Peace Be With You

John 20:19-31

April 23, 2006

Associate Pastor Doug Forsberg

I am not a member of the “greatest generation.” No, I am a proud member of Generation X, the generation born after 1969 that invented the term slacker.  As a member of Generation X, I often find myself wondering why the 60’s won’t die.  That whole decade just keeps fading away and then coming back to life in our popular culture.  Every few years we’re reminded of how good the 60’s were: there was love, and there was peace.  At least that’s what we’re told to remember.  It may be more accurate to say that there was a great hope and a desire for peace, but it never really existed.  No matter how often they pop up, the promises of that culture always leave us wanting, for we can never create our own peace.

Imagine the followers of Christ gathered together on that Sunday evening in a locked room.  Some of them were saying that they had seen Jesus and others reported that the tomb was empty.  Two had come to them after walking with Jesus on the road to Emmaus, telling the others that they finally recognized who Jesus was when he broke bread with them.  Stories were swirling in their heads and confusion must have reigned in their hearts.

During the previous week of their lives, they had feared that their master was going too far as he pressed the religious authorities to follow God.  They had been with him for three years, but this last week had been a nightmare that ended in total chaos.  Each one of these followers had fled their Lord upon his arrested.  They blended in with the shadows of the night fearful that they too might be dragged off.

Later on, they came back together at their usual meeting place, but their Lord was nowhere to be found.  Then others told them what had happened to him.  He was dead, and so they gathered in this room waiting and watching: fearful.  Yet, some were saying that he was alive or at least not dead.  Imagine their thoughts as they tried to make sense of the possibility of this new reality.  Imagine the guilt they felt for having fled their master in his time of need.  Imagine not knowing what to do or how to react to Jesus.

Suddenly, Jesus stands among this worn out and confused group and says “Peace be with you.”  “Peace be with you.”  Strangely enough, Peace was the last thing the disciples would have been feeling.  They were tied up in knots.  They were confused and conflicted, and then Jesus, who had died on the cross three days earlier, stands among them saying “Peace be with you.”  I would imagine that some of the disciples were thinking that peace was as far off as east is to west, and then their true peace came and stood among them declaring peace.

As Jesus stood among his disciples he would have been speaking to them in Hebrew, saying “Shalom.”  Now in that time, Shalom was a common form of greeting, not as informal as hi but something like hello, good day or God be with you.  Certainly Jesus knew this, but he was saying much more than hello as he stood among his followers.  Just looking at the passage before us we see that he used this phrase, “Peace be with you” three times during two different meetings with the disciples.  Each time he uses this phrase, he demonstrates a new meaning of the peace he announces to his disciples. 

Now I know that those of us gathered here today don’t struggle to experience the peace of God in our hearts.  Unlike those first disciples we’ve got this whole peace thing down pat.  Until, of course, we receive a phone call telling us that someone we love is dying, or our kids come home after being picked on at school, or our teacher treats us like a fool, or we can’t make ends meet or we have to move from our home because we can’t take care of ourselves anymore.  Maybe peace isn’t so easy to come by.  Since that’s the case, let’s take some time to try and understand Jesus’ three announcements of peace to his disciples in this passage.

The first time that Jesus announces peace to his followers, they are all, with the exception of Thomas, gathered in that locked room.  “Peace be with you,” Jesus said.  They must have been startled.  Maybe they were thinking that if and when they saw Jesus, he’d come to them with harsh words for the way they had abandoned him and the way they were now living in fear.  Maybe they thought it was strange for him to just say hello after all that had happened, but Jesus was speaking to his disciples of a peace that was more than a wish or a greeting; it was now a reality. 

We’ve come to understand that peace in two significant ways.  First, Romans 5:1 tells us that “since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”  This verse speaks to us of the fact that we have been made right with God, we now stand in a peaceful relationship with God, through Jesus.  Jesus has crossed the divide between God and humanity.  We rejected God; in Christ, he embraces us.  This is very Good News, but the peace that Jesus establishes has an added sense: Philippians 4:6 reminds that we should “not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present [our] requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard [our] hearts and [our] minds in Christ Jesus.”  Not only do we enjoy peace with God, we also enjoy the peace of God, presenting to him the turmoil of our lives and the anxiousness we experience and entrusting it to him.

As Jesus stood among his fearful disciples on the night of his resurrection, he announced peace to them, a peace his death and resurrection established.  For through his death, our sins were paid for and peace was made with God, and in his resurrection the peace of God is extended to all who believe for our great enemy has been defeated, the battle is the Lord’s, for our hearts and minds are guarded in Christ Jesus.  Notice that after their initial shock the disciples rejoice upon seeing the Lord.  Suddenly their fear is gone and they know that no matter how far off they strayed from their Lord, he brought them peace.

The first time Jesus speaks peace to his followers he establishes that fact that they have peace with God and the peace of God.  The second time Jesus says “Peace be with you” he sends his followers out into the mission field.  Isn’t it amazing that once Jesus’ followers recognize who he is, once they know of the peace they have in him, they are sent out in peace.  There is no time at which they can just sort of hang back and entertain Jesus on Sundays while avoiding him the rest of the week.  No, Jesus immediately sends these disciples out into the world, just as he had been sent by God the Father.

As he sends them out into the world, Jesus empowers them with the presence of the Holy Spirit so that they will not be alone as they begin this mission.  The disciples’ mission is at the same time simple and complex.  Having been sent in peace they are to proclaim the peace of God to the world.  The disciples do this when they declare the forgiveness of sins.  As Jesus speaks with the disciples, he says, “If you forgive the sins of anyone, they are forgiven; if you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is withheld.”  Don’t make the mistake of thinking that you have the power to forgive sins or not to forgive them.  This is God’s work.  What you and I do have the power to do is proclaim and declare that in Jesus Christ sins are forgiven, that in Jesus Christ the worst of what we are is redeemed so that we are brought into fellowship with the Living God.

This is a message that we need to hear.  This is a message that the world needs to hear; and in peace, Jesus send his disciples out into the world to declare such a message.  Just think, in this sanctuary this morning there are somewhere between 200 and 250 people.  I imagine that we all know four people who we will see this week that no one else in the room will see.  That makes 800-1,000 people who have the opportunity to hear that Jesus comes to them in peace offering the forgiveness of sins.  If you’ve experienced Jesus’ presence in your life and know his peace, he is sending you out and he will bring you into relationships with others who desperately need his peace.  They need you to tell them of his peace, and he has sent you on just such a mission.

Poor Thomas wasn’t in that locked room the first time Jesus appeared to his disciples.  We don’t know where he was, but he wasn’t with them and when they share the Good News with Thomas, we can see that he isn’t ready to believe.  Notice that the disciples are faithful to Jesus’ mission of announcing peace to the world.  Their faithfulness begins with one of their own who just can’t believe.  How easy it would have been to exclude Thomas from the club.  The disciples could have said, “Sorry, you weren’t here with us when he came, so you don’t get to enjoy him now.  We’re better than you are.  You lose.”  Instead of excluding Thomas, the disciples seek to include him in their lives and in the life of Christ.

A week later Thomas is among the disciples in that locked room.  He still doubts their story, but their joy and warmth have drawn him in to their lives and opened the possibility that Christ would come to him.  Sure enough, Jesus stands in that room again, his entry unannounced and unexplained, and he says a third time, “Peace be with you.”  Jesus extends his peace to all who are present, even Thomas.  This third time that Jesus extends his peace he draws in one who refused to believe in him.

How interesting that the disciples were faithful in their mission.  They were sent out to declare forgiveness, and they do so for Thomas.  They aren’t charged to save Thomas or make him believe.  That is Jesus’ work.  Jesus comes to Thomas in the midst of Thomas’ doubt and meets Thomas in that doubt.  He doesn’t demand that Thomas figure everything out or be perfect before he comes.  Jesus comes to Thomas in his brokenness and shame, and Thomas, upon seeing Jesus, exclaims, “My Lord and my God!”  Just as the other disciples had discovered a week before, now Thomas discovers the peace that Jesus extends to him.

The point of the peace that Jesus extends to his disciples in this passage is two-fold.   First, Jesus comes to us announcing peace with God and comforting us with the peace of God.  Second, Jesus sends us out to declare to the world that in Christ sins are forgiven. 

As that message is planted into the hearts of those who will hear, Jesus comes to them and extends to them his peace, even as he sends these new believers out to continue this great mission.  The point of all of this is that “[we] might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing, [we] may have life in his name.”

If you don’t know peace with God or the peace of God, Jesus is extending that peace to you this morning.  You have to grab hold of it and find in it your resting place, for Jesus is the only place you will find rest and a peace that passes all understanding.

If you do know this peace that passes all understanding, you are being sent out.  Thanks be to God that we live in a place where mission begins as soon as we leave the doors of this sanctuary.  There are so many around us who don’t know peace with God.  Will you offer them that peace?  Let me encourage and challenge all of us to share Jesus’ peace with four people this week.  Let’s see what happens.  There are also opportunities to share Christ’s peace with the larger community: high school students can go to the Boston Project for a week this summer, adults can travel to Honduras with our mission team, prison ministries need volunteers who will speak of God’s grace, young people need mentors, battered woman and children need to know that there is a Father who loves them.  The opportunities are endless.  It’s up to you to find that place where you can witness to the peace that Jesus has brought to your heart, for he who has extended peace to you, will extend it to others as well.

Peace be with you.

May it be that we know and extend your peace Lord, may it be!