Peace for the Living

John 20

The disciples were together behind locked doors. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! “Peace be with you,” he said. As he spoke, he showed them the wounds in his hands and his side. They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord!

Eight days later the disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked; but suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them. “Peace be with you,” he said. Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!”

“My Lord and my God!” Thomas exclaimed. Then Jesus told him, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.”

Be biblical — Be personal — Be brief —

“If a picture paints a thousand words, then why can't I paint you? The words will never show the you I've come to know.” Bread(1971)

We can speak a thousand words about those we love who and see no more, but their life is so much more than words. Like the artistic expression portrayed in the detail of a beautifully painted Rembrandt.

Today we honor and remember — Memories made, joys shared, and the struggles endured in the lives shared — Your loved ones we remember

Thanks — Roy professionally/personally/respect...

…”talk about life, because there around death all the time.”

Your ministry to the living...From beginning to end, what you do helps bring peace to families who are in the midts of their most difficult time — You should be commended!

Service like this are not just to honor the deceased…but to bring PEACE FOR THE LIVING…that is my hope for you today!

John 14:19 “Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.”

PEACE FOR THE LIVING — PRAY

The disciples were together behind locked doors. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them!

They had witnessed and experienced deep loss of a friend, family, mentor, teacher…in Jesus’ death. Fear — Uncertainty — Hiding behind locked doors, restrained by their grief. How would they go on? Jesus’ appearance to them paints a picture, so to speak, of life not death, assurance not fear, and hope not uncertainty. He brings them his peace

How can we know this peace?

I. Peace through the COMFORT of others

They were together...They became a source of comfort for each other.

Jesus — sick/dying — girl/lazarus — There was always people around...

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.”

How has your family, friends, community, been a source of comfort in your grief?

Gary — “Not doing well”

The funeral director and the pastor share a common calling. To be a source of comfort through your compassionate presence/heartfelt words/attentiveness to detail/gentle touch or a warm embrace.

We can know this peace through the comfort of others

II. Peace through the WORD of God

“Peace be with you,” he said...

Twice when he came he spoke —“Peace be with you!””

The power of God spoke word — Creation…

John 1:1-4 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life...

By his word, Jesus was creating again, speaking life in the midts of the pain of loss. Jesus’ word and his scars were the evidence that death had been defeated. That the grave would not have the final say.

Jesus spoke to bring peace — We can find this peace in two ways —

First, by seeking it in the written word — Psalm 23

Second, in Jesus who is the word that brings life — Emmanuel (God with us)

1 John 1:1 “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.”

We can know this peace through the word that brings life

III. Peace in REMEMBERING

The disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them. Suddenly, as before Jesus was standing among them. “Peace be with you,” he said.

Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side.

Jesus not only shows his scars to Thomas...they are as real as Jesus was standing there — The memory of his life and even more importantly of his love!

Life is filled with scars, and they can heal over time, but there always there to remind us of both the difficulties and the joys of life…the love shared...Remembering helps us heal...

The only scars in heaven are the hands that hold you now....

We can find this peace in remembering what Jesus did for all of humanity…

John 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

IV. Peace through the FAITH to believe

Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!”

“My Lord and my God!” Thomas exclaimed. Then Jesus told him, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.”

Thomas’ faith lead him to believe — that christ had risen. Faith to believe that would see him again.

An item he found on the obituary page of the newspaper in a small Southern town. It read, “Billy, it was just a year ago today that you left us and the sunshine went out of our lives. But, we turned on the headlights and we’re going on .... and Billy, we shall keep on doing the best we can until that glorious day when we shall see you again. “ It was signed simply, “Love, the family.” No names, just a simple confession of faith – the kind of faith that enables a person to go on in the face of sorrow and death.

Jesus gives us the faith to believe that we too will see our loved ones again

Psalm 84:1-4 “How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord Almighty! My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young— a place near your altar, Lord Almighty, my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you.”

Peace...through the COMFORT of others — Through the WORD of life — Peace our REMEMBERING — Through the FAITH to believe

Warren Chandler, lay dying, a friend asked him, “Please tell me frankly, do you dread crossing the river of death?” The good bishop responded, “My father owns the land on both sides of the river, why should I be afraid?”

More than a picture — More than a thousand words — A promise that in Jesus the living can know this peace.