Grace and Peace from God our Father through Jesus Christ our Risen Saviour. Amen.
“The Lord be with you”, “And also with you”;
Let us pray:
Dear Lord, Our Heavenly Father, As you spoke your peace to your disciples in the midst of their fear, speak your words of peace to us today in the midst of and despite of our fears. In Jesus name we pray. Amen
When a beauty contestant gets up to answer the stereotypical question... “What do you think would make the world a better place?” The answer inevitably is “World Peace” But what is it that they really want? Is it the end to all wars? Or the end of poverty? Or even the end of homelessness? Sure these are good and worthy causes... But is this the summery of Peace? What is peace? What does it mean? For different people at different times peace can mean many different things.
But ultimately there is one overshadowing definition of peace. To have freedom from sin.
John 20:19-23 says: 19 On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”
What on earth had them so worried that they bolted themselves behind closed doors?
Well you see, they were followers of Jesus, and only 3 days earlier they had witnessed the crucifixion of their friend and teacher. And what made matters worse, they knew that He was innocent and that Jesus was killed for no wrong doing of his own...
If you were in their position, how scared do you think you would have been? Can you even imagine their immense fear? Of knowing you are only moments, days or if you are lucky weeks away from your own death.
The disciples were fearful, in every sense of the word. They were shaking, they were sweating, they were feeling sick with fear. Not to mention the feelings of great sadness because of the death of their friend. And their feelings of guilt for abandoning Jesus the night of his arrest and torture.
And then, in the midst of their fear, suffering and guilt. While the door is still locked and bolted. Someone comes into the room. Who could this be? How could this be? They watched him die only 3 days earlier, watched him be buried and watched the huge stone cover the tomb. But it’s true, Mary was right. JESUS IS ALIVE.
And immediately after entering the room Jesus says to them “Shalom”. This common, everyday Hebrew greeting, made into a divine blessing and action. “Peace be with you”.
What is Jesus doing by saying these words, “Peace be with you”...
He is giving them His peace. The peace of God.
The disciples were afraid; Jesus removed their fear.
The disciples were mourning; Jesus removed their sorrow.
The disciples were feeling guilty; Jesus forgave their sin.
“Peace be with you” this was not some mere greeting but a promise and an action. And the most amazing thing about these words is that they were not just spoken to the disciples for that one moment in time. In fact they were not spoken for the disciples alone. They were spoken just as much for you and for me.
God knows that at times life feels like it is all going wrong. That at times we are fearful of certain things beyond our control. He knows that there are times that we are sad or in mourning. He knows that when we do wrong we feel guilty. He knows that because of sin, we live in chaos. In an un-perfect world with un-perfect people. And this is the exact reason that Christ died. He died to remove the consequence of sin. He died to give you peace.
How do we know this is true for us?
This morning we witnessed God claim Bohdi as His own son. We watched God clean Bohdi from all sin, and give him the opportunity to live in His peace. In the same way that we were cleaned, and given His peace at our baptism’s.
We know that Christ is present with us, because He has promised to be with us always, till the very end of time. And he constantly proclaims to us the words “Peace be with you”.
We remind each other of this great gift every week. When Pastor, in the place of Christ, says the words “The Lord be with you”, and “Peace be with you”, and “Grace and Peace to you from God our Father” and “The blessing of almighty God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit be with you always, now and forever”. Yet we are not only reminded of God’s presence among us, but we are brought into God’s presence. These are not just empty common words; they have in them and they are the power of God. They are Christ speaking his peace onto you.
And you in response to these words, declare Christ’s presence to Pastor as well, by saying the words, “And also with you”, and “Amen”.
Every week we begin our services “In the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit”, and the service concludes with the blessing of Almighty God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, be with you always.
We through out all of our divine services are told and shown that God is with us. That Christ is always present with us and are told and shown and given His peace.
When Jesus is present, and the peace of God is announced on us and declared to us, it does not leave us unchanged.
So what is the point of this peace? Is it just given to us for a nice, warm fuzzy feeling? Or is it more than this?
In the gospel reading today, we don’t hear Christ mention this divine peace only once. But twice. Firstly He brings His peace to the fearful disciples. And then, secondly, He gives them the strength and ability to carry out the task He was sending them to do on His behalf, to bring God’s peace to all those around them.
And Christ does the same to us through the declarations of peace in this building every week. Firstly to give us peace from fear, sorrow and guilt. But secondly to give us the strength and ability to bring peace to all those around us. The Christians job is not only to come to church and receive peace. But to go back out of this place recharged and energized with peace to give God’s peace to all around us.
Jesus said to the disciples and tells us today as well:
Whoever’s sins you forgive they are forgiven; whoever’s sins you pronounce unforgiven they remain unforgiven.
The definition of peace, as I mentioned earlier, is freedom from sin. This of course meaning both actual sin (the sins we commit) and the consequence of sin which is death, sorrow, pain, and fear.
So to give this peace to others we need to show them forgiveness and lead them to the cross of Christ, where their sin too can be forgiven. Does this mean we go should join up with the street preachers down Rundle Mall telling everyone that they are going to hell because of they are sinners??? Or does this mean that we need to show people forgiveness by forgiving those who have sinned against us.
Forgiveness is the key to peace. You received this peace when God forgave you at your baptism’s. Lets go out and give all those around us God’s peace through us forgiving them. One way of practically doing this is the next time someone hurts you in anyway, tell them personally that you were hurt, but don’t leave it at that. Conclude with the words, I forgive you for hurting me, because Christ forgave me for much more than that. I wonder what reaction you will get. I wonder if you will be too scared or fearful, or if you will ask Jesus to give you His peace to that you can pass on the peace that He has first given you.
“The Lord be with you, And also with you.”
Thank-you Jesus for your presence and your peace.
Amen.
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