Easter 5C, 2025 (Confirmation)

Text: Revelation 21:1-7

Title: It’s Done

Alleluia, Christ is Risen!

“It is done.”

That’s what Jesus says in Revelation 21.

“It’s done.”

That’s probably what you’re thinking now.

“It’s done.”

No more confirmation class.

No more coming here on a weeknight to sit and listen when you’d rather be doing something else.

No more being forced to learn about God.

No more having to pray with your family.

No more coming to church at all.

You’re done, right?  Being confirmed means you’re done with church.

Now, you know that’s not the case.  We’ve been over this many times.

This is not a graduation where you leave and then never come back.

But you’d be surprised how many confirmands think this way.  When they’ve reached this point, they’re done, they’re finished, and they don’t come back.

It happens.

And for those who continue in the church through high school, often participation in church and in things like prayer and devotion and home drops dramatically after confirmation.

Between school and homework, parties and sports, part-time jobs, kids just get too busy, and Jesus becomes less and less of a priority for them. 

I’m glad that you have your parents with you today, as well and grandparents, aunts and uncles, godparents and friends.  They can hear the promises you make today and help you to keep them.

Parents, there will come times over the course of the next few years when you need to say, “No,” when sleepovers, and tournaments, and performances, and vacations continue to take your child away from Jesus Christ and His body, the church.

You may need to say “No” to those things, so that you can say “Yes” to something much better.  Hearing the Word of God here and at home as a family.  Praying together.  Coming to the altar to receive the body and blood of Christ.  Singing the great hymns of the faith.  Continuing to learn in Sunday School and Bible Class.

That is what you, confirmands and parents alike are saying “Yes” to today.

This is what will keep you strong in your faith throughout the challenges of high school.

And that’s what will prepare you for whatever comes next, college, living on your own, getting married and starting a family, whatever God has planned for you.

For the kids who stay in the church during high school, still many of them fall away once they’re no longer living at home with mom and dad. 

They head off to college, they get their own place, and suddenly there’s no one telling them they have to go to church and so they’re done.

Now it’s easy to look down on all those people who have left the church over the course of their lives and to think of how much better you are than that lot. 

But how many of you were done learning and growing in faith when you were confirmed?

“I’ve learned everything I need to know.  I went to Sunday School.  I went to confirmation.  I did my time.”

When’s the last time you opened your Bible?  Or your catechism?  Or has it been sitting on your shelf, collecting dust like some old trophy?

After Easter, the disciples probably thought they were done, too.

They had witnessed the death and resurrection of Christ.  He had done what He had come to do.  He even said, “It is finished!”  What more was left to do?  Plenty.

We’ve been hearing the stories of these disciples in those first readings from Acts this Easter season.  After Jesus ascended to heaven, the disciples were out preaching and teaching and baptizing, bearing witness to all that Jesus had done. Jesus was using them to bring the good news of salvation to people far and wide, even Gentiles!

It was not easy.  They experienced persecution.  They argued among themselves.

To do what Jesus had given them to do required them to be strong.  To stand firm in their faith in the face of challenges.  And to do that, they needed the gift of His Holy Spirit. 

In our Gospel today, Jesus promised to send that Holy Spirit, so that even if Jesus wasn’t there for them in the same way He always had been, they would have His Spirit working in and through them.

It’s the same way for you today. 

God’s not done with you yet.

Think of all the amazing gifts and talents and skills that He has given you.  Think of the passion and energy and love that you have.  He’s going to use these in wonderful ways in His service in the years to come, just like He used the disciples.

But it won’t be easy.  The world is hostile to Jesus, and it will not treat you kindly if you follow Him.

You’ll need strength.  You’ll need the Holy Spirit.

Which is why you’re here today.  To be strengthened.  To be confirmed in your faith through the working of the Holy Spirit.  You’re not confirming anything today.  The Holy Spirit is confirming you, through the Word of God and through the body and blood of Christ.

You’re not done.  There’s still more for you.  Jesus told the disciples, “I’ve got more things to teach you.”  There’s always more to learn from Him.

When Jesus says, “It is done,” He’s not saying that it’s over, that’s it’s finished, that it’s the end.

In fact, He says the opposite.  He says, “I make all things new.”

How can something be “done” and “new” at the same time?

Think about a new car, just rolling off the assembly line.  It’s done. It’s complete.  But it has thousands of miles of road ahead of it, countless journeys yet to take.

Think about a new home, just having been built. It’s done.  It’s complete.  But a family is going to live in that home year after year making memories and sharing their life together.

Think about a newborn child, just having been born. He’s done.  She’s complete.  But they have a whole life ahead of them.

That’s the way it is with Jesus.  Every time you think you’re done, it’s just the beginning. It’s something new.

Jesus’ death and resurrection wasn’t the end. It was the beginning of the church and the spread of the Good News to the end of the earth.

Your confirmation isn’t the end.  It’s the beginning of your life in Christ as a disciple who has renounced Satan, who has been baptized, who has been taught the Christian faith and who has publicly confessed that faith before the world.

Even your death will not be the end.  Jesus will make a new heaven and a new earth. And He will live there with you. And He will wipe every tear from your eyes.  And there won’t be a thing called death any more.  And you’ll never be sad.  And nothing will ever hurt you any more.

Because those things will truly be done in the sense of no longer being around.

And that’s why we’re here today.  And that’s why we’re here week after week—to hear this message, to share in this hope, to be made new over and over again by the love of Christ until He brings us to that great and glorious place that we are all expecting.

Alleluia, Christ is Risen!