Second Sunday of Easter

Introduction: Let’s do a little word association this morning. I don’t know where this is going to end up, so just come along with me. Here goes: peace, war, peace, wholeness, peace, forever, happiness, sadness, peace . . . (Do further association, coming back frequently to the word peace to begin another sequence.)

The word peace can take us off in a lot of directions, can’t it? It’s a very rich concept, especially in the Bible. I was reading a study this week on the word peace as it’s used in the Scriptures. Want to hear some of the words the Bible associates with peace?

Reconciliation,

relationship,

presence of God,

well-being,

contentedness,

salvation,

redemption,

wholeness,

cross,

joyful assurance,

gift of God,

new creation (Colin Brown, ed. The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology [Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1976], s. v. “Peace,” by Hartmut Beck and Colin Brown).

Do you suppose such a broad concept can be tied together with a common thread? I think so. In our text for this Second Sunday of Easter, two appearances of the risen Christ Jesus to his disciples, He uses the word peace three times. In each he’s speaking a word of forgiveness. I believe the common bond that ties all three of these together, what we might call

The Bond of Peace, Is Forgiveness.

The first time Jesus speaks the word peace:

Forgiveness gives peace from fear.

Peace must include freedom from fear.

Some of those words associated with peace: salvation, joyful assurance, presence of God—the very opposite of fear.

People living in terror—of suicide bombers, of test results from their doctor, of a pandemic, of an angry God—aren’t at peace.

Ask most folks why peace is better than war, and the answer will be something to the effect that nobody gets killed by peace; nobody’s scared of peace.

There was no peace for the disciples after Good Friday; they were scared (John 20:19a)! John 20:19 “On the evening of that first day of the week, the disciples were together behind locked doors because of their fear of the Jews.’

All of them had left Jesus in fear, especially Peter.

They were deathly afraid the Jews would come for them too. That’s why the doors were locked.

Worse, they now had no leader to make them feel secure.

What sort of fear upsets our peace?

Is it fear of death—our own from illness? the daily danger of a friend or loved one in Ukraine, Poland, or one of the other eastern European countries?

Is it fear that some hidden sin might be discovered—by our spouse, or by your friend?

Is it fear for our jobs—of losing them or failing at them?

Is it fear of school—of the bully on the playground? of finishing your science fair project on time? of the turndown letter that might come from a college any day?

Christ returned from death to give peace from fear; suddenly he “stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you’” John 20:19b.

For Jesus’ reappearance to give peace from fear, there had to be forgiveness. Remember, the disciples had left Jesus. Now that he was alive—and more powerful even than death—he might be angry; he might have come back for the very purpose of taking revenge on his deserters, his triple denier. More than the Jews, Jesus was the one they really had to fear.

Instead, Jesus says—begins with—“Peace be with you.” This was absolution, clear and simple, Jesus’ declaration of forgiveness for deserting him, denying him. All was forgiven and forgotten. Jesus came in peace, not in vengeance.

The result: peace from fear.

The disciples rejoiced (John 20:20). Their relationship with Jesus was restored. They had their leader back. He wasn’t angry with them. They had nothing to fear.

We, too, can rejoice. We have nothing to fear if Christ isn’t angry with us.

Our desertions—including those secret sins—are forgiven.

The one who conquered death is with us to deliver us—maybe from death, certainly through death. Revelation 1:17-18 “When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. He placed his right hand on me and said, “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last—the Living One. I was dead and, see, I am alive forever and ever! I also hold the keys of death and hell.”

The one who now rules all things for his Church will protect us, provide for us, support us.

The one who couldn’t be kept out by a locked door will open new doors for us if some seem to close. “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom 8:31).

The second time Jesus speaks the word peace:

Forgiveness brings peace from helplessness.

Peace can’t be just oblivion, idleness, or numbness.

Eastern mysticism sees peace that way, like a Hindu Brahman in meditation.

But ask any retiree if, after a few months, sitting on the couch flipping channels for the next twenty-five years still sounds peaceful, and you’re likely to get a different answer.

No, peace is more like some of those other words: relationship, reconciliation, cross.

The disciples felt no peace as long as they were sitting idly by.

They were helpless, numb, paralyzed by Jesus’ death.

They were the prime recruits to take Jesus’ kingdom to the world, but there they sat in that locked room.

This wasn’t peace, but turmoil, a rush of conflicting thoughts running through their heads and nothing else on which to focus.

We may sometimes feel numb, helpless, or unable to fulfill our purpose.

There’s a whole world out there that needs Jesus’ peace, and we want to share it.

But what do we do, and how to do it? Our own consciences nag at us, and that’s no peace.

We know that Christ has given us his Holy Spirit specifically for telling others the message of forgiveness, but we feel helpless, thinking we don’t know enough to speak.

Fortunately, Christ gave his disciples peace by making them sharers of forgiveness: “Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, I am also sending you’” John 20:21.

This peace was Jesus’ way of saying these idlers were still precious—and useful—to him.

Jesus’ word of peace was their forgiveness, and now they had the power to share that same forgiveness with the world (John 20:22–23).

The result: peace from helplessness.

We’re no longer helpless; we have the forgiveness Christ earned on the cross and gave to us by his word of peace to announce to everyone we meet.

All whom we absolve have peace from their own helplessness, from the paralysis of their sin, as surely as if Jesus himself absolved them.

The third time Jesus speaks the word peace:

Forgiveness means peace from doubts and unbelief.

A few more of those words associated with peace: contentedness, wholeness, well-being.

These are the very opposites of doubt and unbelief.

Doubt means internal conflict; unbelief requires finding something to make one whole, content.

That’s where Thomas was for a terrible week (John 20:24-25).

Imagine the emptiness, the void.

While his brothers were rejoicing, his unbelief gave him no peace.

We understand Thomas, don’t we?

We believe Jesus died and rose and even that he’s given us eternal life in heaven someday.

But do we really, always, believe that because my Redeemer lives, he grants me rich supply, guides me with his eye, will silence all my fears, will wipe away my tears (see LSB 461) today, tomorrow, on Thursday?

Or do our doubts leave us with no peace?

Well, Christ returned to Thomas to bring him peace: “Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you’” John 20:26.

Jesus forgave Thomas’s unbelief (John 20:27).

He returned to make Thomas whole, to give him the contentedness of faith.

The result: peace from unbelief and doubts.

Thomas confessed with joy, “My Lord and my God!” (v 28).

We can be content, whole in faith just as surely ( John 20:29-31).

Christ has forgiven our doubts and unbelief,

He keeps coming back to us with his Word of the Gospel and the Sacraments that we can see and taste and touch.

In them we always have forgiveness, peace with God.

Forgiveness the common bond that ties all of these concepts of peace together. True peace, as the Bible describes it, is always a product of the restored relationship between God and man, and that is only a result of the forgiveness that Christ earned for us on the cross.

One more item of Gospel, before I forget: There are so many external things to focus upon, which will take us in so many different directions. But, where does God direct our attention? His hands and His side, because this is where our salvation resides.

When God wrote the Bible, He wrote it for everyone. But, He also wrote it FOR YOU. Therefore, “These things are written that you —Greg—might believe...” That you—Ron, Tim, Jeff, Kara, Tanya, Carol, Matt, Kellie, Deb — this was written by God, for all of you, so you might believe.” And he signed his name at the end, written with his very own blood.

So, consider all the ways and all the situations we’d like to experience peace in our lives—in our homes, in our minds, in our friendships, in our friendship with God. And then consider how the forgiveness of Christ, earned on Good Friday, declared on Easter, is the key.