Pastor Scott
Jonas
4/1/18
John 20
I am
Peaceful
Everything changed on that first
Easter morning. Jesus overcomes death at
Golgatha, the place of the Skul. Creation has been saved through his work on
the cross. He was dead but now he is
alive and that affirms every teaching that came from his lips. Jesus taught, “I am the bread of Life, the
true manna that came from Heaven.” True. “I am the light of the world, whoever follows
me will not walk in darkness.”
Check. “I am the door. If anyone enters by me he will be
saved.” Correct. “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one
comes to the Father except through me.” Indeed.
“I am the Vine. You are the
branches.” Verified “I am the Good
Shepherd and I lay down my life for my sheep.”
Amen. Jesus said “I am the
Resurrection and the Life.” Double Amen.
Easter has changed everything.
Jesus has brought peace. This peace is not a temporary ceasefire in
the war between good and evil like at the end of a Star Wars movie. Jesus’ peace is a state of wholeness which
includes health, prosperity, security and spiritual completeness. Jesus obeyed the Father’s will to the
grave. Isaiah says this kind of
“righteousness brings peace.” The
resurrection has restored the relationship between the Father and his
people. We possess the security that
comes with a covenant of peace. His
peace brings blessing though pardon for sin, strength, assurance of a listening
God, and Joy. When a pastor says “Peace
be with you” , this is the Total Peace we proclaim for you.
According to the Gospel of John, Mary
Magdalene was the first to experience this Peace. She arrived at the tomb, saw that the tomb
was disturbed. She ran and told Peter,
“They have taken the Lord and we don’t know where they have laid him.” Peter and another disciple race to the
tomb. The other one got there first,
which maybe indicates that it was young John.
He and Peter see the grave clothes.
They weren’t in disarray but were neatly folded. The other disciple saw the empty tomb and
believed. He had peace. He was spiritually whole.
Mary is not spiritually whole. She is balling nearby. Imagine going to the gravesite of someone you
love and the ground is dug up and the casket is open. Devastating.
It’s bad enough that he had to suffer and die a horrific death but now
she can’t even take care of his corpse.
His body is not resting in peace.
It has been violated. She sees
two figures in white and asks if they know where they took her Lord.
Just then she turns around and there
is another man. In her grief she can’t
see straight. WE know grief can incapacitate like that, don’t we? Her mind
can’t comprehend. So Jesus says to her,
“Precious woman, why a you weeping?” She
assumes he is a grave robber. And yet
she is willing to be polite if that means the return of her Lord’s remains. “Please Sir, just tell me where I can find my
friend’s body.” That’s when Jesus gives
her his peace. He calls her by name,
“Mary.” She screams, “Teacher!” In that moment everything is changed. All that Jesus taught her is affirmed. He kept his promises to her. His arms envelop her. She is whole.
She runs and announces to the
disciples, “I have seen the Lord.”
Jesus’ peace has spread to two people, Mary and the other disciple who
believed. Peter is still holding onto
some issues. The John text doesn’t say
he believed or had peace.
That leaves a lot of people who did
not witness Easter. Most of the
disciples were not there. On Good Friday
we sang the Hymn “Were You There?” It
asks were you there when they crucified my Lord. The last verse asks, “Were you there when God
raised him from the tomb?” Mary, some of
the women, Peter and another disciple, John were there. Thomas and the rest of the 12 were not. His family was not there. Lazarus’ family did not see him that
day. Nicodemus, the woman at the well,
the woman caught in adultery, and the man who was blind from birth were
somewhere else. The thousands who saw his miracles were not there. What about them? Where is their peace? I was not there when God raised him from the
dead. You were not there. What about us? We want peace.
It’s natural to doubt the
resurrection. The disciples
doubted. Every one of them. They didn’t have peace until they saw with
their eyes. We are thousands of miles
and years from the original Easter. We
are taught about Jesus’ resurrection from an early age, but then we
wonder. Did He really rise from the
dead? How do we know? Maybe he didn’t really die. Instead he fainted and woke up
mummified. Maybe his enemies stole the
body. Maybe the disciples hallucinated
the whole thing. Maybe his distraught
followers embellished the whole thing.
These doubts bring the opposite of peace. We feel insecure. These thoughts make us sick to our
stomach. It’s like it chips away at our
happiness.
You are in good company. The disciples all experience what you
do. They needed to see with their own
eyes the resurrected Lord. It’s one thing
to hear an unbelievable story from one of your closest friends. It’s another to experience the same unbelievable
story.
Just like you, Thomas the disciple
wasn’t there that morning. He also
wasn’t there when Jesus appeared to the rest of the disciples. They were behind locked doors. It also says they were afraid. Even though they heard the Easter story from
Peter and Mary, they were still fearful.
Then Jesus stood among them and says “Peace be with you.” They freaked out so Jesus showed them his
hands and side. Again he says, “Peace be
with you.” This is a common Jewish
greeting. It was the equivalent of
saying “The Lord bless and keep you.”
But when the risen Lord says it, the words transform into something more
powerful than saying hello. He is giving
them something substantive. He is
permanently restoring their souls.
Then Jesus does something strange. He
breathes on them. I don’t know if this
was heavy breathing. I don’t know if
this is mouth wide open blowing. I don’t
know if he was able to supernaturally produce gail force winds. But he blows on them and says, “Receive the
Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of
any, they are forgiven; if you withhold
forgiveness it is withheld.” That
substantive power comes from a breath.
That breath gives me the ability to forgive sins in the beginning of the
service. That wind allows you to forgive
anyone who comes to you asking to be restored by God.
But you weren’t there and Thomas was
not there. For some unknown reason,
Thomas was not with Peter on Sunday. He
was not with the other disciples on this occasion. Perhaps he is isolating himself after the
death of his friend. The good news of
Easter does not bring him back to the 12.
We all mourn differently. In his
grief he cannot conceive a risen Lord.
Maybe he is beating himself up.
After all, Thomas failed to be there when they crucified his Lord. What if this act of cowardice caused him to
stumble into a downward spiral where he can’t see anything good. All he can see is his own doubt and sin. This clouds his vision.
The Gospel of John tells us that
Thomas declared himself ready to die with Jesus. When they returned to Jerusalem to after the
death of Lazarus, Thomas recognized that the Jewish leaders were a dangerous
threat. To go towards that threat was
inviting death. “Let us go that we may
die with him.” Thomas proclaimed. They didn’t die but only because the
resurrection of Lazarus brought out many supporters. Later, on Maundy Thursday, Jesus looked over
the dining table and said “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God;
believe also in me. In my Father's house are many resting places. If it were
not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go
and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself,
that where I am you may be also. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know
where you are going. How can we know the way?”
Thomas did not see the resurrection coming so he couldn’t see the
resurrection after the fact.
Jesus has a
heart for people like Thomas, for people like you. Thomas was called the Twin. He was our twin. We too doubt the resurrection because we
couldn’t see it. The other 10 disciples
said “We have seen the Lord.” Thomas
said “Unless I see in his hands the marks of the nails, and place my finger
into the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and
place my hand into his side, I will never believe.” Peter said “never” and Jesus changed his
mind. Now Thomas says “never.”
So Jesus brought the resurrection to
Thomas. Eight days later, He made a
special trip. Just like before, Jesus
appears alongside them in a locked room.
He says, “Peace be with you.” He
offers his hands and side. The text does
not say that Thomas took him up on his offer instead he said, “My Lord, and my
God!”
Then Jesus turned his focus to
you. He said, “Have you believed because
you have seen me? Blessed are those who
have not seen and yet believe?” Jesus
knows that for those of us who were not there, we need a miracle to believe in
Easter. That is why he breathed on his
disciples and gave them the spirit. That
Spirit was breathed on you at your baptism.
Without it you would spiritually be just like Thomas. Alone in a room, arms folded, demanding that
Jesus appear so you can touch for yourself.
When Jesus appeared to Thomas he no longer needed to touch, he only
needed to see.
You and I do not need to see with our
eyes because the Spirit has opened the eyes of our hearts. The fact that you are here, two thousand
years and thousands of miles away from the first Easter is a miracle. Jesus chose you just like the 12. He revealed
himself to you. Now you have
peace. Not a temporary peace like the
wolrd gives. But a peace that can only
come from Jesus. He gives you a state of
wholeness. He gives you life. He gives you prosperity. He gives you security. He gives you spiritual completeness.