+ 7th Sunday of Easter – May 17th, 2026 +
Series C: Acts 1:12-26; 1 Peter 4:12-19, 5:6-11; John 17:1-11
Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church
Milton, WA
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Biologists will tell you that cells, DNA, and proteins are the building blocks of life.
Farmers will tell you that good soil, water, and sunlight are needed for growth, for life.
And yet, there’s something more than molecules and particles that holds life together. Something much older and ancient. Something sacred. Holy.
Words. Words give life. Our whole world hangs on a word. That first, “I love you.” The announcement from the doctor, “It’s a girl! It’s a boy!” That moment when time stands still until she says, “yes, I will.”
And if our words are able to bring such moments of life and love and laughter, how much more so do our Lord’s words. Before there were atoms and amino acids there were words. Our Lord’s word. “Let there be.” And there was.
The Holy Trinity is the inventor of words. God is a divine wordsmith. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are the wellspring of words. And our Lord’s word gives life.
Creation begins with our Lord’s word. All things are made through the Word of God. Creation is upheld by Christ’s word of power. So it’s not surprise that when the Word is made flesh, when the Son of God takes on our humanity, he also speaks our language. Jesus delivers to his disciples, and us, his word of life.
I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.
When Jesus prayed these words in his high priestly prayer. On the night he was betrayed. On the night before he spoke his final words on the cross. He spoke these words to the Father, but also for his disciples. And for you.
These are more than ordinary words. Jesus’ words are life, for his disciples, and for you.
Jesus’ words bring life to a man’s lifeless legs.
Jesus’ words send demons running in fear.
Jesus’ words hushed the wind. Stay the storm. Whisper peace to the waves.
Jesus’ words bring healing, holiness, and honor to the sick, the unclean, and the ashamed.
Jesus’ words raise dead Lazarus.
Jesus’ words pull Peter and Thomas and the fearful, doubtful disciples, out of the darkness and into the new creation.
Jesus words’ deliver what he promises: peace. Forgiveness. Grace and goodness. Truth and beauty.
This was true for Jesus’ disciples. They spent years hearing Jesus’ word, memorizing, Jesus’ word, learning, marking, inwardly digesting Jesus’ word. And then they were given a vocation to speak and deliver and proclaim Jesus’ word.
This is what our catechumens have been doing these past several years. What we should be doing in all our years, no matter our age. Sitting at Jesus’ feet listening to his word. Dining at his table where his word is our daily bread; where bread and wine are full of body and blood and promise.
The truth is, confirmation isn’t the end of your time as a disciple, but the beginning. Confirmation is a boot camp preparing you for the war of words that is the Christian life. Your Small Catechism is your field manual as a soldier of Christ. The Scriptures are God’s word, and your sword and shield.
Do not let it grow dull or dusty or rusty. Rather, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest our Lord’s holy words.
Because if you haven’t figured this out yet, you will soon enough. Words are unavoidable in this world. But not all words are created equal. Some words offer death disguised as beauty. Poison parading as pleasure. False and wicked words dressed up in their Sunday’s best. The kinds of words that worm their way straight through your ears into your heart and mind and soul. And there in the dark they twist and turn; they curve you inward, and finally, slowly, step by step, word by word, whispering you away from Jesus’ words of life.
The question in this life is never whether or not we will hear words, but whose words will fill our ears?
Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
And remember, while Jesus uses ordinary words, his words are anything but ordinary.
The Lord who says, “Let there be light,” also says, “let there be life,” baptizing you with word and water into his holy name.
The Lord who told the demons to eat dust also raises you from the dust and ashes of repentance by his word of forgiveness.
The Lord who rebuked the wind and the waves, speaks his word of redemption into our storm-tossed hearts and minds.
The Lord who healed the sick, made the lame to walk, and raised the dead, speaks his absolution to you every Sunday and you are healed, you are holy, you are pulled out of the grave.
The Lord who called forth Lazarus from the tomb will one day stand over our grave and call out our names and call us into his new creation.
The Lord who speaks this prayer to the Father still prays and pleads and intercedes for you with his blood. By his grace. With his word.
The Lord who sat and taught and ate and drank with his disciples, promises he is present with us here at his table, in his body and blood. You have his word on it.
Every day. Wherever you go. In all your callings in life… Jesus’ word is your life.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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