April 7, 2013; 2nd Sunday of the Resurrection;
Texts: Psalm 33; Ezekiel 37:1-14; I John 5:4-10; John 20:19-31; Title: Peace that Passes Understanding; Rev. Tim
Beck
He is Risen, Alleluia! Our text: On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were
together, with the doors 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 side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. Again
Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent Me, I am sending you.”
And with that He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you
forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they
are not forgiven (John 20:19–23, ESV ,
Good News Publ.).
We can rejoice because the Lamb of God, Pure and Holy, triumphed. His sacrifice was sufficient for sinners like us. The resurrection not only confirms Christ’s grace, it assures our resurrection. We, with all who believe in His death for us, share in His victorious life. Forgiven, we are given heaven in the Lamb of God. And as the Lamb’s flock, we are bid to call God “our Father.” We look forward to what we shall become because the Lamb slain, lives!
Consider John the Apostle’s eyewitness
testimony. He saw the deadly wounds in Jesus’ hands and side, yet heard His
living Lord give this blessed word: “Peace be with you.” What a gift to His incredulous disciples, to
his unbelieving disciples (Jn 20:19). As He said, so it was. Jesus gave peace
then and there. Then He sent the
Apostles forward to breathe out the Spirit upon the Church by proclaiming the
forgiveness of sins. He sent the
Apostles and the church to bid the unbelieving from the land of no peace to
peace, and declare to the repentant Christ’s peace continues forever. That
blessed announcement is as true today as it was the first Resurrection Day.
“Peace be with you.”
Put a couple of those chicks on your
patio and see if some critter is foolish enough to eat them. They can sit there
to remind you that Christ’s peace endures. Better yet, as a reminder used for
centuries, for forty days we light the paschal candle, a candle picturing
Christ’s death and resurrection. Its flame recalls forty extraordinary days
when the astonished disciples lived with their resurrected Lord, seeing Him
with their eyes, touching and handling His living flesh, and eating and drinking
with the risen One while, oh joy, they heard again His life-giving,
death-destroying voice in their ears. The paschal candle reminds us that the
resurrection promise does not fade throughout the seasons of our lives,
including after the Ascension. Notice
the candle resides by the baptismal font, another message that our Lord works
the resurrection into dead lives. That’s but a visual reminder that our Lord
Jesus is alive, seated at the right hand of the Father, reigning eternally over
all things for the sake of His Church. Jesus Christ shall certainly come again,
to establish an eternal peace. The same Lord who was put to death for our
offenses and raised for our justification shall gloriously claim His Bride, the
Church. That’s a result of peace with
God.
These are not bare facts, but cause
for the Church to remain faithful. These promises are the power that
strengthens us through every difficultly. This fact of peace, resurrection
proven, supports the church through her many trials
and persecutions. Although we have not seen Him, yet we love Him; and though we do not
see Him now with our eyes, yet we believe in Him and are filled with an
inexpressible and glorious joy.
And by the precious gospel, by means
of His Word and Sacraments we continually receive the goal of our faith, our
salvation. Receiving our salvation, faith bears the fruit of love and joy. We
rejoice throughout the many Sundays of Easter, and love one another; although
(God help us) there are many enemies who would rob us of joy. Fear stirs in the
nations with wars and rumors of wars. Famines, earthquakes, and disasters
remind us of the futility of Adam’s terminally ill world. Illness, hardship,
and mental distress threaten to steal our confidence. “Fighting without and
fears within” describe this world. It
was into such a torn and terrified world Jesus appeared among His disciples.
His disciples sat behind locked doors, afraid. Then Jesus entered declaring
“Peace be with you!”
Do not forget that greeting. The
church remembers it over and over in the liturgy. The Western world for
centuries remembered it in the common expressions of what was called
Christendom. As in Spanish, adios (to
God), or German, gesundheit (God
bless you), or Goodbye, an abbreviated “God be with you” - these testify to His
peace. Remember that from Jesus’ mouth
His words of peace mean what they say and do what he said. So the absolution
spoken by the pastor is spoken by Christ; and the blessings of the word are imparted
to those who hear them with faith. When Jesus spoke He proved the power of His
words. He showed them His hands and His side. They saw in His living body the
wounds of death. They saw marks made eternal where nails were driven, side
riven. The disciples saw the slain Lamb of God alive, and knew our sins are
buried in His grave and our lives united with His resurrection body in baptism.
The history of Jesus’ resurrection is no mere story of good over evil, no
wishful thinking for a good feeling. Jesus rose and was seen by many over 40
days. The hostility between God to man is ended. The King of Kings extends his scepter in
peace toward a rebel-race.
Death became a shadow that scowls and
glares but cannot bite. When the guilt of sin was removed as far from East to
West, the sting of death was plucked too. This is the peace that Christ our
Lord gives. Since the cause of our separation from God is removed, what can
separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord? Despite the trials
and turmoil of this world, faith enters the Sabbath rest of God (Hebrews 4:9).
Though we still sin in this life and still need the law’s threats for
repentance, though we still suffer the blindness of sin, we have the assurance
of grace. We were given the means of grace to confirm the Holy Spirit’s work in
us, to hear the words that give peace.
You heard our Lord say to the
Apostles, If you forgive anyone his sins,
they are forgiven, (John 20:23). These are not empty words. Jesus
commissioned the Apostles as His mouth, to distribute the peace earned upon the
cross. In hearing them you receive
cleansing from guilt and shame in Jesus’ name; not because the pastor says so
or a Christian says so, rather because Jesus says so. Likewise, before we eat
the bread and drink the cup we hear these miraculous words “Peace be with
you!” And we receive the peace with our
own mouths and hearts. At the table believers are restored, sins forgiven, and
spirits renewed in Jesus’ name. You have a shield, a bulwark, a defense: Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you,
says our risen Lord. I do not give to you
as the world gives (John 14:27). The Lord Jesus Christ grants His Church on
earth an abiding peace through the gospel, through hearing the gospel in
Baptism, the Lord’s Supper and absolution. He daily restores us to His peace
and undertakes for us; He who now conquers through us. Alleluia.
The resurrection both confirms Christ’s grace and assures our resurrection. We, with all who believe in His death for us, share in His victorious life. Jesus “…preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through Him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit (Ephesians 2:17–18). Jesus means what He says and gives what He means. The peace of the Lord be with you always. (Amen)
