“Signs of Peace” by the Reverend Michael J.
Heggen
Based on the reading found in John 20:19-31
for April 3, 2005
For Easter II; I.N.I.; Hope Lutheran Church, Park Forest,
Illinois
For the
disciples of Jesus, life could not have gotten any worse. They had cast aside everything to follow
Jesus. They watched as the Jewish
leaders seized Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. They wept as he stood before Pontius Pilate. They grieved as they witnessed the
crucifixion from afar. They heard from
Mary Magdalene her story about an empty tomb, and Peter and John had seen the
empty tomb for themselves. But still,
here they were gathered behind locked doors out of fear. Jesus was gone. What were they to do?
Where were they to go? Who would
be the next to be arrested and put to death?
They met in a house with locked doors because they were afraid. Everything was in shambles - their careers,
their faith, their future, their hope.
They had heard Jesus call, “Follow me,” and they had followed. They had hoped that Jesus was the Messiah,
but now he was gone. He had fed
thousands of people from a boy’s lunch, but what now? They locked the doors because they were afraid.
But
suddenly Jesus stood among them – never mind the locked doors. Back in Chapter 14 Jesus had said, “Peace I
leave with you; my peace I give to you” (verse 27). Now the risen Jesus greets the shaken disciples at least three
times in this lesson with, “Peace be with you.” That greeting becomes something like a refrain in a song. If we let that greeting be the refrain or
chorus, today we can see at least three SIGNS OF PEACE.
It’s
Easter Evening. The disciples were
gathered together – fearful, behind locked doors. Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with
you.” Then he showed them his hands and
his side. The disciples were afraid no
doubt because they were alone. Their
Lord and Leader was gone. The grave was
empty, and so were their lives. Some
writers suggest that in those days there was no lack of ideas of someone’s spirit being “out there” to lead his
followers – maybe something like people today talking about someone “smiling
down from heaven” on them. But
obviously that didn’t do the job in the real crunches of life, and you can
appreciate the disciples’ feeling that without the presence of their Lord there
is no help or hope. Do you suppose
that’s why John makes the point that Jesus showed them his hands and his side. No
mistaking it. This is Jesus. No wonder they rejoiced.
A sign
of peace for us is in Jesus’ resurrected body.
We too can feel very alone as we do battle against sin and
temptation. We too need this sign of
peace in the risen Jesus. We need the
sign of peace affirmed as we too see his pierced hands and side. A parishioner once took an out-of-town guest
to see his church. Standing before the
chancel, the guest tried to be polite, but he failed to hide his disappointment
and said, “You have a crucifix on the altar!”
The parishioner replied without hesitation: “Yes, of course. It proclaims who our God is, the price he
paid, how much he loves us” (Insights, 3-31-91). William Temple has been credited with the
comment that “Christ’s wounds are his credentials to all suffering people” (Proclamation
2, Easter A, p. 27). Much has
been said these past days about Pope John Paul II teaching us faithfulness in
suffering. While there is no doubt a
lot of truth in that, as there is probably a lot of truth in the wonderful
witness of faith we see in many of our fellow believers who face various
trials, the greatest sign of peace is still seen in our risen Lord’s own hands
and side.
If our text really were a song, the second “stanza” would start at verse 21: “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.’” This isn’t just another proof of the resurrection. Here the risen Christ conveys to the disciples the responsibility for that message of victory. The disciples, who up to a few minutes before were huddled behind locked doors, are being sent into the world with the Gospel message just as Jesus was sent into the world by the Father’s love. This “sign of peace” is seen in the lives of Jesus’ disciples – the Eleven and right down to today. This sign of peace is seen in those who in the power of God’s Spirit share the word of forgiveness and life in Jesus – whether it’s Peter in today’s other readings or Matthew in that passage in his gospel we associate with the Office of the Keys or you and I sharing the message of forgiveness in Christ.
That’s a
sign of peace that’s sometimes hard to recognize. Having delivered the message of peace, now Jesus charges us to act
upon that message and our belief. He
calls on us to proclaim the love and the forgiveness of God. He even gives us the strength in the touch
of the Holy Spirit. But the Danish
theologian Soren Kierkegaard probably hit it on the head when he said, “It is
difficult for us to believe because it is difficult for us to obey” (quoted in Insights,
4-10-94). And another writer asks why
we find it so easy to be appropriately humble for the 40 days of Lent, but find
it difficult to be openly joyful and to share the source of that joy for the 50
days (or even less) of Easter. A second
sign of peace is to receive the same Spirit that enables us to say Jesus is
Lord and also to go out into the community with the message of forgiveness in
Christ.
Our
third sign of peace centers around the familiar story of Thomas. Thomas was not in the assembly on that
Easter Evening. When the other
disciples told him about seeing the risen Lord, he was not about to be swept
away by some “group wishful thinking.”
The one we’ve always called the Doubter (maybe we should call him Honest
Thomas) needs something solid after all the tumultuous events of the past few
days. Can you fault him for that? So a week later the disciples were again in
the house, and Thomas was with them, and again the door were shut (do you
suppose we can assume locked?) Again
Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas: “Put your finger
here and see my hands. Reach out your
hand and put it in my side. Do not
doubt but believe.” Thomas has been
described as the one who stands for all, right down to today, who in spite of
everything cannot or will not believe.
They are too scared, too scarred, too preoccupied with disappointment or
grief or other things (Proclamation 3, Easter A, p. 24). But the risen Christ doesn’t write them
off. There comes the personal gift of
self-disclosure, the invitation to touch and see, the call to no longer doubt
but believe.
This
sign of peace comes to us who cannot poke around the tomb with Mary and Peter
and John, who cannot poke at Jesus’ hands and side with Thomas. This sign of peace comes to us in God’s Word
of Scripture, written so you and I might by the power of God’s Spirit believe
that Jesus is the Messiah. During World
War II the German pastor Helmut Thielicke knew all about fear, huddling behind
closed doors. But he could still
rejoice in God’s love and proclaim to his congregation: “Where Christ is King,
everything is changed. And in every
hard and difficult place the comforting voice is there, and the hand that will
not let us go upholds us.” That’s our
assurance as we focus on these signs of peace.
Amen.
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You can e-mail Pastor
Heggen at heggens@juno.com.