Sermon Tone Analysis

Easter 6, Confirmation Sunday

John 14:15-21, 1Peter 3:15-22

May 1, 2005

*“Jesus is the Answer - No DNF”*

after R. Wienberg

*Introduction: *Our Epistle starts out, “But in your hearts set apart Christ our Lord.

Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give a reason for the hope that you have…” Questions expect and demand answers.

Many questions will be asked today.

Before we begin, let me give you the answer.

Our Confirmands know it well.

Over and over again I’ve told them if they weren’t sure of the answer to a question I was asking, they should answer with the name of Jesus.

He has been the center of their Christian education and their confirmation instruction.

I think it surprised them how often they were right when they answered, Jesus.

Jesus is the answer.

Today our young people will continue on a journey, a race through life that began when they were born and baptized into the name of Jesus.

It is a race that continues now in comfirmation and it is a race that will take them all the way through death to eternal life itself.

But how will they finish the race?

Derek Redmond was a young British runner, one who had sky rocketed to fame by shattering his country’s 400-meter record at age 19.

But then an Achilles tendon injury forced him to withdraw from the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, and he endured five separate surgeries.

When the Summer Olympics arrived in Barcelona in 1992, Derek Redmond was absolutely aching for a medal.

On the day of the 400-meter race, 65,000 fans streamed into the stadium.

High in the stands was Derek’s father, Jim, a faithful witness to every one of his son’s world competitions.

\\             The race began and Derek broke through the pack to seize the lead.

“Keep it up, keep it up,” his father Jim said to himself.

Heading down the backstretch, only 175 meters from the finish line, Derek was a shoo-in to win this semifinal heat and qualify for the Olympic finals.

\\             But then Derek hears a pop.

It’s his right hamstring.

He pulls up lame, looking as if he has been shot.

His leg quivering, Derek begins to hop on the other leg, and then he slows down and falls to the track.

Medical personnel run toward him as he sprawls on the ground, holding his right hamstring.

\\             At the very same moment, there is a stir at the top of the stands.

Jim Redmond, seeing his son in trouble, begins to race down from the top row.

He pushes toward the track, sidestepping some people and bumping into others.

He has no right or permission to be on the track, but all he can think about is getting to his son, to help him up.

He is absolutely single-minded about this, and isn’t going to be stopped by anyone.

\\             On the track, Derek realizes that his dream of an Olympic medal is gone.

He is alone.

The other runners streak across the finish line.

Derek is left completely alone, a lonely figure on the track.

\\             Tears pour down Derek’s face, and all he can think is, “I don’t want to take a DNF”, which means Did Not Finish.

A Did-Not-Finish was not even part of his vocabulary.

When the medical crew arrived with a stretcher, Derek tells them, “No, there’s no way I’m getting on that stretcher.

I’m going to finish my race.”

And so he lifts himself to his feet, ever so slowly and carefully, and he starts hobbling down the track.

\\             Suddenly, the crowd realizes that Derek isn’t dropping out of the race.

He isn’t limping off the track in defeat, but is actually continuing on one leg, in a fiercely determined effort to make it to the finish line.

One painful step at a time, each one a little slower and more agonizing than the one before, Derek limps onward, and the crowd begins to cheer for him.

The fans rise to their feet and their cries grow louder and louder, building into a thundering roar.

\\             At that moment, Jim Redmond reaches the bottom of the stands, vaults over the railing, dodges a security guard, and runs out to his son — with two security people running after him.

“That’s my son out there,” he yells back at his pursuers, “and I’m going to help him.”

Jim reaches his son at the final curve, about 120 meters from the finish line, and wraps his arm around his waist.

“I’m here, son,” Jim says gently, hugging his boy.

“We’ll finish together.”

\\             Derek puts his arms around his father’s shoulders and sobs.

Together, arm in arm, father and son struggle toward the finish line with 65,000 people cheering, clapping and crying.

Just a few steps from the end, with the crowd in an absolute frenzy, Jim releases the grip he has on his son so that Derek can cross the finish line by himself.

\\             “I’m the proudest father alive,” Jim Redmond tells the press afterward, with tears in his eyes.

“I’m prouder of him than I would have been if he had won the gold medal.

It took a lot of guts for him to do what he did.”

Together, they kept a promise they had made to finish the race, no matter what.

As I said, our Confirmands continue their race today.

There is one thing I am certain off.

They will fall and they will fail.

They won’t do it once they will do it often, they will do it every day.

But there is another thing that I’m certain about, they will complete the race because the are not alone.

Just as Derek’s father rushed onto the track to help his injured son finish his race.

Likewise, we too have someone who will help them and us to finish ours.

Who is it?

We all know the answer, it is Jesus.

He has been with them and us all along, helping us, guiding us as we struggle along.

In our Gospel lesson Jesus says, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him.

You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”

Jesus gives us His Holy Spirit.

It was given to us in Holy Baptism where we are marked as God’s children, where God is not ashamed to be called our Father.

Our Father has helped us as He has sent His Son to be our Savior.

Through God’s Son He has given us the Holy Spirit.

His holy Spirit is always present in us, giving us faith, guiding us and leading us to our Savior Jesus – the center and the answer to the questions that lead to eternal life.

Jesus is the answer.

As you know, our Confirmands are instructed in the Christian faith by using Martin Luther’s Small Catechism and it 6 chief parts.

Jesus is the center of it all.

In the Ten Commandments, Jesus is the one who fulfills the Law of God on our behalf.

That is why He lived and that is why He died.

He lived to satisfy the Law’s demands and He died to pay its price, the price for our sins.

Jesus is the center of the Apostles Creed.

We believe in God our Father and the Holy Spirit and this is good.

But these beliefs have no significance for us unless we believe that Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Plate, was crucified, died and was buried, and on the third day rose from the dead, ascended into heaven and sits at the right had of God the Father.

It is Jesus that has given us Our Lord’s Prayer, by which we dare to call God our Father, and to enter into the very throne room of God, calling on Him for all our needs.

It is Jesus that has given us the comforting word of absolution and the forgiveness of sins.

He hears our confession of sin and He forgives.

He has given us, His Church the very keys to heaven, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, proclaiming forgiveness in his name.

It is Jesus that has instituted Holy Baptism and makes it a life giving water through His presence and his Word.

It is Jesus that instituted his Holy Supper.

He is there to give us Himself in His very body and blood.

Through which we receive forgiveness and strength in faith towards God and strength to pick us up off the track of life when we fall.

Jesus is the answer, for life, through death and in eternal life. .

Because I live, promises Jesus, “you also will live.”

The good news is that Christ has conquered the power of sin and death, and the same God who raised Jesus from the dead will give life to our bodies through his Spirit that dwells in us (Romans 8:11).

No matter what, we can hold tight to the promise that Jesus gives us the gift of life — life in this world, and life in the world to come.

This is what Confirmation is all about.