John 20:19-23
Peace Be With You!
The disciples are huddled in a room in Jerusalem. It has been three days since Jesus, their leader, was crucified. They are gathered in this room because we are told they are afraid of “the Jews.” This is a reference to the Jewish leadership that has opposed Jesus. There are two reasons they might be fearful of the Jews. First, they were, after all, followers of this man whom the Jewish leaders hated, hated enough to have killed (along with the Romans). They were “guilty by association.” If you and I were a follower of a radical leader like Jesus, one who was challenging the status quo and reinterpreting everything that people believed, we would have been a little scared, too. Second, the disciples were scared because they had received news earlier that day that the tomb where Jesus had been laid was now empty. The stone had been rolled away, and the only thing left inside was the burial clothes.
The religious leaders had placed guards and sealed the grave up nice and tight just so this sort of thing might not happen. The religious leaders were afraid that Jesus’ disciples might steal Jesus’ body and claim that he had been raised from the dead. It was certain, by this time in the day, that the religious leaders knew that Jesus’ body was no longer in the tomb. It didn’t matter that Mary Magdalene had claimed that she had seen the risen Christ. The religious leaders would probably still accuse the disciples of stealing the body anyway. There were many reasons to fear.
So now, as night was falling on Easter Sunday, the disciples are held up in a room in Jerusalem, afraid for what might come next. I’m sure that amid this fear, there was hope that what Mary had seen and reported was true. But still, fear persisted. Fear persisted in the absence of the One who had promised them peace, the one who had promised them a new way of life.
Then, as they were discussing all that had transpired, all that had happened over the last few years, as they stood discussing what in the world they might do next, something happened. As they sat in fear, suddenly Jesus appeared right in the middle of their conversation. The disciples stared in disbelief. How could this have happened? Wasn’t the door locked? How did this man get in? The fact that Jesus came through a locked door should not be overly stressed. It is, according to some, a signal to John’s readers that Jesus’ resurrected body had been transformed, but it is still Jesus’ original body, as his wounds will display. Jesus has, at the same time, his original human body, but a body that has been transformed by the resurrection.
Then Jesus spoke. He spoke with a calmness and assurance that only Jesus could speak. “Peace be with you.” This simple, ordinary greeting shatters the silence. “Peace be with you.” In the midst of fear and dread, in the middle of the hopelessness of the death of their leader, these words suddenly drive away the fear that had previously permeated the atmosphere.
The questions about what to do next slowly faded away as Jesus begins to reveal to these men the wounds and scars of his crucifixion. These wounds and scars are no longer open and causing pain. They have been transformed. Jesus shows his body to his disciples to prove to them that it is indeed him, the very one who three days ago hung from the cross. But it also proves to the disciples that something decisive has happened.
The effects of sin, the pain, and the death that Jesus had suffered were nullified. What humanity tried to do to Jesus to kill his message of salvation, his love, his selflessness was ineffectual. Pain could not hold the power of God. Death could not hold the power of God. Death had been conquered. Jesus was alive. The disciples begin to rejoice! Their fear has been dispelled. Now that the power of God has been shown to be more potent than that of the Jews or Romans, of death, of anything humanity could do to them, the disciples can now rise to a new level of faith and action.
A few moments of rejoicing and embracing pass. Jesus speaks again. “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And when he stopped talking, he takes a step back, draws in a deep breath and slowly exhales over the room: “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” Immediately, everyone in the room remembers what they had learned as a little child: God breathed into Adam and Eve and gave them life. Surely this means that some kind of new creation is happening.
What the disciples had been—scared, feeble, weak, and faithless men—is not what they now are. Jesus has given them the Spirit of God, and they have been changed. They have been remade. And they have been sent. Any time the breath of God or the Spirit of God is given, things change.
This is a fantastic story. It is so simple yet so meaningful and profound. In the midst of our fear about the future, in the middle of our sinfulness and brokenness, the risen Christ comes to us and commissions us. Jesus’ words, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you,” are spoken to us, here today.
God has enlisted us to continue the work that Jesus Christ started through his life, teaching, death, and resurrection. The breath that Jesus breathed on the disciples, Jesus now breathes on us. The Holy Spirit who creates men and women and makes them new, Jesus now breathes on us. This breath now comes to us to fill us with new life, to fill us with new energy, to fill us with new ability to go out into our world and be like Jesus for the salvation of those around us.
This is what the resurrection means for us. It is our salvation, but it is more than that; it is the beginning of Christ’s work through us to participate in his work of redeeming the world.
How might we encourage our congregations to respond to the fear repelling, commissioning Spirit of God? We might encourage them to:
Leave our places of comfort so that we can minister to those in need. For example, you might become a missionary in another country. Or, you might move to a lower income part of town so that you might be the very real hands and feet of Jesus there.
Find ways to use our positions of power and privilege so that we can serve those who have no power. For example, how might your professional skills (in finance, law, medicine, education, etc.) be used to support and advocate for those who are poor, oppressed, or discriminated against?
Work to mediate forgiveness and peace between people who are at odds with one another—for example, helping to settle disputes between your coworkers. Or, helping to resolve disputes between members of our local congregation. At the very least, it means being a non-anxious presence in the midst of conflicts.
Become the tangible evidence of the resurrection so that people like Thomas might see and believe that Jesus is our resurrected Lord and Savior.