Confirmation Sunday 2024

Text: “21 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved’” (Acts 2:21).

Don’t be deceived by the lack of drama.

Our readings describe some pretty dramatic events: Ezekiel’s famous “Valley of Dry Bones” and the events of Pentecost. What is about to happen— what you’re about to do— does not seem as dramatic as either of those. If you hear wind blowing, that will probably be the air conditioning. If you see any tongues of fire, the exits are there and there. But do not let that hide the work of the Holy Spirit from your eyes.

The reading from Ezekiel still serves as a perfect picture of the Holy Spirit’s work here within the church. Just like every other descendant of Adam and Eve— all of us— you were born spiritually dead— even worse than a valley full of dry bones. You know perfectly well the good that you’re commanded to do. But you don’t. You know perfectly well the evil that your’e commanded to avoid. But you don’t. You have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. You do not do the good you want, but the evil you do not want is what you keep on doing (Romans 7:18-19). So you were brought to this font and the man whom Jesus had sent, said those words which have, by now, been spoken in practically every language under heaven: “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” When those words were spoken and the water touched your head, the Holy Spirit was breathed into you and you were given new birth.

It looked like ordinary water; it was an ordinary man; but it was not an ordinary event. From one generation to the next, Ezekiel’s successors have prophesied— they have declared that Word of the Lord— and, through them, God has gathered to Himself, not exactly an army, but certainly “9 …a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages….” For now, you’re the only ones wearing the white robes. The promise you make to remain faithful to your Savior won’t even include a pinky promise— or whatever you kids do these days. The confession of faith that you make will not be recorded for posterity like St. Peter’s was. But Peter was not joking when he said that “everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” One day, we will all “[stand] before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in [our] hands” (Revelation 7:9), praising your Savior who has won the victory over the devil, the world, and your own sinful flesh. That day will more than make up for anything that might seem lacking today.

Ultimately, today is not about the promises that you will make or the promises that any of the rest of us have made. Today is about the promise that God has made to you— the promise that He has kept in Jesus Christ. Jesus’ wounds, themselves, bear testimony to that fact. He bears those scars for you. He would not deny you, even when it meant being betrayed by a friend, being mocked and beaten, being crowned with thorns. He would not deny you, even when it meant taking your sins upon Himself and going to suffer the penalty for those sins and the death you deserved. When He said from the cross, “It is finished,” it was His plan for your salvation that He was referring to. He suffered all, even death in order to redeem you and give you a new, eternal life.

It is in that promise that He called you by name in baptism and confessed you there as His child. It is in that promise that He invites you to take and eat, take and drink, publicly confessing that the body He gave on the cross and the blood He shed there, were given and shed for you.

To this moment, He is continually confessing you before the Father, rejoicing in you every single day. As another pastor puts it, God doesn’t just love you, He likes you. He rejoices over you continually. In fact, as often as you confess Him, He is bragging to the gathered host of heaven, “That is my child.” And all of heaven rejoices with Him.

On the last day He will ‘confess’ you one more time. He will call your name and raise you from the grave to the new creation where your name is written in His book of life. And on that day, like Thomas, you will actually look upon His scars. You will look upon them with your own eyes—you, not someone else, with your own eyes. Even though, after the resurrection, all that is sad will have come untrue; even though every one of your scars will left behind in the grave forever, He will still bear His scars. He will carry them as badges of honor, badges of His love for you for all eternity. You will be able to touch the place where the nails pierced His hands and the spear pierced His side; perhaps you will even take the opportunity to follow the example of the sainted woman of Luke’s gospel and wet His nail-scarred feet with your tears.

God said, through the Prophet Isaiah, “A mother will forget her nursing child before I will forget you. I have engraved you in the palms of my hands” (Isaiah 49:15-16). And, on that day, if you look closely at the scars that Jesus bears, you will see your name engraved there in the palm of God’s hands for all eternity.

Before you had the opportunity to even think about making a public profession of faith in Him, that is what He planned for you and has done for you and has promised to you. That is why you confess Him today, why you promise to confess Him tomorrow and every day that He gives you, no matter the opposition, no matter the cost—because Jesus has confessed you by name. And that is why not even eternity is enough time to confess and proclaim all that He has done for you. Still, you will have the joy of trying.

No, there will not be any great drama today. But, here again, Jesus sends His Holy Spirit to you. Through the Word that is proclaimed to you, He opens your lips to declare His praise. So call upon the name of the Lord and be saved.