The Keys and Confirmation [Trinity Sunday]

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Isaiah 6:1-7

• Romans 11:33-36

• St. John 3:1-15

 

Grace, mercy, and peace [are yours] from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. (1 Tim 1)
 
Who speaks to you today, from His Gospel heard in His Church, saying: 
“No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.”
 
Certainly, what Jesus presents to us today through Nicodemus, even before we get to all the “born again” stuff, is a dilemma. The dilemma is of a closed heaven, cordoned off, only allowing exodus and entrance to the Son of Man, Who of course is also known as Jesus Christ.
 
This “closing of heaven” is first introduced to us in the very first book of the Bible. In Genesis chapter 3 we hear, “He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life” (v. 24).
 
There is also the very distressing passage in Genesis 7:16 when Noah, having finished his task of loading the Ark, “the Lord shut him in”. It is not distressing because it happens, for God is the one Who closes the Ark when the correct amount of beings are aboard. It is distressing because there is a closing and you are either on the right side or the wrong side.
 
What is important to note here is that Jesus is the only one. It is only the Son of Man Who is allowed in and out of heaven, as He sees fit. that’s it. Just one man. The God-man.
 
We also have Jesus saying, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Mt. 16:19). 
 
So we have this mix of open and closed, door, and keys on this confirmation Sunday which is also supposed to be the celebration of the Most Holy Trinity. This is not confusing. This is the standard, it’s all about Jesus, stuff.
 
Repent! Not one of you thinks of opening the door to heaven. No one wants that to happen, because there are too many unknowns. Will I have my husband or wife? Will I be with my family? Will I like it there? 
 
Especially the part where all your inner-most thoughts and working will be revealed and it just becomes too much. Heaven can stay closed. Leave me alone in my misery. I can find shreds of happiness here. Just leave me behind.
 
Here is where the actual mercy of Jesus shows itself to you. Jesus opens heaven not without warning, but without your permission. He opens it and all your worst fears come true. All this God, salvation, and everlasting life stuff is true. And so is all your sin. Heaven opens and the light hurts.
 
Jesus ascends into heaven before you do. He descends to take on His own rational soul and human flesh and then ascends before you, in front of you, in your way. Or rather, in the way of that all-revealing light. 
 
In His “being lifted up”, as the Gospel says, Jesus is lifted up and gets in the way of that wrath-filled Light from heaven. His suffering, death, and resurrection make a way, a forgiven way. Heaven is shut and its light is death to sinners, but to the one baptized into the Body of the Son of Man, it is life.
 
Jesus confesses your sins, the sins of the world, in front of God Almighty Himself and is crucified for the trouble. It is a once for all crucifixion as Jesus’s sacrifice atones for all sin of all time, which includes all of yours. He confesses and is justified. Heaven is opened to Him. He ascends in triumph.
 
Which leaves you. But not just you. You confess and are absolved by the Office of the Keys. Jesus has left, but He has only left suffering, sin, and hell behind, never to be touched by those again. He has not left you. He is with you. He sends His Spirit to you. His Spirit is a confessing Spirit. 
 
And you confess your sins, not just because you are told to, but because you know that your sins will be forgiven and forgotten, as Psalm 103:12 says, “as far as the east is from the west,
    so far does he remove our transgressions from us.”
 
Thus, on this Confirmation Sunday, we are not here confirming magical phrases or correct answers. We are confirming faith. We are confirming contrition and repentance. We are confirming that heaven is closed to us sinners, but the Son of God has opened to us the way of everlasting life.
 
The Keys to this He gives to His Church on earth. they are not far away. Our Confessions state, “It is not the voice or word of the [pastor] who speaks it, but it is the Word of God, Who forgives sin, for it is spoken in God’s stead and by God’s command” (AC XXV:3).
 
This is what is meant by Jesus when He tells His Apostles, “Whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Mt 18:18) and “He who listens to you listens to Me” (Lk 10:16) and “If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven” (Jn 20:23).
 
Jesus, in His great and mighty Mercy, has ascended into heaven to prepare for our arrival and He has descended again, to be with us until the end of the age, in order that we make it there. His work never stops. He never stops. His Gospel of the free remission of sins keeps going and going and going at His Word.
 
And His Word is with us. He is with us. Heaven is open. Our sinfulness is known and laid bare. We agree and confess we are sinful by nature. He declares and justifies us for His sake. We confess Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from all eternity, and true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is our Lord.
 
In this confession, not about how repentant we are or how Jesus is our everything, but about how Jesus has brought us to this place which He makes holy by His Word and Sacrament, we are saved. 
 
It is on this Rock, the Rock of Christ and His Faith, that Jesus builds His Church “and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (St. Matthew 16:18-19).
 
How can the Office of the Keys do such wonderful things among us? Certainly, not just the Keys, but the Word of God in and with the Keys does these things, along with the Faith which trusts the Word of God in the Office of the Keys. 
 
[Jesus ascends to the treasure house of heaven and descends to bring us those treasures. We hear our catechumens in front of us today and contemplate our own confirmation and the fact that Jesus has confirmed us by His Word and Sacrament, Jesus has confessed us before our heavenly Father, and Jesus has made us worthy to ascend with Him to glory. Unless a man believes this, he cannot be saved.]