John 20:19-31
Listen here.
Perhaps Easter, though, seems distant in our minds. We are frightened. We are agitated. Last Sunday—Easter Sunday—multiple tornadoes hit several southern states, bringing death and destruction. Coronavirus continues to disrupt our lives. And local leaders have now extended lockdown orders “indefinitely.” On a good day, the 24/7 news cycle easily distracts us from Easter and the resurrection, but now that news cycle is all COVID, all the time. We are locked in our homes and stripped of our liberties for fear of a disease.
We really need today’s message from God! The disciples were frightened and agitated. So are we. They needed peace. So do we. They needed Jesus Christ and His new life in the forgiveness of sins. And so do we. Our risen Lord Jesus delivers His new life of peace through the forgiveness of sins.
On that first Easter Sunday, the disciples were huddled together, cowering in a room. The Jewish leaders had taken their Teacher and killed Him. The disciples feared they would be next. Not only that, but these same disciples had run away from Jesus when He was arrested. Hence the fear. But then Jesus came to His disciples. Somehow Jesus entered through the doors, even though they remained shut and locked. Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” Perhaps they expected a rebuke for deserting Him in His hour of deepest need. Nope! Jesus doesn’t work that way. Jesus forgives. “Peace be with you,” He told them. It was not a wish. It was not a figurative way of speaking. It was a blessing and a gift. Jesus’ words accomplish and deliver what they say. Jesus delivered His cross-won peace to them.
But still, we are so like those disciples – frightened and agitated. Perhaps we are frightened by the joblessness, the economic shutdown and the infringing on liberties. Perhaps we are agitated by tensions with far off lands. And those irksome illnesses and dreaded diseases! Such things remind us just how fragile life is in this world plagued by death. And when we look in the mirror, we are reminded just how frail and fragile we are.
What else might frighten us? Each of us would have a different laundry list of fears. The better question is this: Why are we afraid? The Christian writer Oswald Chambers once said: “If you fear God, you will fear nothing else. If you do not fear God, you will fear everything else.” Why are we frightened and agitated? It’s quite simple: because we don’t fear and trust the God who loves us and wants us to enjoy life with Him.
Perhaps we fear the false god of pleasure. We think everything in life is about smooth sailing, feeling good and having fun. Perhaps we fear the false god of wealth. We think money is simply for us to use for private, personal enjoyment. Perhaps we fear the false god called “Self.” We like to depend on “Self” for anything and everything, including matters of faith. Perhaps we picture God as a stern father whom we must butter up in order to get on His good side. And if this picture won’t do, then perhaps we picture God as a drill sergeant who barks orders and expects us to carry them out like obedient little soldiers. And so we may try to rely on ourselves to make God happy with us and love us.
In all of this we are denying the risen Christ. It’s as if we are running away from Him, just as the disciples did when He was arrested. It’s no wonder, then, that we are frightened and agitated. We’ve taken our eyes off of the Savior who loves us by dying and rising for us.
Jesus knows the fear. He saw it in His disciples that first Easter evening. And He tells you the same thing He told them: “Peace be with you.” He gives you His peace—not commands, not orders, not guilt trips, but peace. And notice where His peace comes from: He showed them His hands and His side. His peace flows out of His wounds. His suffering was not in vain. His death means your life. His wounds are the fountainhead and wellspring of peace and joy for you. Then Jesus talks about Holy Absolution: If you forgive the sins of anyone, they are forgiven.
Our risen Savior Jesus forgives and calms your fears. He forgives your lack of trust in Him. He says, “You don’t need to fret over the state of the world. I have all things under My control.” He says, “You don’t need to wring your hands over money. I always provide for you.” He says, “You don’t need to despair when you face the diseases. I bring your best healing.” The best way to overcome the fears and agitation is to fix your eyes of faith on Jesus the risen Savior. After all, He gives peace with God, and His peace comes in the forgiveness of sins.
When Jesus breathed on His disciples, He gave them the Holy Spirit. He gave them His life with God. It was a replay of the Garden of Eden. There God took a lifeless lump of clay, moulded it into a human body, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and Adam became a living being (Gen. 2:7). Jesus giving the Spirit was the fulfillment of Ezekiel’s vision of a valley full of dry, dead bones. God made the lifeless bones come together. He put muscles, tendons and skin on them, but they were still lifeless. Then God’s Spirit—God’s Breath—breathed life into them. God also breathes life into our lifeless bodies and souls. It’s called the forgiveness of our sins, our very breath of life.
So as we continue the Easter celebration, we get to enjoy the real, sacramental ways in which our risen Lord comes to give His peace and forgiveness. In our second reading, the Apostle John talks about overcoming the world by believing in Jesus Christ the Son of God. Then he says, “This is He who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood.” Our risen Savior still comes by the water of Baptism and the blood of His Supper. And what does He bring when He comes? Peace and forgiveness that overcome our worldly fear – peace and forgiveness with God, and peace and forgiveness with each other. And let’s not forget the precious Sacrament that Jesus Himself institutes in our Gospel: the Sacrament of Absolution. “If you forgive the sins of anyone, they are forgiven; if you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is withheld.” Our risen Lord gives His Church—His Christians—the authority to forgive sins. He wants us to speak His words of forgiveness and life and thus speak peace to one another.
So take heart! The peace that Jesus breathes out to us in the Gospel does comfort and console. The forgiveness that He delivers in Baptism, Absolution, and Communion does restore hope and renew purpose. “Everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world,” St. John boldly says. “And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.” Yes, worldly concerns of disease and economy have hit hard. But our risen Savior has won the victory. We may trust Him—and His peace in forgiveness—to console and comfort, to sustain and direct us.
What makes all of this possible? The very peace and forgiveness that flow from the wounds of the risen Christ. As Jesus told His disciples, “Peace be with you.” Amen.
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