Peace be with you!

by Fr Daniel Odiambo

 

St John 20:19-23

 

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, Peace be with you. After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side.  Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you. When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.

 

Introduction:

It is Easter Day!

Yes, I know today is the first Sunday after Easter but it is Easter day in the passage—the evening of the resurrection day.

The disciples are together in a house with doors locked for fear of the Jewish religious leaders who had just crucified Jesus. They could be next, who knows?

It is instructive to note some of the emotions described in these resurrection appearances:

John 20,

v.11 Mary Magdalene is crying and weeping;

v.19 the disciples in this passage are hiding behind a locked door in fear,

v.25 Thomas is riddled with doubt in the passage after this.

And next chapter, Peter: ashamed.

Tears. Fear. Doubt. Shame.

In Luke’s account, we are presented with two disciples walking to Emmaus just before this first meeting recorded in our passage. What they say summarizes the mood quite well:

Luke 24:21 …but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel

We had hoped… Disillusionment. Disappointment.

And that maybe you this Easter. Crying. Fearful. Doubting. Ashamed. Disappointed.

If that’s you, Easter is for you.

Because v.19 changes everything: Jesus came and stood among them and said…

v.20, then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.

NIV says they were overjoyed.

Something Jesus said, moved them from sad/crying, fearful, doubting, ashamed, disappointed, to rejoicing, overjoyed.

 

1. The peace of the risen Lord Jesus brings overwhelming joy (v.19-20)

The fact that Jesus has risen from the dead is evident.

John doesn’t even need to present yet more evidence to us. We already have the empty tomb, we have the words of Jesus before he died, we have the OT promise, and we have the eyewitness testimony of Mary—we have seen the Lord.  All the evidence is already in place.

Nevertheless, in v.20 of our passage, John presents one more piece of evidence: “he showed them his hands and side.”

Not just his hands, many were crucified in Jerusalem anyways. Indeed two other people were crucified with Jesus. If they theoretically resurrected too, they’d have nail holes in their hands too.

But Jesus has marks on his hands and his side, where blood and water flowed, if you remember that.

So clearly this Jesus is the same Jesus who died, now with a resurrection body,

…and clearly the resurrection body is physical. Notice: he breathed on them, Mary clung to him, Thomas later poked his finger into the holes in the hands of Jesus;

... and clearly Jesus’ physical resurrection body is different. The doors are locked and yet he stands amongst them. So it’s a body that is not limited by walls and locked doors, even though it is physical.

The most important thing though is what he says:

Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!”

Now, in one sense, we can say this is simply an ordinary everyday greeting: Shalom Aleichem was the everyday greeting of one Hebrew to another. It is still used today as I understand.

But I think Jesus is saying more than just Hello here; for two reasons.

First, note the repetition: v.19 peace be with you; v.21, peace be with you; v.26, peace be with you. There is surely something more going on here. John is drawing our attention to this Peace.

But secondly, think of the context. This is John’s gospel and this shalom word has already significantly come up.

In John 14, just 3 or 4 days before this, Jesus was eating the last supper with the disciples and just preparing them for what’s about to happen:

John 14 v.25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

I wonder if you have noticed the parallels. The context is similar: their hearts are troubled and they are afraid.

Also notice the Holy Spirit in both passages, and then the peace in both.

This is more than just Hello!

JC Ryle, 17th century bishop of Liverpool says this:

He who "spoke as never man spoke," said nothing without meaning. He spoke, we may be sure, with special reference to the state of mind of the eleven apostles, with special reference to the events of the last few days, and with special reference to their future ministry. "Peace" and not blame—"peace" and not fault-finding—"peace" and not rebuke—was the first word which this little company heard from their Master's lips, after He left the tomb.

I think the good bishop is spot on here. Remember they had all run away from Jesus at the critical moment. Peter had denied Jesus three times. They had failed, like you and I have failed and continue to fail.

And yet, Jesus first words to them are: Peace, peace!

Peace with God, restored relationship, reconciliation with him, Forgiveness. In church language, we call this absolution. The declaration of forgiveness to sinful people.

The striking then is that this peace, this absolution, this declaration of forgiveness is based not on what they have done, but on what he has done for them on the cross as he bore the sin and shame of men.

And if Jesus’ first word after their poor performance, indeed failure is ‘peace,’ then I have hope. You have hope.

Reminds me of that beautiful hymn:

No condemnation now I dread

Jesus, and all in Him, is mine

Alive in Him, my living Head

And clothed in righteousness divine

The peace of the risen Lord Jesus brings overwhelming joy—then they rejoiced when they saw the Lord.

But Jesus doesn’t just calm their fears and forgive their failures; he also commissions their lives. And so, point 2,..

 

2. The Spirit of the risen Lord Jesus sends us on his mission (v.21-23)

21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 22 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 retain the sins of any, they are retained”

Now these are not easy verses, and are subject to lots of discussion. Many PhD dissertations have been written on these verses, and of course many books and large sections of commentaries are dedicated to these 3 verses.

I will not go to any of that, but I have been struck for the first time this week by how John brings together the promise of peace and the promise of the Holy Spirit in both

John 14 and here. He clearly has John 14 in mind as he writes this; and I think he is basically trying to tell us: remember the words in John 14….

They were afraid then. Jesus spoke about his peace, and the promise of the Spirit as comforter.

They are afraid now; they are most probably in the same room: and Jesus speaks about his peace and the Holy Spirit.

The difference between then and now, is that Jesus has died and resurrected; achieving what it takes to fulfil his promise.

And so for John, this is fulfillment.

I take it, therefore, that Jesus breathing on them and saying Receive the Holy Spirit was a symbolic act. This is a trailer for the day of Pentecost 40 days later. Jesus had said the Holy Spirit will come after he has gone—Jesus has already died and has been resurrected. And so he performs this symbolic act on them. It is just a matter of time.

Do you see then that Jesus does not just give us his peace? We do not receive his peace and then go to heaven immediately.

When we have received his peace, we receive his commission. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”

He sends us to this broken and hostile world, just as the Father sent him to this world.

But in this context, he sends us not alone, but in the Father’s authority by the power of the Holy Spirit, just as the Father sent him.

It is peace, then sending.

It is forgiveness and then commissioning.

It is absolution then mission.

The question then is, sent to do what? What’s the assignment?

Now v.23 is a notoriously difficult verse, but it clearly can’t mean that any human being has power to forgive sins. Only God can forgive sins. I think everybody should agree with that.

I also think there is value, and it is indeed biblical to confess our sins not only directly to God, but also to the church­ —whether that’s another Christian, or more commonly the priest, or even for some sins, the whole church.

It does seem from the Bible that God takes sin very seriously and the more we can expose it and its lies in our hearts, the better we are at fighting it.

That said, I take it that what Jesus is saying here is that his disciples, (and he is clearly speaking to more than just the 11 apostles here,) have the authority to declare forgiveness of sin, where repentance has taken place. It could take the form of absolution as we usually do it here after confession.

So one of the absolutions in the BCP, the priest says.. (Pg 3)

Almighty God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who desireth not the death of a sinner,
but rather that he may turn from his wickedness and live;
and hath given power, and commandment, to his ministers
to declare and pronounce to his people, being penitent,
the absolution and remission of their sins…

So the priest simply announces forgiveness. He declares it.

This verse also means that Jesus’ disciples have the responsibility and authority to say to people something like this: “If you repent, God will forgive you. If you don’t, God will not forgive you.”

In other words, it’s also about preaching the gospel, sharing the news of the “peace be with you” that Jesus has spoken to us. 

Conclusion

And so, two points this morning.

Easter means that you can come, whatever is going on. Are you in tears? Are you afraid? Are you doubting? Are you ashamed? Are you disappointed? Are you despairing?

Easter says, you can come. Peace be with you. You can be forgiven. Shalom Aleichem. Reconciliation with God is possible. Jesus has paid it all.

But number 2, Easter also means we have job to do. We have a purpose. We have, by the power of the Holy Spirit, a commission— to go into this broken, scared, sinful world, and say: Peace be with you, by proclaiming the forgiveness that Easter makes possible.

Amen +