First SUNDAY AFTER EASTER
THE RISEN CHRIST BRINGS PEACE John 20:19-31
Charles Webb April 15, 2007 – Hope Lutheran Church, Bellaire, MI
Easter is passed. The songs and music and majesty of the season and services are but a shadow of my mind. Alas, the twice-a-year Christians have left. The hype is over. The music is shelved for another year. The Easter decorations, bunnies, and commercial additions of the season are put away. Life is “normal” again.
But, is that a fair statement for us, fellow redeemed? Is Easter ever really over? Is it really shelved, put away for another year? I hope not! The Gospel today reveals that it continues in the hearts and lives of the disciples. Christ appears to the disciples with peace, hope, and forgiveness. He also appears in our lives with his peace and gives us forgiveness won by his dying and resurrection. He appears to us in the Lord’s Supper and in the Gospel day after day. He appears in our hearts and minds long after the formal celebration ends.
Let us consider THE PEACE AND FORGIVENESS that the risen Lord brings.
Christ is risen! HE IS RISEN INDEED! ALLELUIA!
Let’s review the story just before our text. Mary Magdalene, Peter and John appeared at the tomb of our Lord, only to find it empty. An angel asks her why she is crying and she replies that her Lord is gone and she doesn’t know where they took him. Jesus appears and she mistakes him for the gardener and asks where the Lord is. He replies emphatically, “Mary”! She then realizes that it is Christ. He tells her that he is ascending to the Father and for her to take the message back to the disciples.
In the evening of that day, the disciples locked themselves into a room, fearing the unbelieving Jews might seek them out and persecute them. They were cowering in fear of their lives.
There they were, 10 apostles. Missing was Judas who had committed suicide and, for some unexplained reason, Thomas, the twin (know in the Greek as “Didymus”).
Jesus appears suddenly in the locked room. In their state of fear, this must have caused not a little increase in their anxiety. He’s suddenly there. How did he get there? Yet he comes to them, even though they have forgotten his promises, denied, and deserted him. He shows them his wounds as proof of who he is and they were glad to see him.
Instead of denouncing them for their weak faith and for retreating in fear, Christ speaks to them a word of peace and forgiveness, “Peace to you!” It is a peace which the world cannot give. It is a peace that they were lacking, cringing in fear. It is the peace we use so often in the liturgy: “In peace let us pray to the Lord”, the peace that we receive after the Words of Institution, that which ends the service, “The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.” It’s that inner feeling of total calm, warmth, and assurance that no harm can come to us – that we are one with God.
Then he commissions them be his disciples. Jesus breathes on his disciples to give them the Holy Spirit so that they can forgive sins. This reminds us of Gen 2:7: “the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
It points to the new creation ushered in by Jesus’ victory over sin, death, and the devil. That spirit give them power to forgive sins. “If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven." This is know as the Office of the Keys.
The Ten were at peace, for they had seen the Lord. They saw the wounds of his hands and side. The risen Lord was with them, with his comfort and peace. Now there is nothing to fear
We can also rejoice today. The Lord is with us. The workaday world so often overwhelms us. A feeling of inner contentment and serenity is often far from us. The devil, the world and our own flesh conspire against us. We have hard, trying days. We often feel that we just cannot go on – reversals at work, discord at home, financial strains, problems with our families, friends letting us down, and uncertainty about the future, all conspire to test the very faith we live by. The strong, firm, caring voice of Christ carries through it all, “Peace be with you,” bringing hope and forgiveness and making sense out of life spinning out of control.
We can rejoice today. The Lord is with us. As he brought peace to the disciples so long ago, he brings us eternal hope in his Word and in the sacrament of his body and blood.
Then, eight days after the resurrection, the day we celebrate today, Jesus again appears, this time Thomas is there. Again he says, “Peace be with you
Not only did Thomas refuse to believe the other 10, he refused to believe Christ. He wasn’t only doubting, he was disbelieving. “I have to see the wounds of his hands and actually put my hand into your side before I will accept this story. As far as I am concerned, seeing is believing.” He once said at the death of Lazarus, “Let us go that we may die with him.” Now his faith is weak, perhaps shaken by the death of Christ.
Jesus tells Thomas not to rely on the foolishness of human wisdom and asks him to deny his own strength and reason. He calls Thomas to believe on the basis of what is real rather than on what he perceives.
He turns to Thomas and offers him proof of his wounds and adds, “Do not be unbelieving, but believing.” Thomas is overwhelmed and faith prompts him to respond, “My Lord and my God.” Jesus rescued him from the sin that would have condemned him, the sin of unbelief.
Our Lord has a further observation. Jesus' response to Thomas was simple and direct: "… 'Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed'" (v. 29). Thomas was blessed. He saw the Lord.
“Blessed” reminds us of the Beatitudes and the blessings of faith that come through the Word. Unlike Thomas, we have not seen but have come to faith through the Gospel—the same Gospel that was first proclaimed by the disciples who were locked in their room on Easter night in fear and most of whom believed without proof.
Jesus was living, tangible proof to his disciples of his resurrection. It took the actual physical Christ to prove to Thomas that he was resurrected.
Jesus is saying that all believers are blessed by believing in Him although they do not see him in the flesh. As Paul tells us in Corinthians (2 Cor. 5:7), “for we walk by faith, not
by sight” and farther on, "We look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal" (2 Cor. 4:18).
This is a problem for many. We live in a world of skepticism where “seeing is believing”. “I from Missouri, you gotta show me,” the motto goes. Our society wants proof and guarantees – something we can touch and experiences with the senses. And even with proof, we often find things difficult to believe. Look, for example, all of those who deny the obvious, global warming!
It is very difficult for people today to accept Christ. We have no physical way of confirming the resurrection. There are no wounds to touch. Even if they had the tangible proof, they would not believe.
Jesus comes to us in his Word despite the weakness of our human reason. His Word comforts us in our lost and confused minds – minds filled with doubt and unbelief. The Word made flesh dwells among us in the written and spoken Word. He is with us always according to his promise (Mt 28:20).
Jesus’ Word is living, active, and powerful. Jesus enables us. His Word still accomplishes what he purposes for it. You’re being here to day is proof of that.
His Word works faith. His Word brings forgiveness.
Jesus comes to us while we are locked in sin and death, unable to come to him and unable to let him in.
Jesus comes to us in the Word joined to water, creating us anew joining us with him in his death and raising us to new life with him in his resurrection.
Jesus comes to us in the sacrament of the altar – a wonder beyond our imaginations. He comes to us in, with, and under the bread and wine. He passes through the locked doors of our minds to be with us. Jesus enables us, forgives us, strengthens us, feeds us with his precious body and blood.
The peace of the Lord is with us.
Driven by our human nature, we often doubt that God is there and that he love us. Bad things happen. Wars, hurricanes, tsumanis, tornadoes, fires, reversals of every kind plague us. We accuse God of authoring evil. Why didn’t he send the Savior just after the Fall and none of this would have happened? Our faith is tested time and again.
The question of why God allows evil in this world will never be answered on this side of eternity. It is obvious from our text that he loves us and he only allows suffering and trials so that we will be drawn closer to him.
The peace of the Lord is with us.
Sadly, many so-called Christians face each Sunday with, “Well, here we are again! Same ol’, same ol’. Nothing’s new under the sun. Life is a constant repetition of the failings of man repeated over and over and over. We have heard the message for years, how bad we are and how God saved us. The message is so predictable that it fails to capture our attention. Nothing’s new this Sunday. HO HUM.”
But, you know, there is something new this Sunday. - our sinful nature has conspired against us again to make it look humdrum.
Sure life is predictable! Sure man is predictable! Sure sin, death, the devil and redemption are repeated Sunday after Sunday. Sure we don’t want to hear it. Sure, you do need to hear it! It has to be new every Sunday.
That’s our sinful nature speaking and trivializing the battle that our Lord won. We need that constant reminder, that constant infusion of the Holy Spirit to ward off the assaults of the devil and our own corruption. We are at constant war with ourselves. We need to be assured daily that
HE IS RISEN, HE IS RISEN INDEED, HALLELUJAH.
We need to know that THE PEACE OF THE LORD IS WITH US. We will not survive without it.
It’s no big deal. It’s the greatest deal in the history of the universe. Christ is with us. Without his resurrection, we would be lost, condemned and destined for the fate of Judas and all unbelievers.
With him, our doubts melt away every day and life is not “all vanity”. Life has purpose, hope, direction, love, forgiveness, meaning and the bright promise of our Lord’s presence with us as he was with the disciples in that locked room.
Peace be with you!
Today and everyday, we celebrate our Lord’s life, death and resurrection. He has conquered sin. He has ousted the devil. He has overcome death. He has dressed us in the white robes of righteousness. He has conquered unbelief. He has forgiven our weaknesses.
Just as he gave the disciples his comfort so long ago, he comforts us today.
He sends his Holy Spirit and calls us by the Gospel. “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” (v. 31) "And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other Name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).
My peace I leave with you! Out of a redeemed conscience we cry, “My Lord and my God! The Holy Spirit gives us the eyes and ears of faith that we may behold our risen Lord in his body and blood.
My peace I leave with you!
It is by the Holy Spirit that we no longer live in unbelief, but firmly grasp the joy and forgiveness of the resurrection of our Lord.
Easter joy was with us a week ago. Easter joy is with us today. Easter joy will be with us throughout our lives.
The Spirit has come to us, so that we too would live in the Easter triumph, the Easter joy, the joy that is ours forever, for He has risen and come to bring us forgiveness, life, and peace. His peace, that peace which the word cannot give.
Yes, we have peace in place of fear. We have faith in place of doubt. We have life in place of death. We have joy in place of sadness. Joy that we have received the washing away of sins in Christ.
Christ is risen! HE IS RISEN INDEED! ALLELUIA!
Amen!
And now may the peace of the risen Lord, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.