THE WEEK OF EASTER - THURSDAY

LESSON: 2 CORINTHIANS 4:13-15

Jesus said to her, “Do not hold me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” John 20:17

In these words of Jesus to Mary Magdalene, as reported in John’s Gospel, Jesus sets forth a very clear explanation of the benefit and profit of His death and resurrection. “Go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”

This is one of the great consolatory passages of the Gospel at which we can knock with all boldness and confidence. It is as though Christ is saying here, “Go, Mary, and tell my disciples, those deserters, who really merited punishment and eternal damnation, that my resurrection will redound to their great advantage. Through my resurrection I have brought it about that my Father is your Father and my God your God.”

A few brief words! But they contain a very important truth, namely, that we have a trust and confidence in God which is the equal of that which Christ, the very Son of God, Himself has.

Who can grasp such boundless joy? Who can explain how a poor, miserable sinner can call God his Father and God, even as Christ Himself does?

SL 11:606 (9)

PRAYER: Dear heavenly Father, Your ways in Jesus Christ our Lord are beyond all our powers of understanding and telling. Grant us the faith to cling with all our hearts to the benefits and profits of our Lord’s resurrection, that with Him You are our Father and our God in and through Jesus our Savior. Amen.

Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 2:215-221.