Peace be with you...
On Friday millions watched the Royal Wedding – many made the journey to London to catch a glimpse of the Royal family celebrating their big day, and many more watched on televisions or on big screens throughout the world – the wedding captured people’s imagination – people who certainly wanted to enjoy the moment and the big day but also the people who were wondering what comes next…
We all know that sadly not all weddings, royal or otherwise, prove to be the beginning of long happy marriages – but there is a sense of expectation and anticipation on the wedding day as people join in the festivities, and offer a word of prayer for the couple…
Anticipation and excitement are 2 of the themes of our gospel reading today (John 20:19-31). Jesus had risen from the dead and appeared to his disciples – and in doing so he stood amongst them and said the very simple words, ‘Peace be with you’ – but what power there is in those words.
Jesus who had been through so much with and for the very friends that he was speaking to – Jesus, who had confounded their expectations by rising up from the grave – Jesus, who was now standing amongst them and offering such simple words…
Their excitement and anticipation would surely lead them to ask things like, ‘What would come next ? Would there be a new start for his ministry ? Would he now head for the Temple and overthrow the people who had killed him ? Would he now take over the political power in the world and rule himself ?’
His words ‘Peace be with you’ were a signal that this was not the way forward – instead what he did was to follow the words ‘Peace be with you’ with some more words to his disciples, ‘As the Father has sent me, so I send you’.
Jesus, through his victory over death, and the gift of the Holy Spirit that would come to all his followers at Pentecost was handing over the earthly ministry to those followers – as they received the peace of Christ, so they were to share it with others…
As we begin to put Easter behind us, as we finish off the easter eggs and chocolate it’s time to get back to some sort of normality – no more Lent disciplines for this year, no drama of the Holy Week services in Church – but what there is remains a reminder of the celebration of the risen Lord Jesus… Because of that first Easter Day we are different, our lives have been transformed, and each Easter Day is a wonderful reminder of that fact, but it is also a commissioning to live transformed lives, to go out from here and share the peace of Christ with others…. ‘As the Father sends me, so I send you…’
And in our gospel reading we also had the account of Thomas who hadn’t been there to see Jesus and who didn’t really believe that he had risen… Doubting Thomas has become a common expression and yet it is perhaps in Thomas that we receive the comfort of knowing that there will be times of doubt, times of questioning, times when things don’t seem to make perfect sense, but we know from our gospel reading that Jesus came to Thomas and welcomed him and encouraged him to look more closely at the wounds in his body…
Through our times of doubts and questions Jesus asks us to approach him – because he is there waiting for us. Whatever we may have done to him, or not done to him or for him, he waits with open arms to welcome us back…
Thomas is the inspiration that reminds us that the peace of Christ is a peace that, as we often say in the blessing at the end of a service, passes all understanding, and a peace that is always available to us.
Just as those early disciples must have stood before the risen Jesus and wondered what comes next, so we can stand, firm in our faith, wondering what comes next, but knowing that God is with us, and assuring us of his peace…
A 10 year old Latin American child wrote a beautiful poem about peace which said, ‘I had a paint box but it didn’t have the colour red for the blood of the wounded. Nor white for the hearts and faces of the dead. It didn’t have yellow either for the burning sands of the desert. Instead it had orange for the dawn and the sunset, and blue for new skies, and pink for the dreams of young people’…
It’s a wonderful simplistic, even idealistic vision, but actually it is also a reminder that in all things and at all times we have been redeemed by a Saviour who offers to each one of us in all circumstances the simple words, ‘Peace be with you’, and a reminder that we have been called and commissioned by an incredible God to share that peace in all that we think and do and say…. AMEN
We all know that sadly not all weddings, royal or otherwise, prove to be the beginning of long happy marriages – but there is a sense of expectation and anticipation on the wedding day as people join in the festivities, and offer a word of prayer for the couple…
Anticipation and excitement are 2 of the themes of our gospel reading today (John 20:19-31). Jesus had risen from the dead and appeared to his disciples – and in doing so he stood amongst them and said the very simple words, ‘Peace be with you’ – but what power there is in those words.
Jesus who had been through so much with and for the very friends that he was speaking to – Jesus, who had confounded their expectations by rising up from the grave – Jesus, who was now standing amongst them and offering such simple words…
Their excitement and anticipation would surely lead them to ask things like, ‘What would come next ? Would there be a new start for his ministry ? Would he now head for the Temple and overthrow the people who had killed him ? Would he now take over the political power in the world and rule himself ?’
His words ‘Peace be with you’ were a signal that this was not the way forward – instead what he did was to follow the words ‘Peace be with you’ with some more words to his disciples, ‘As the Father has sent me, so I send you’.
Jesus, through his victory over death, and the gift of the Holy Spirit that would come to all his followers at Pentecost was handing over the earthly ministry to those followers – as they received the peace of Christ, so they were to share it with others…
As we begin to put Easter behind us, as we finish off the easter eggs and chocolate it’s time to get back to some sort of normality – no more Lent disciplines for this year, no drama of the Holy Week services in Church – but what there is remains a reminder of the celebration of the risen Lord Jesus… Because of that first Easter Day we are different, our lives have been transformed, and each Easter Day is a wonderful reminder of that fact, but it is also a commissioning to live transformed lives, to go out from here and share the peace of Christ with others…. ‘As the Father sends me, so I send you…’
And in our gospel reading we also had the account of Thomas who hadn’t been there to see Jesus and who didn’t really believe that he had risen… Doubting Thomas has become a common expression and yet it is perhaps in Thomas that we receive the comfort of knowing that there will be times of doubt, times of questioning, times when things don’t seem to make perfect sense, but we know from our gospel reading that Jesus came to Thomas and welcomed him and encouraged him to look more closely at the wounds in his body…
Through our times of doubts and questions Jesus asks us to approach him – because he is there waiting for us. Whatever we may have done to him, or not done to him or for him, he waits with open arms to welcome us back…
Thomas is the inspiration that reminds us that the peace of Christ is a peace that, as we often say in the blessing at the end of a service, passes all understanding, and a peace that is always available to us.
Just as those early disciples must have stood before the risen Jesus and wondered what comes next, so we can stand, firm in our faith, wondering what comes next, but knowing that God is with us, and assuring us of his peace…
A 10 year old Latin American child wrote a beautiful poem about peace which said, ‘I had a paint box but it didn’t have the colour red for the blood of the wounded. Nor white for the hearts and faces of the dead. It didn’t have yellow either for the burning sands of the desert. Instead it had orange for the dawn and the sunset, and blue for new skies, and pink for the dreams of young people’…
It’s a wonderful simplistic, even idealistic vision, but actually it is also a reminder that in all things and at all times we have been redeemed by a Saviour who offers to each one of us in all circumstances the simple words, ‘Peace be with you’, and a reminder that we have been called and commissioned by an incredible God to share that peace in all that we think and do and say…. AMEN
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