Peace be with you - John 20:19-31 Easter season 2018
This sermon was preached in 2018 and gives a different angle on the reading from John 20 (as footnoted in sermon from 2021)
The disciples are behind locked doors. We are told that they are afraid. The man they have spent 3 years doing ministry with has just been crucified. They are of course guilty by association and in fear of their own lives. What will happen now?
Afraid, confused, disappointed, and anxious they wait not sure what to do.
Imagine for a moment being there with the disciples.
The feeling of disappointment is like a lump of coal in the pit of your stomach isn’t it? I’m sure there has been a time in your life too where things have just not gone the way you hoped. It’s that bitter taste of defeat which is fresh for these disciples.
Then suddenly, and we don’t hear how he got in – Jesus is there. Jesus stands among them.
At this moment there may be a mix of emotions going on for the disciples. Guilt or shame perhaps that they fled at the moment of trial. Fear and bewilderment – how can this be? Jesus died after all!
Jesus walks amongst them and his first words are “peace be with you.”
Not “Where were you guys when I needed you?!”
Not “I can’t believe you’re all just sitting here feeling sorry for yourselves.”
Not “Toughen up you lot.”
Jesus says, “Peace be with you.”
How can Jesus say this to them in this moment?
Jesus comes with news of peace because after Easter weekend everything is different. The world has changed because of what Jesus has just done. The gift that Jesus comes bearing is peace.
In his letter to the Colossians Paul reflects on what Jesus did on the cross saying:
Through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.
21 And you who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his fleshly body through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him (Colossians 1:20-22)
Jesus has won peace through his battle with sin and evil on the cross. His resurrection was the vindication, it was the sign as John puts it = that Jesus is the Son of God – that Jesus has the power to fix what is broken in this world.
After uttering words of peace, Jesus shows his hands and his side to the disciples. He gives them the physical evidence. They aren’t having a vision, they aren’t hallucinating or seeing a ghost – here is Jesus in the flesh, resurrected before them.
There was on that evening one disciple who wasn’t there. His name was Thomas.
Now poor old Thomas has been used as an example of lack of belief and what not to do in response to Jesus.
However, put yourself in Thomas’ shoes. He experiences the shock of Jesus’ death and his refusal to believe that this was not the end of the story is a very real and human response of shock and trauma. This isn’t just an intellectual exercise for Thomas, he saw Jesus in the flesh day in and day out, he journeyed with him for three years and he was there when Jesus was betrayed and turned over to be executed. A perfectly natural response is to express doubt.
Why would John tell us this story? To make his mate Thomas look bad? Hopefully not.
Rather the point is made once again here by John that here is Jesus in the flesh. He comes with wounds in his hands and side once more. A major concern of John is to show us the humanity of Jesus.
Jesus confronts Thomas with his real physical presence and Thomas makes an exclamation: “My Lord and my God.”
This confession is one of the high points of John’s Gospel and it takes us all the way back to the beginning where John says in Chapter 1 “The Word became flesh and lived among us”
Thomas identifies Jesus as God and here we see that through the whole journey of John’s Gospel this is the point – God is with us in Jesus Christ. He takes on flesh and blood, enters our world, enters our disappointment, pain, and brokenness and offers a way of peace and hope in the midst of it.
In John chapter 14 as Jesus prepares his disciples for him leaving them, he says:
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” (John 14:27 NIV)
Our world today is in desperate need of this peace.
At the end of last year the NZ Herald put together a list of New Zealand’s Ten Darkest Stats in relation to the developed world.
1) NZ is bottom of the developed world for child poverty.
2) Between 2006 and 2013 homelessness grew by 25%
3) We have more than double the number of teen suicides than any other developed country.
4) We have the highest rate of teenage births.
5) We have the second highest rates of bullying in the OECD.
6) We have the worst levels of family violence in the developed world.
7) 32% of Kiwi children are obese or overweight.
8) Kiwi 10 year olds have dropped below the median global reading level.
9) Suicides account for 41% of deaths in males aged 15-24
10) Our skin cancer rates are the highest in the world.
These stats tell us that we desperately need God’s peace in our mix.
Peace in the Biblical sense is more than we might think.
In the opening story of the Bible we hear about God creating this world. And we hear that it is good. There is shalom – the Hebrew word for peace, wholeness, goodness, everything as it should be.
One writer describing this says:
“Shalom is …the webbing together of God, humans, and all creation in justice, fulfillment, and delight…Shalom means universal flourishing, wholeness and delight – a rich state of affairs in which natural needs are satisfied and natural gifts fruitfully employed. Shalom, in other words, is the way things ought to be…the full flourishing of human life in all aspects, as God intended it to be.”[1]
Sometimes we get so caught up with all of the problems, worries, and pain in the world that forget to see our Creator’s good intent for the world.
The broken state of our world isn’t just how it is. It isn’t the way it should be.
Sin is a violation of shalom, a disruption of shalom, a break in the way things ought to be.
When Jesus comes bringing God’s peace, he comes bringing shalom – he comes to bring wholeness and restoration.
I don’t know about you but I constantly find that in my own life I am in desperate need of this peace.
This is the gift that Jesus brings to those who follow his way. He promises to be with his disciples, to make his shalom, his peace a reality amongst them even in the midst of hardship.
This gift of peace they are given isn’t just for them however. It is of course to be shared. The first disciples are eyewitnesses of Jesus’ resurrection and the good news of God’s peace.
Jesus says to Thomas “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”
How will those who have not seen come to believe?
This will only happen if the disciples pass it on, and we are all here today hearing the good news of Jesus because they did.
Jesus says to his disciples: “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”
The ongoing work of the disciples and of us as followers of Jesus is to be people who pass the peace, not just in church but out in our everyday lives, we are going to talk more about that next week as we explore our mission together as a community.
But today as we hear the words of Jesus to his disciples “Peace be with you” what is it that God might be saying to each of us?
The children at Sprouts this morning are asking the same question from three angles – UP – IN – OUT
Look up! ‘Peace be with you!’ Jesus says this to his friends twice, so it must have been really important! God’s peace can calm, reassure and comfort us when we are fearful. If you are worried about something, ask God for His peace.
Look in! Do you hold grudges? Jesus talked about forgiveness, and how the Holy Spirit can help us forgive others. If you need help to forgive someone for hurting you, ask God to show you how.
Look out! When we worry about something, we can feel like the disciples – stuck (in a locked room!) and scared. God’s peace changed the minds of the disciples, and they were ‘overjoyed.’ Pray for a friend who is worried and ask God to send them His peace.
[1]Cornelius Plantinga “Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin.”