Peace, Forgiveness, Blessings,
Belief, Life
John 20:19-31
John's Gospel recounts for us the
events of that first Easter Sunday evening, and also a week later.
And as we stand, a week out from our own Easter celebration, it only
makes sense to pay attention. John uses five key words in our
reading today – five Easter words – which draw our attention and
interest. They are: Peace, Forgiveness, Blessings, Belief, and
Life.
The first words Jesus speaks to the
disciples in that upper room are words of peace. “Peace be with
you”. And to a cowardly and cowering band of brothers who had
deserted him in his darkest hour, the greeting is striking. They
were anything but at peace. They were in fear of the Jews. They
didn't want to die like Jesus. And they certainly weren't expecting
to see him alive. Even so, they had deserted him! You might expect
he'd be angry. Like a ghost come back to haunt them (remember they
mistook him for a ghost once before). But Jesus says, “peace.”
Jesus brings peace.
We know from Jesus' own words that the
peace he brings and gives is a peace far different from what we're
used to. “Not as the world gives, give I unto you”. The last
time he gave them peace, well, how did that work out? It was 6
chapters before this, and before all the suffering and dying. Before
the disciples scattered like roaches when the hammer came down on
Jesus. Peace? Probably the furthest thing from their mind, now, but
also what they needed the most.
Peace be with you, he says. Not, “How
could you leave me in my darkest hour?” Not, “here I come to
punish you for your unfaithfulness.” Nothing like that. No
judgment, no throwing their sins in their faces, no come-uppin's.
Just peace. Jesus left all that other stuff at the cross, and in the
grave. Where our sins lay buried to rot for all eternity. The
warfare is over. The time of peace has come.
The same Jesus would bring you a peace
that passes understanding. The same Jesus would break in to whatever
room of doubt and despair and fear you've got yourself locked into.
He comes, not in terror as the king of kings, but kind and good, with
healing in his wings. He comes with peace, a peace unlike the
world's fleeting, temporary, outward, surface-thin peace. His peace
is deeper and broader and more profound than even eye can see or ear
can hear or mind can comprehend. It is peace with God.
And that peace is connected, always, to
the next key word here: forgiveness. In fact the peace flows from
forgiveness. The reason they could be at peace is that their sins
were forgiven. The sins of the world were forgiven in Jesus' death,
and the deal is sealed when his tomb is un-sealed, and he leaves
death behind. That forgiveness of the cross is where our peace is
always rooted and where it was forged.
But notice, he's not content simply to
forgive his wayward disciples. He has a mission for them. He is
sending them, even as he was sent on a mission. And that mission is:
forgive. If you forgive the sins of anyone they are forgiven. The
forgiveness they enjoy is also a forgiveness they are to extend on
his behalf.
And we do so, even today. When the
called and ordained servant of Christ stands here, and says, “I
forgive you your sins,” some might find it shocking. Some might
even ask, “who can forgive sins but God alone?” Fair enough, but
Jesus, the victorious-over-sin-and-death Son of God, who clearly has
such authority – has commanded humble men to carry it on. He
appointed his apostles, who then appointed pastors all over the
world, and down through history, to carry this forgiveness forward in
Jesus' stead and by his command. So when you hear it today, or any
day, in Jesus' name, you are forgiven. It's just as sure as if he
was standing in this room, in the flesh, nail-scarred hands and all.
Peace. Forgiveness.
Thomas, ah poor Thomas. Absent from
the first appearance to the 11. Various theories suggest exactly why
Thomas wasn't there. Was he purposely gone, for fear he'd be caught
with the others? Was it just happenstance, or even divine purpose?
Daylight Savings Time? What's clear, though is that Thomas will
always be remembered as “Doubting”. Even though, upon seeing, he
believed. Maybe we should even call him, “confessing Thomas”,
for his declaration, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus accepts this
statement, and implying that Thomas is blessed for seeing and
believing, but that they are even more blessed who do not see and yet
believe. Clearly Jesus has others in mind – those who would come
to believe in the future – people like you and me.
Blessings and believing, our next two
key ideas, go hand in hand. Belief itself, faith, is a blessing. It
is a gift we can't work up or choose, it's not something we can
figure out on our own. It is a working on the Holy Spirit in our
hearts, through the Gospel. What greater blessing can there be? For
it is through faith in Christ that we are saved. Not of ourselves,
otherwise we'd boast about it, but only as a pure and free gift of
God's grace. Faith is a blessing, not an earned reward, not a side
effect of our great goodness but something God bestows in spite of
our worst wickedness. Even though we are, like they were, cowardly,
fearful, slow-to-believe and full of doubts. Still he blesses.
Still he bestows faith, that we might believe, and have peace, and
forgiveness. And... life.
John makes this final comment, “Jesus
did many other signs in the presence of his disciples”. And the
mind races to imagine what these might have been. Did he show them
the future? Did he give them a peek into heaven? Did he transfigure
before them again, or some other wild spectacle? But of all the
things that John could have written, of all the words that the Holy
Spirit could have inspired, he chose these. Because his purpose is
clear: That you may believe, and that believing, you may have life
in his name. No distractions. No fascinating sidebars that miss the
point. These things are written for you to believe and have life.
Faith and life, also go together. In
fact, all 5 of these things do. Peace with God flows from the
forgiveness Jesus won. Blessings abound when we believe. And peace
and forgiveness and faith – are all blessings of the life that he
brings.
And Jesus knows life. He's the author
of it. He is the very word of God that was spoken in creation...
“let us make man...” In him was life, and the life was the light
of all men (John 1). He is the one sent that whoever believes would
not perish, but have eternal life (also from John's Gospel, chapter
3). He is the way, the truth and the life (John 14).
His death and resurrection are a life
and death matter for you. By his death he destroys death – for
you. Your death has no sting, no victory, because of the Lord of
life... and by his rising from the dead he brought life and
immortality to light. We were blind and dead. But now, in Christ,
we can see and we live.
And just like the peace that he gives,
the life he gives is far greater than anything the world has to
offer. Life in this world is short, sometimes shockingly so. Life
in this world is full of tears and misery, thorns and thistles,
heartbreak and bloodshed. But the life he gives is far above any
life we've ever known. It's your best life now, and your best life
for eternity. It's life that swallows up death. It's life even
though you die. For he who lives and believes in Christ will never
die.
And that life, and that peace, and
forgiveness, faith, and all blessings... they come to us through his
word. Just as John wrote these words, “so that you may believe and
have life”, so does the Holy Spirit work through the Gospel in all
of its proclamation. The same Spirit working the same wonders and
same spiritual blessings for all of us who are in Christ. So even
here, all that is said and done according to that word is for your
peace, forgiveness, faith, blessing, and life.
May you find them now and always in
Christ alone.
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