Peace Be With You

Second Sunday of Easter, Year A John 20:19-32

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Days, or I guess now the next uh 43 days, we are going to continue to ride this wave called Easter Tide. See, Easter Sunday is just one day, but it's a part of a whole entire season. That where we look at and celebrate what does the resurrected Jesus mean for our lives today? What does it mean that Jesus is rose from the dead? We can often think about what it means that Jesus died for us, but we can't just stop there. As Christians, we not only believe in the death of Jesus and that he was buried, but we also have to affirm and believe to be Christian that he has risen from the dead. And it's this last part that we continue to live out in our lives each and every day. So Easter tide is several weeks leading up to Pentecost. And every Sunday we are going to review and remind ourselves what it means to be made alive in Jesus Christ, to be made people who are believing, even though we have not yet seen the living Lord. And I have to be honest with you, this passage that we are looking at today is so full of so much that I have had a very hard time to figure out what is it that the Lord would have you to know about this passage. Because this is the only time I have you guys all in one room, and so I want to vomit on you everything that is good and delicious from this passage. I want to tell you that this passage is one of the reasons why we even gather on Sunday. Why we even gather in a church behind closed doors, and why we spend 10, maybe sometimes 15 minutes extending peace to one another. Why we have now began over the last year experiencing confession and pardon every time we gather together comes from this passage. The reason and the way we worship, the ingredients are right here in this passage. And I don't have the opportunity to always teach you why we do what we do. When you come here on Sunday, I guarantee you you're doing a little bit different than the other churches that are around us. But it's not because I am just so creative and I like to just make things up. It's because when you search the scriptures and you read history that confirms the practices of the early church, they did particular things. They had specific patterns that constantly call to their attention these moments of resurrected Jesus in their lives. So I still at this moment don't know what it is that the Lord needs for you to hear. But let me begin with what happens repetitively in this passage. Peace be with you. What is the big to do with speaking peace? We speak peace to one another, and maybe you don't even feel very peaceful. Your emotion hasn't come there yet. But yet you speak it to each other. I'm making it a point to speak it to each and every one of you. As one who shepherds the people on behalf of Christ, it's my duty, my honor, my privilege to say the words of Christ to you, to your face, and to your ears, and to your heart. Peace be with you. This is one of the first things that I thought about this morning when I was listening and people coming in for Sunday school and interacting with certain people. It just feels that the greatest thing and gift I can give you is to speak peace into your life, whether you understand it or not. Why? Because of this passage. Think about this. This passage, the disciples are gathered together. They have come together, they confide in each other. But what are they all doing? They're fearful. The last few days of their life has been turned upside down. The person that they pledged their allegiance to claimed to be the Christ and the Messiah, the Son of God. They left in the dust. We are told throughout the Gospels, and even Jesus predicts that when the shepherd is stricken, the sheep will scatter. And that's exactly what the disciples did. Not one of them, besides John, John's the only one we are given record, who is at the death of Jesus on the cross. The rest of them went back to their homes from all that we can tell that the gospel tells us. Can you imagine when you have pledged your loyalty to somebody, when you have witnessed the mighty deeds of Jesus Christ Himself, and then you turn tail and run in his greatest hour? How you might feel at his death. You have heard that he got speared in the side, but you didn't witness it. You have heard that they nailed his hands and his feet to the cross, but you weren't there to see it. Can you imagine the weight of the guilt and the sin and the pressure that they might have felt? Not only in their own disloyalty to Jesus, but also that now there's a mob seeking their own lives and they are fearful behind locked doors in Jerusalem. And the only thing they can do is get together. So Jesus knows where they are. And the risen Lord seeks them out. And he busts through that door. He doesn't bust through the door, actually, he just manifests through the door. They're locked, they stay locked, and he comes into their presence while they're gathered. And you would think that Jesus would look to Peter and say, I told you, Peter. I told you you're gonna deny me three times. I told you all you're going to be spread out, and you're gonna leave me high and dry. Oh, you of little faith. But Jesus doesn't do that. Because Jesus is a good, loving, kind, just God. What they deserve, he is already satisfied with the marks that he bears in his body. There's no condemnation for them because he absorbed their punishment. And so all that is left to give them is the peace that he has made with God the Father. And so he doesn't chastise them. He walks through the door with them covered in shame and guilt and fear as we're told. And to calm their chaos and their sea, he says, peace be with you. Peace be with you. This is such an important thing that takes place that do you know this is why we do it? We do something that was done at the first moment of the gathering of the disciples. When we spend our time with the passing of the peace, we're not just being traditional. We're remembering this. And as the disciples received, peace be with you from Jesus, they said, Peace be with you to all those who would believe and started the church. And every generation since has been passing this peace down to new believers, to churches for centuries. And if I could be honest, I'm I'm I'm a little disheartened that most churches don't even get to experience that word. Peace be with you. When they're gathered behind closed doors. This is why, if we were packed out to the gills, it would take us 30 minutes, 45 minutes maybe, to go and offer peace to every person. And the Lord, man, we need to somebody need to put oil in those things. Man, we need it, we need a pastor that does that. But it's so important. It's so important that Jesus spoke nothing originally to them, but peace be with you. And maybe that's what you need to hear this morning. Because throughout the week we don't gather, but man, this is a special moment. Every Sunday is special. Whether you are loyal to it or not. Because Jesus, behind these doors, comes and speaks peace to his people through his people. Maybe you have had a rough season in life. Maybe you are guilt-ridden. Maybe you feel a bit of shame from your lack of allegiance to Christ. But every Sunday you come and hear him speak to you and say, peace be with you. Follow me. And then he shows them his hands and his side. And for the first time, they are eyewitnesses to the resurrected Lord who was crucified. They see these marks on his body for the first time. And what do they do? They marvel, they rejoice, they declare, Lord! But then one of them's not with them. Thomas. Thomas isn't with them. We don't know why. It doesn't really matter. But John always refers to Thomas as Didymus, which means twin. We just call him Thomas the twin. The thing about twins is you can have identical twins. They are two people who are born at the same time that look identical to one another. And here is the beauty of how God has written his word is that sometimes he writes his word in such a way that you can identify with the character in the story. And so Jesus doesn't just want to speak peace to his disciples and reveal to his disciples that he is alive and well, he also wants to speak to you through your twin, Thomas, who also was not there at the death of Jesus. Who also was not there at the presence of Jesus revealing himself as being raised from the dead. If there's anybody, if any of the disciples you can identify as your twin, it's him. We are people, as Peter had just said, that you have not seen him though you believe in him. And even though you don't see him now, you believe in him. That's us. Thomas is us. And Thomas comes to believe. And Jesus points this out because he's a disciple. He is called to be an eyewitness. Jesus tells Thomas, he comes in when they're gathered. Eight days later, this becomes a pattern. I don't have time to talk about this, but this is the pattern why we gather on Sundays, is because they started this pattern. They were there, gathered together, Jesus reveals himself. Eight days later, they're gathered together. You'll learn in Acts that they made this a habit. And it was always on Sunday. As if to say it was such a special thing for this to take place that they are going to live it each and every week. They are going to remind themselves of that moment when they first saw the risen Jesus, and it changed their life forever. So he comes to Thomas, boldly walks in. Thomas is the last one that needs to bear witness to his resurrection. And he says, Here, Thomas, here, Thomas, here, Thomas. And Thomas says something more than any of the other disciples. My God and my Lord. And Jesus says, Do you believe because you have seen? Blessed are those, think of the Beatitudes. Blessed are those who believe and do not see. That's us. If you want to be, have a blessing in your life, you have to live believing in the resurrected Lord. What's interesting in this passage is that Thomas was told about the markings of Jesus, right? He wasn't there. None of the disciples were there, but Jesus revealed himself to the eleven disciples and he showed them his hands and his side. They go and tell Thomas, he's alive. And Thomas says something interesting. How does he know about the side and the wounds unless the disciples told him about it? So he is quick to believe something he has not yet experienced. Jesus' marking of his death being crucified, but he will not believe and go all the way in belief and believing he was raised from the dead. I pointed this out yesterday in our food pantry. That we easily can believe that somebody died. We have a hard time and we need factual evidence that somebody can be made alive from death. That's Thomas. But that also teaches us something. And the final thing I'll say it's not enough for you to only believe in the death of Jesus. But we live in a Christian culture that is very satisfied, and I would say for a good reason, in the death of Jesus. Because it's the death of Jesus that paid our penalty. It's in his marks and his bruises that we are healed. We have the forgiveness of sins because of his death. But that's not all of the gospel. That's not all of genuine, authentic, true Christianity. You have to believe that he also is raised from the dead and lives and reigns and rules now. The analogy I like to use because it speaks, I think, across all channels of people. We all understand money and wealth. Your sin has created a great debt that you cannot pay. So Jesus pays it on your behalf. The balance is zero, no more debt. You are debt-free. That's good, that's kind, that's loving, but that's not enough. How are you expected then to go and live the rest of your life just being debt-free if you have no income, if you have no ability to increase your bank account to spend the rest of your life? The good news is that Jesus is risen from the dead. He is risen, and so are you if you believe in him. And if you're risen, then you are risen to a new life, a resurrected life that no longer looks like the expensive life you once lived that only incurred death and debt. But now you get a live life that incurs the blessings of God. We like to linger and sit there and think about we have been saved from our sin. Praise be to God. But that's not the full story. You're not only saved from sin, and I've said this all the time, but it's exactly what we all need to believe. We're not saved from sin, we're saved to a whole new life. And we gotta live that whole new life. And what are the ingredients of that resurrected life? Pastor Bruce, what does resurrected life look like? How can we live and embody this new life that Christ has afforded us and equipped us and given us riches to live? Here in this passage, the ingredients gathering together with those who live the same life as you. Passing that peace that Christ initiated among each other, forgiving the sins of those who confess them. Being sent out the way Jesus was sent down to us. To be believing not just in the marks of his death, but to be believing that he is raised from the dead, and that he rules and reigns, and he is king of your life. Those are the marks of how we begin to live in Jesus Christ. And it's for this reason John lets us know why he wrote his gospel. Right after Jesus says, Thomas, do you believe because you see? Blessed are those who believe who do not see. And then John says, Therefore, I have written these things down for you because you have not seen, you have not experienced eyewitness accounts, but you can trust in the ones who have. We write these things down for you so that you will be blessed, believing and trusting that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and He is raised from the dead. So don't act like dead people. Don't live as dead people. Don't live to the flesh. Live to the spirit that Christ blesses you with and fills your account, your body and your life with. Live as people who are made alive, resurrected from the dead. Believe that. Even though for a little while you might endure trials of various kinds, live as you're still resurrected. And that this is all for the testing of the genuineness of your faith. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.