Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!  Easter, the ancient Christian festival to commemorate Christ's resurrection is here, and so we say AMEN!  The calendar has come full circle once again, and so we say AMEN!  The only Son of God has completed God's plan of salvation for us and so we say AMEN!  Christ is God's great AMEN to the world, His word of affirmation and assent, His word of hope and joy.  AMEN is His word of approval for all mankind.

          When the angels sang "Glory to God in the highest!" in the fields of Bethlehem, it was God the Father who said His great AMEN!  When Jesus defeated Satan, turning away his temptations in the wilderness, the Father said AMEN!  When Jesus hung on the cross and said, "It is finished!" His Father said AMEN!

          To everything God has done for mankind, Jesus Christ is His great AMEN for all people of all cultures and all ages.  There is no human being who has not been given life, no human being who has not been blessed by the Lord.  Every person of every age of every clime and race is the beneficiary of God's redemption in Christ Jesus.

          This past Lent during our Wednesday evening services, we've been considering the petitions and parts of the Lord's Prayer.  Except for one snow day, each week we've had opportunity to ponder the greatness and majesty of this magnificent prayer which Christ gave to the twelve.

          Over the ages the Christian community has chosen to conclude that prayer with words our Lord did not say.  We pray (say it with me), "For thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory, forever and ever, amen."  But the only part of those words Jesus said was AMEN.  Those familiar words were added by Christians at worship, probably come from the words of David in 1 Chronicles 29:11, "Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours.  Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom;  you are exalted as head over all."

          It's highly probable that somewhere in the first five centuries the people of the church wanted to add something, a conclusion, a finality to the great words of our great Lord.  They'd heard the words and wanted something more, so they added "For yours is the kingdom, and the power and the glory forever, amen."

          They said AMEN because our Lord had commanded them to.  In the original Greek language, Jesus used the word over and over.  "Truly, truly I say to you..."  Maybe you learned it from the King James version like I did, "Verily, verily I say unto thee..."  That's Jesus saying AMEN.  "Truly, truly" or "verily, verily" in the Greek language is "amen, amen..."  "To Him be glory and power, forever and ever, amen!"

          Martin Luther taught his students what it means.  He wrote, "Amen!  This means that I should be certain that these petitions are pleasing to our Father in heaven, and are heard by Him;  for He Himself has commanded us to pray in this way and has promised to hear us.  Amen, Amen, means Yes, Yes, it shall be so." (The Small Catechism)

          A man named Nicodemus came to Jesus one night.  He was a member of the Jewish Council and didn't want to be seen with Him.  He told Jesus, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher from God, for no one can do the miracles you do if God was not with him."  Jesus answered him, "Truly, truly I say to you, no one can see God unless he is born again." (John 3:3)   "Truly, truly" - "Amen, amen," said Jesus, and He still says it today.

          Saying "amen, amen" was the customary way Jews emphasized what they were saying.  It's a minor oath.  What followed "amen, amen" was sure to be true - you could count on it.  You could take it to the bank, and it'd be there when you came back.

          Nicodemus never forgot that night.  He became a follower of Christ who later shed his cloak of secrecy and on Good Friday brought spices to help a man named Joseph of Aramithea bury the body of Jesus in a new grave.  His coming out of secrecy was his way of saying "amen" to Jesus.

          Amen is the word of approval.  If you worship at some Christian churches, during the sermon you'll hear "amen" repeated often by the worshippers.  It's their way of agreeing.  It's saying, "Right on, we agree with you, pastor."  I like to hear approval, but it doesn't happen often during church.

          I suppose if we started that custom here, some wouldn't like it.  It would surely take awhile to get used to.  Not just because we don't talk out loud in church - we say lots of things out loud, so long as they're printed in the bulletin.  And not just because we like formal worship - we're fairly informal at Epiphany compared to some Lutheran churches who don't vary a note from what's printed in the hymnal liturgy.

          But you know what I think?  I think it would be hard to get used to because we'd have to agree with the pastor, you know, to affirm what he's saying right there on the spot.  Lutherans aren't sure they want to do that on the spot, and certainly not out loud.  We want to think about it awhile before we agree publicly.  We may agree silently, so maybe we'll agree with a little wink or a nod of the head and a slight pursing of the lips.  But this is much different from the nodding of the head by tired people.  We want a nod of approval, not the nodding neck of the sleepy head.  But whatever our custom, AMEN is a word of agreement.

          Jesus said, "amen, amen" often in the Bible - 78 times, to be exact.  "I tell you the truth,... heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words will not pass away." (Matthew 5:18)   "I tell you the truth, the Pharisees have received their reward in full..." (Matthew 6)   "It will be more tolerable on Judgment Day for Sodom and Gomorrah than for those hypocrites." (Matthew 10)   "...You will see the Son of man coming in glory." (Matthew 16)   "...If you have the faith of a mustard seed, you can move a mountain." (Matthew 17)   "...Unless you become like little children, you won't enter the kingdom of God." (Matthew 18)

          And God says AMEN every time He brings a child into His kingdom by the waters of Holy Baptism.  He forgives our original sin in baptism, He accepts poor miserable sinners in baptism, and He loves us with an everlasting love that never dies in baptism.  Baptism is one of His many AMENs to us people.

          Holy Communion is another AMEN from God.  In bread and wine we're reminded of His love and forgiveness for all.  Marriage is another AMEN.  It was not good for man to be alone, so God made him a companion.  Men and women are God's AMEN to each other.  The church is another AMEN from God.  The Holy Spirit knew believers needed to belong, so He created the church.  Here we hear Good News preached, here we serve, here we fellowship.

          I believe we can say that life itself is God's AMEN to us.  He allows us to live, and He gives us pleasure and love.  Yes, there is pain and struggle, but there's usually more good than bad in life.  And heaven is God's greatest AMEN to us.  There we'll know no pain, no heartache, no tears, no rejection.  There in eternity, we'll sing and live out God's great AMEN forever.

          But it all starts with an open grave on the first Easter, the empty tomb of the resurrection.  We don't know whether the angels said AMEN but the disciples surely did.  The women who saw the open grave did.  A week later a doubting Thomas surely did.  May God give us all - every person here this morning - the joy and peace to say with joy and delight, "Amen!"  He's done all for us in Jesus.  Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed.  "To Him be glory and power, forever and ever, AMEN!"

Copyright © 2003 by Pastor Bob Tasler.  All rights reserved.