When our lay reader spoke in the morning services a couple of week ago about Thomas and his doubts about the risen Lord Jesus, he mentioned the fear of the disciples as Jesus appeared amongst them, the Jesus whom they’d witnessed being arrested and crucified only days before, and said simply, ‘Peace be with you.’
How right the preacher was when he said that those words must have terrified the disciples – Jesus was dead, and people don’t come back from that, and if they did surely they wouldn’t simply say, ‘Peace’ !
Tonight we have heard Luke’s account of Jesus’ appearance (Luke 24:36-49). The disciples are stunned, they must have been doubting their own sanity, and Jesus recognised this, and so, seeing that their reaction to his greeting of ‘Peace’ really hadn’t brought them any peace, he asked for something to eat. They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he ate it in front of them – this was a real person standing or sitting before them – Jesus had indeed risen from the dead.
And Jesus went on to say that this shouldn’t have been a shock to them. He reminded them that everything written about him in the law of Moses, the prophets and the psalms had to be fulfilled - his suffering, his death and his resurrection. And now, as Jesus prepared to leave them in body at least, he also reminded them that he was not leaving them alone – they were to wait in the city until they were clothed with power from on high.
Today Jesus still greets his followers with that simple greeting, ‘Peace be with you’, because he has given us everything necessary for peace, but perhaps like those early followers, we’re not always very good at accepting his offer. I read recently that since 3600 BC, over 5,000 years ago, less than 300 years have seen peace. In that time over 8,000 peace treaties have been made, and nearly as many have been broken.
And it would be wonderful to say that we do much better in our own lives, but the reality is that all of us have fallen out with people, argued, said things we shouldn’t have, held grudges, dwelt on things that happened a long time ago and so on…
And yet Jesus says, ‘Peace’. It’s a word that we brush over so easily, but one which should be felt in every part of our lives. In 1555, Nicholas Ridley was burned at the stake because of his witness for Christ. On the night before Ridley's execution, his brother offered to remain with him in the prison chamber to be of assistance and comfort. Nicholas declined the offer and replied that he meant to go to bed and sleep as quietly as he ever had in his life. Because he knew the peace of God, he could rest in the strength of the everlasting arms of his Lord to meet his need.
And so how do we find this peace of God that can so wonderfully transform our lives ? The only way is through a decision that we make to trust God with our lives. In Church we often talk about trust and about faith, but trust and faith are ultimately about far more than just talk – they are about doing.
Martin Luther King described faith as taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase. And that is the faith that we are called to practice in a world where we are often encouraged to rely only on ourselves.
God never intended us to be alone. He never intended us to try and have to find our own way of living and surviving. As he left the disciples he promised them a helper – the Holy Spirit. It was the Holy Spirit who gave those early followers the courage to go out and preach about Jesus, risen from the dead. It was the Holy Spirit who gave them the words to say – often uneducated people speaking to educated, yet with words of wisdom that could come only from God.
And he never intended his followers to just rely on the Holy Spirit either. All of the teaching that Jesus offered as well as the example that he offered, revealed a man dedicated to building up a fellowship of believers who would support and sustain each other. The Church is the body of Christ on earth, and it is the family of Christ on earth. We join together in worship as brothers and sisters, and this relationship must be taken into every part of our lives.
The Peace that Jesus offers to his followers is an all embracing peace like Nicholas Ridley knew as he waited to die. But Peace in the world is not just a concept to talk about, it is an aim to be targeted, and it must begin much closer to home with peace in our own hearts, and in our thoughts, and in our actions.
Over this Easter season we especially celebrate Jesus risen from the dead, but we go much further as we celebrate his triumph over death, his victory over darkness, and the assurance of his constant presence alongside us all of the time.
The peace of God, the peace that is beyond our understanding, is what Jesus offers. But as he does so, he is limited by the fact of our willingness to accept that peace. He can’t force it on us, but we are invited to enter more closely into a relationship with him which changes every part of our lives.
C S Lewis said that ‘we regard God as an airman regards his parachute; it’s there for emergencies but he hopes he’ll never have to use it…’ If that is how we treat God then we will never feel the amazing, limitless benefits of his peace, and lives lived in abundance, with the assurance that whatever we have to face, good or bad, we will never be doing it alone. AMEN
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