Peace Be With You

“Peace be with you”.  Jesus calms his disciples with these words three different times in this story.

Most of us come to worship this morning needing God’s peace in our lives in some measure.

Perhaps we’re uncertain about our future; wondering about our jobs or marriages; wondering about the meaning of life, and why we’re here, and what I am supposed to be doing?

Perhaps we’re going through turbulent times; struggling with a diagnosis concerning our health, or with a loss that has deeply impacted our life.

Whatever the situation is, we all know what it’s like to be in turmoil and to long for peace.  And the risen Jesus brings us that peace with his presence and with his words.

That doesn’t mean we won’t have problems and difficulties in this life.  We will.  But the Christian message is that in the midst of struggle and grief and pain we can still experience the peace of God; the peace that passes all understanding; the peace that allows us to experience serenity and hope even in the midst of struggles and pain.

It’s important to remember that unlike our wonderful celebration last week. The first Easter was a scary time for the disciples.

And we see that in our gospel today, as the disciples are gathered behind locked doors on that first Easter, they’re worn out from the emotional rollercoaster they’d been on all week.  They were tired, uncertain and afraid.  They thought the authorities may come for them like they’d come for Jesus.

And suddenly, into this tense scene comes Jesus. "Peace be with you!” he says.  And then he shows them his hands and feet and his punctured side and instantly they’re overwhelmed with joy.  They’ve seen the risen Jesus and they believe.

There’s one disciple who’s not there, though. The bible doesn’t tell us where Thomas was.  We just know that he wasn’t there.  And so when the disciples told him that they’d seen Jesus, Thomas refuses to believe.

“Unless I see the holes in his hands,” he says, “and put my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

And because of this, history remembers Thomas as “doubting” Thomas.  But, really, he’s not asking for anything more than the other disciples had already been given.

He wants to see the risen Christ just like Mary Magdalene had seen him in the garden, and how Peter, James and John and the other disciples had seen him in the locked room.

None of them believed until they saw the risen Christ and that’s all Thomas wants, too.  He wanted to see Jesus alive and well.

And so now in verse 24, it’s a week later.  A week after the other disciples had seen Christ.

And again, they’re gathered in the locked room.  And this time Thomas is with them.

Again, Jesus enters the room just as before.  And again he says, “Peace be with you”

This time it appears that his appearance and his words of peace are specifically intended for Thomas.  He comes to Thomas right at the point of his need.  He doesn’t judge Thomas for his doubting.  Instead he encourages him to believe by giving him the proofs he needs.

“Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.”

Jesus generously gives Thomas what he needs.  And Thomas’ doubts disappear; “My Lord and my God,” he cries

At different times in our lives, you and I find ourselves in Thomas’ shoes.  We need something from Jesus, some assurance that he’s really there in the midst of our struggles.  Some proof that he has a purpose for us and that life makes sense.

And just as Jesus came to Thomas in his moment of doubt so, too, does he come to us.  Like Thomas, when we acknowledge our doubts and tell Jesus what we need, and how we need his peace; when we pray the prayer from scripture that says, “I believe, help my unbelief” …  Christ will come. He will help us.  Just as he came to help Thomas.

No matter how many doors may be locked, or how strong our doubts and unbelief may be.  If we ask Jesus to help us believe, he will.

And that’s what Jesus is referring to in the words of blessing he speaks at the end of our lesson today.

He says to his disciples, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

He’s talking about us there, and all the Christians who’ve lived since that first generation of disciples.  Because unlike Peter, James and John and Mary and Thomas, we’re not able to see the risen Christ the way they did.

And so for us, and for the billions of other Christians who’ve believed in the risen Christ down through the centuries, we must rely on something else.

And that “something else” can take several forms.  We have the Word of God; the bible.  And we have the particular words and testimony of the early disciples like Peter and John who saw the risen Christ.

And we also have the words and testimony of the Christians we’ve known who’ve shared their faith with us personally: our parents, a Sunday school teacher, a spouse, child, or friend.  Through the faith and testimony of these saints, Christ comes to us to strengthen and restore our own faith.

And what’s more, Christ also comes to us in his sacraments; in the waters of our baptism and the bread and wine of Holy Communion.

And so in the same way the risen Christ invited Thomas to reach out and touch him, so too can we reach out and touch him each time we receive communion.

And each time we dip our fingers in the baptismal waters and mark ourselves with his cross.

“Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”  This is Christ’s pledge and promise to us.

His promise that through all these things we will know that the risen Christ is present with us; that he has come to us just as he came to Thomas; and that he comes to bring us peace –

“Peace,” he says to us through his holy Word.

“Peace,” he says to us through the faith and testimony of others.

“Peace,” he says to us each time we kneel to receive him in Holy Communion.

“My peace I give you.”

And so may the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus forever.