The Peace of God

How many times have you heard that Jesus rose from the dead?

Today we continue the Easter celebration, and we look at what happened days after Jesus rose from the dead. Now how many times in your life have you been told that Jesus rose from the dead three days after he died on the cross? Give me a guess? How many times have you heard that before? Most of you have probably heard that Jesus rose from the dead on the third day thousands of times. You have heard it in church almost every Sunday, maybe in your devotions or small group bible studies. When we first think about Thomas, it seems a little strange that he would not believe that Jesus, of all people, wasn’t really alive. We think that about Thomas because we have heard thousands of times that Jesus really is alive, and it isn’t something new for us. But before today, how many of you have ever heard of a ten foot Easter Bunny hopping around giving candy and eggs outside of a church in rural Missouri. I sure hope you have never heard that before. What would be more difficult to believe the Easter Bunny, or that a man that you saw die just days ago is walking around town; alive. Let’s get something clear right now; it is hard to believe in the resurrection. Thomas doubted, but I think I would have had a hard time believing the news too.

Half-Glass Empty Mentality

I think that we all can say we can be a half-glass empty kind of people. We can feel pessimistic, become doubter, have a hard time believing in someone or something. We turn on the news, and see all the violence and we wonder if things will ever get better. We walk in the front door and deal with the challenges of family life and wonder if the goods days are behind us. We struggle at work to make ends meet or work long and challenging hours and wonder if work will ever get any easier. It is easy for us to look at the world negatively. It is easier for us to complain, doubt, or give up than put in the hard work to make it better or put the best construction on it. The meaning of the eighth commandment says that we will put the best construction on everything, but we have a hard time doing that when life looks bleak.

Jesus changes our doubt to hope

John 20:21 ESV

Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”

John

John

We can take that half-glass empty mentality, and have that mentality in the church and to our faith. Just think about how hard it is to have faith in a God we have never seen with our eyes. To put our trust in the Son of God who lived two thousand years ago. We all have those times that we doubt that God is working on our lives or that God has abandoned us. Doubt can lead us to question and disbelieve some of the really hard parts of our faith. Did Jesus really rise from the dead? Are we all really going to heaven? What is to say that our faith is right, and all the other faiths are wrong? What happens if we actually are wrong? How do we know?

What is peace? What is godly peace?

We are a culture that demands to see proof. We don’t believe it is going to rain until the water falls from the sky. We don’t believe what our boss promises us until we see it in our job or our paycheck. We don’t believe a person will change until they actually change. We almost have a guilty until proved innocent mentality, a half-glass empty, a let me see it with my own eyes.

To change out doubt to hope, we must call upon the name of God to lead us. To find the answers, we need to listen to Jesus who really did rise from the dead. He made sure the world believed by showing himself to hundreds of people over a span of 40 days. He showed his hands and his feet, and even had people feel the marks. He was no ghost, he walked, he ate, he did the same things he did before the cross. We need to listen to Jesus. And Jesus shares a very clear and wonderful answer to our doubting. Jesus says, “Peace be with you.” When I first read this verse, I was instantly brought back to chapter 14 when Jesus was talking to his disciples. Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. So that verse is telling us that Jesus has a peace that no one else has. This verse is telling us that he has left it for us, and if you read the whole chapter you know that this peace is given when we were given the Holy Spirit in baptism.

Hebrews 8:12 ESV

For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.”

Jesus gives you true peace, peace that you are forgiven!

So what is this peace? Who is going to tell us what this peace is? It is one word? It is one of my favorite words. The word can be found in our Gospel lesson for today. This peace starts with an F. You are right, Jesus’ peace is the peace of forgiveness. When we are caught in sin, in doubt, in judging, in looking at the life God gave to us and the people God put into our lives as a glass half-empty, Jesus bring you peace. Jesus brings you forgiveness. In our Gospel lesson Jesus said that he is sending his disciples, his church out to give this peace, this forgiveness to all who confess their sins and seek the peace on Jesus can give.

Now, let’s make sure we totally understand what this forgiveness is all about. There are two ways that we receive forgiveness. One way to forgive is to simply brush it under the living room rug, and the other way to forgive is to put it in the big trashcan that goes to the curb once a week. Now if we simply take the wrongs that we have done and sweep them under the rug, what is going to happen? Well when the day comes, and it always comes, that you want to remind yourself of all the sins you have done you can simply go and lift the rug up and pull them all out. It will not bring you peace, it will not give you hope. It is like dust under the rug, when you lift the rug up, all of the dust can be seen. The other way to forgive is to put all the wrongs and sins that you have done and throw it in the trashcan that gets put to the curb once a week. When you do that, the trash man takes all of the dirty trash, and takes it away forever. Now I think it is obvious which example of forgiveness is right, but too often we simply put it under the rug for a different day. The million dollar question is this; on Judgment Day do you want Jesus to have all of your sins under the rug for all to see, or do you want Jesus to tell you that they have all been thrown away, forever. True forgiveness is given when the wrongs and the sins have been completely thrown out of your mind and your life forever. God said, “For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” That is how you will be given true peace. That is the peace that Jesus gives you to today. May God give each one of us a heart like God, able to forgive as we have been forgiven.

To HIM be the glory.

Amen.