death.

And there is something even stranger 

going on in this rite of Confession.

Here, God places before us a flesh-and-blood man 

to give us absolution!

† † † 

In a Lutheran service, 

the pastor stands before the congregation and says: 

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, some people find this absolution offensive: 

“Who does that guy think he is, forgiving my sins?

I don’t need anyone to stand between me and God.

I don’t need some pastor to forgive my sins.

Where is that in the Bible?”

† † † 

Let’s answer the last question first. 

Where does it say in the Bible that the pastor forgives sins? 

Answer: the Gospel text appointed for today, John 20. 

This happens on the evening of the Lord’s resurrection. 

Jesus comes and stands among the disciples 

and shows them His hands and His side.

And Jesus speaks to them His peace 

and breathes upon them the Holy Spirit.

† † † 

With this speaking and breathing, 

the Lord Jesus sets His church in the world to forgive sins. 

The Lord Jesus gives to His church the keys to loose and to bind sins,

to forgive repentant sinners 

    and to withhold forgiveness from sinners who refuse to repent.

This Office of the Keys is why the church is on the earth, 

why we come to church, 

     and why the Lord has put His church here, 

at 2027 Niagara Stone Road, 

so that the forgiveness of sins would be given out.

† † † 

But the question still remains: 

“Why do we need a man to say it? 

Doesn’t forgiveness come directly from God?” 

Answer: yes, forgiveness comes from God, 

but we have to ask how He delivers it.

† † † 

Imagine, if you will, a man in prison. 

He is guilty of a long and terrible list of crimes, 

and he deserves punishment and death. 

His case has gone before the judge.

The judge knows the man’s guilt and the punishment he deserves.

But instead of giving the punishment out to the prisoner, 

the judge pours out the punishment on the defense lawyer 

(who also happens to be the judge’s son).

The defense lawyer takes upon himself 

the punishment which the prisoner deserves. 

And then the judge acquits the prisoner and sets him free. 

The judge declares the criminal innocent. 

This is the doctrine of justification, 

    that God the Father imputes or accounts us righteous and forgiven 

       for the sake of the suffering of His dear Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

But our prisoner? 

He is still in jail. 

So the judge sends the bailiff to the jail.

And the bailiff says to the prisoner: “I release you. You are free to go” 

as he turns the key and unlocks the door.

This is what the Lord is sending His pastors to do. 

The freedom that the bailiff gives 

is the freedom won by the judge and his son, 

but the bailiff delivers that freedom. 

In this case the bailiff is himself also a prisoner in need of freedom.

† † † 

It is the same way with the forgiveness of sin. 

Jesus won our forgiveness in His death, 

and preached it throughout the world in His resurrection. 

He now calls every Christian 

to share the good news of forgiveness.

And He ordains men to the Office of the Public Ministry,

to set fear-filled sinners free through the public distribution 

of the forgiveness of sins.

It is not the pastor who is forgiving you. 

In Holy Absolution, something much more incredible is taking place: 

Jesus is forgiving you. 

That is why these words matter so much: 

in the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ.

It is Christ’s forgiveness—the only forgiveness that matters— 

that is proclaimed and distributed in Holy Absolution.

† † † 

And this is good news, for we daily sin much, 

and we need much forgiveness.

We need the forgiveness of Christ Jesus our Lord.

And we also need certainty.

That is why we need to rely on something more than just our feelings.

One minute, your feelings can convince you that you are fully forgiven.

Another minute, your feelings can tell you that you are doomed to hell.

There is no certainty in trusting your feelings.

That is why your Lord Jesus gives you the certainty of His Word.

That is why your Saviour Jesus attaches His forgiveness 

to physical things—

water in Holy Baptism,

bread and wine in the Lord’s Supper,

A flesh-and-blood man in Holy Absolution.

Do you see what Jesus is doing?

He attaches His Word of forgiveness to physical, concrete things

so that you may live with absolute certainty

that all your sins are forgiven.

In the Divine Service, a mere man called to the Public Ministry

  speaks the words of absolution.

But it is Jesus Christ risen from the dead 

who is actually absolving us of all our sins.

† † † 

The risen Christ does not command us to thrust our hand into His side.

For we do not have the unique vocation 

of Thomas and the other apostles 

to be eye-witnesses of Jesus’ resurrection.

Oh, the day will come 

when we will see the scars still present in the glorified Christ. 

But for now, our Lord Jesus points us to His Word, 

to His Absolution, to His Supper 

as He says to us: “Be not doubting, but believe.” 

† † † 

It is the holy will and desire of the Lord Jesus 

that we be not unbelieving, but believing,

that, with Thomas, we confess: My Lord and My God.

May God keep us strong, our whole lives long,

in such a true and faithful confession.

Confessing Jesus Christ as Lord brings us into fellowship 

with the Father and the Son and the Spirit

and unites us to our Lord’s death and resurrection.

Living in fellowship with the one true God and united to Christ,

we live and we die in the certainty 

that God has graciously forgiven us all our sins. Amen.