We Are Bearers of the Peace of the Risen Christ

The Rev. Kathi Johnson

Easter 2 – 23 April 2017

Text: John 20:19-31

Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Grand Prairie, Texas

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Happy Easter! It is still Easter today, and, in fact, for several more weeks we will be in the Easter season. Over this Easter season, we will spend time looking at the ways Christ is with us – exploring the theme of Christ’s presence with us.

Today’s Gospel lesson is one of two stories of Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances that we hear this Easter season. Next week, we’ll hear about the risen Jesus meeting some people on the road to Emmaus. Today, we have the story of Jesus appearing to his disciples who are hiding away behind locked doors on Easter evening, and then, he appears to them again, a week later.

Today’s Gospel lesson from John 20 picks up the Easter story from last week. At this point, Jesus has appeared to the women, who’ve passed on the message of the resurrection to the other disciples. The text puts us in the evening of the first day of the week, so the evening of the resurrection. The disciples are hiding behind locked doors because their Teacher and Lord has been executed, and they are frightened that the authorities may come for them, too.

And then there’s the matter of them not really knowing or understanding what the women have told them about seeing Jesus, risen from the dead.

You can see why they might be afraid, and hiding behind locked doors.

Then, there is Jesus, standing among them. He bids them his peace, and they are filled with joy at seeing him again. There is then a beautiful moment of commissioning, as Jesus breathes on them – literally in-spiring the Holy Spirit into his disciples – breathing the Holy Spirit into them.

Thomas isn’t there on that evening, and so later, when the disciples tell him they’ve seen Jesus, he has his doubts. A week later, Jesus shows up again, and this time, Thomas gets to see Jesus himself.

If something is too good to be true, it probably is, right? We are taught to be suspicious - or at least very careful – especially in our day and age of email scams and other nefarious activities. Exercising caution can be a very good thing, at times, but I wonder how our suspicion affects our faith? How did Thomas’ suspicion affect his faith? Maybe Thomas had just been hoodwinked one too many times to believe that Jesus had really risen from the dead.

But as much as we like to cajole Thomas as the doubter of the group, the text shows that Jesus lovingly gives to Thomas exactly what he needs in order to move from doubt to faith. Thomas needs to see Jesus, and to touch Jesus, so – there Jesus is, in the flesh. When Jesus says to Thomas, “Do not doubt but believe,” this is an invitation by Jesus – an invitation for Thomas to step deeper into faith.

And Thomas does just that, calling Jesus “My Lord and my God!” – a true confession of his true faith.

For us, then, one of the lessons of this story is not how to have perfect faith, but rather that Jesus meets us wherever we are in faith, and lovingly breathes the Holy Spirit into us, so that we may have relationships with God that are meaningful and fruitful. Martin Luther said it beautifully in his Small Catechism: “I believe that by my own understanding or strength I cannot believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to him…” He goes on to explain that this belief – our very faith in Jesus – is the work of the Holy Spirit in each of us, and even throughout the whole Christian Church. It is the Spirit’s work.

One of the real challenges for us is that we don’t have Jesus here, in the flesh, the way Thomas did. We can’t physically place our hands into Jesus’ wounded side or put our fingers into the nail holes in Jesus’ hands.

But Jesus calls us “blessed” for that very reason. In talking with Thomas, he says, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” That’s us! We don’t have the same proofs of faith experienced by those first disciples – yet we have their witness, and the witness of countless others. We also have the sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion – acts wherein God meets us in water, bread, and wine. And we have each other, and we have the witness of brothers and sisters in faith all over the world.

Consider the witness of Coptic Christians in Egypt. On Palm Sunday this year, they gathered for worship as is the custom of Christians all over the world. In two of their churches, bombs inside and nearby killed scores of people. And yet, the very next Sunday, they gathered again to remember the resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday.

Surely the risen Christ is with them as they begin to recover from tragedy. Surely the Holy Spirit is with them as they offer their witness to the world. They walk by faith – faith in a risen Christ who has destroyed death by dying himself and being raised to new life again.

“Peace be with you,” Jesus says to his disciples on that Easter evening, and he says that to us, too. Whenever we come to the table to receive his body and blood, we are his guests, recipients of the very love of God. “Peace be with you,” Jesus says, but he doesn’t stop there, he continues by saying, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” Like our brothers and sisters in Egypt, and elsewhere, we are the bearers of the peace of the risen Christ.

We have peace because Jesus is risen – it is peace that surpasses all human understanding at times, but that peace is ours because Jesus is risen. Alleluia.

Amen.

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