In today’s sermon on Luke 24:36b-48, we continue the story of that first Easter Sunday, exploring the significance of Jesus’ greeting of “Peace be with you.” More than earthly security, Jesus offers spiritual peace and empowerment to face life’s challenges. The peace Jesus gives overcomes the fears and dangers of this world.
For this sermon, I found helpful Michael Joseph Brown’s columns for April 7 and this Sunday for Working Preacher, as well as Nancy Blakely’s Pastoral Perspective column for this Sunday, especially pages 427-429, in Feasting on the Word Year B, Volume 2 (Amazon affiliate link). This week’s Scripture readings are Acts 3:12-19, Psalm 4, 1 John 3:1-7, and Luke 24:36b-48.
Here’s the worship livestream from Living Hope and the sermon podcast.
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Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our risen Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen
I realize Easter Sunday was two whole weeks ago, and I don’t expect you to remember this, but I started my Easter sermon by talking about how there are four different Gospels in the Bible, four different stories about Jesus.
And each of the four Gospel writers—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—chooses different details to include.
There’s an editing process they each go through. Some of you know I enjoy editing videos, like the ones I put together after the Quake youth conference a few months ago, or the Hunger Quest trip last summer. I’ll probably do one for this summer’s Lighthouse mission trip to Madison, and maybe after Vacation Bible School as well. The way the Gospels are put together is a little bit like making a video.
To put together a mission trip video, you have to make some choices on how you’re going to tell the story. You can go chronologically, and start with driving, then a few pictures of a meal, then a service project, then a meal, then another service project, then another meal, then back to the first service project, and so on, but it gets really boring quickly.
Look, here we are working in a garden. Now we’re serving food at a soup kitchen. Now we’re back in the garden again. Or, you can do some editing, and arrange by theme. Look, we worked in a garden. And we served some meals. And we had fun going to some restaurants ourselves. Both ways give a true account of what happened on the trip, but one of them is much more interesting as a story.
That’s what the Gospel writers do. They emphasize the parts of Jesus’ life, miracles, and teaching that fit the story they’re telling.
That’s not a secret. I don’t know if you caught this last week, but John actually ends his Gospel by saying, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing, you may have life in his name.” (John 20:20-31) That’s John’s agenda, that’s what he believes is important about Jesus.
I want you to understand this idea of the Gospels emphasizing different aspects of Jesus’ life, looking at his life from different angles as we get into today’s Gospel story, because this is the same story we heard last week.
A lot happens on that first Easter Sunday. At this point, Jesus’ followers are gathered together, trying to process what’s happened. John focuses on how they are hiding in a locked room, afraid the same authorities who arrested and killed Jesus a few days earlier are looking for them as well. He goes into detail about how most of them were there together, but for some reason Thomas wasn’t with them.
In Luke’s account, he doesn’t mention Thomas; he just says as they’re gathered there talking about this—and since we didn’t read that part, the “this” they’re talking about is the report from Cleopas and another one of Jesus’ disciples of encountering the risen Jesus on the road to Emmaus.
When they finally recognized him in the breaking of the bread, they went back to Jerusalem to tell the rest of the disciples—as the disciples are gathered talking about this new evidence that Jesus is alive, Jesus himself shows up and stands among them.
And even though Peter and John had seen the empty tomb, even though Salome and two of the Mary’s had heard from an angel that Jesus is alive, even though Mary Magdalene claimed to have actually talked to him, and now Cleopas and his companion are also here saying they’d had seen him on the road, the general reaction in the room when Jesus appears is to be “startled and terrified, thinking they’re seeing a ghost.” Especially when you add in John’s detail that the doors were locked, their reaction is understandable. Not only is Jesus alive, he also no longer seems entirely bound by the laws of physics.
But he is alive, and he is not a ghost. He invites them to look at his hands and his feet, to see the marks from the nails. I’m sure he’s in a lot better condition than when they last say him beaten and bleeding, but the scars are still there.
Once they’ve positively identified that this is definitely Jesus, they’re still thinking maybe he’s a ghost, so he asks for a piece of broiled fish and eats it in front of them.
Obviously, everyone knows ghosts don’t have digestive systems. I don’t know if that’s the test I’d have picked, but it works for them. Now they believe. Well, at least according to Luke, they all believe. Again, John goes into more detail about Thomas not being there, but then when Jesus comes back a week later, Thomas is there and once he gets to touch Jesus’ wounds like the rest of them did, he too eventually believes.
So that’s our scene. The same story as last week, just from a little bit different angle. As I’ve read both of these stories this week, I’ve gotten caught on one of the details that both Luke and John include.
In both of their accounts, when Jesus first enters the room, he greets his disciples by saying, “Peace be with you.” And I’ve been wondering this week, what is the significance of that greeting, “Peace be with you?”
On the one hand, “Peace be with you” is a perfectly ordinary greeting. In our culture, we say “Hello” when we meet someone, but in other cultures even today, “peace be with you” is the standard.
There’s a verse in the Quran that says whenever you enter a house, greet one another with a greeting of “peace” so Muslims routinely greet each other with the words “salam alaykum” – which is Arabic for, “Peace be upon you.” Arab Christians and Jews say “salam alaykum” too.
Jesus himself gave the same instructions in Luke 10 when he sent out 72 of his followers in pairs, saying “Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house!’”
But imagine what it must have been like for the disciples in these circumstances to hear those words from Jesus. Jesus’ peace is something different than a normal greeting. It’s deeper than the resolution of an argument, or even the end of a war, although it includes that, and we certainly need that.
The peace Jesus offers is more like the Hebrew concept of shalom, wholeness, completeness. Brokenness restored. Forgiveness. Reconciliation. Shalom can be used as a Hebrew greeting as well. It’s the reign of God, where the world is set right.
Imagine what it would be like for Jesus to greet you that way. What would that feel like?
It’s the last verse in our Psalm: “I will both lie down and sleep in peace; for you alone, O Lord, make me lie down in safety.”
What is the peace Jesus offers you? What would shalom, God’s peace, look like for you? Where in your life do you need to receive God’s peace?
For their part, the disciples are hiding in a locked room. In their fear, they were looking for security, trying to be safe from the enemies out there. And of course, their fear was legitimate!
The same authorities who had arrested and killed Jesus were undoubtedly looking for them. Hiding makes sense. But what they needed was not security, not safety, but peace. When Jesus shows up, he offers them peace, not earthly security, but the peace of knowing he is with them. They are not alone.
Though it seemed like their hopes had been dashed, God is not done with them. Maybe you need to hear that message too.
He offers them the peace of knowing who he was and is, and therefore, who they are—children of God, as 1 John says. “We are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed.” Being a Christian and believing in Jesus doesn’t mean everything is going to work out for you in this world. Bad things still happen. And yet in the midst of life’s struggles, Jesus offers us peace.
It’s a cliche, but it’s true: We don’t know what the future holds, but we know who holds the future. And that gives us the strength to continue into that future, knowing God is with us every step of the way.
Jesus comes to the disciples in their fear and offers them not security, but peace. The peace of Christ, the confidence that comes from knowing the truth that Jesus is alive and death is defeated, that peace goes with them and sustains them even when they leave the earthly security of the locked room.
And they do leave. Jesus says, “Peace be with you,” shows them his hands and feet, convinces them he’s not a ghost, and then he sends them out into the world to proclaim the good news.
“Repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.” That includes us too. We too are witnesses to what God has and is doing.
Despite the danger, the disciples cannot stay in hiding. Even though the world does not know Jesus, and therefore does not know or understand his followers, security cannot be the top priority. The witnesses to God’s victory must share their testimony.
The peace Jesus offers releases them from their fears, even as they go out from the supposed safety of locked doors into the dangers of the world. As the story continues, we see them proclaiming the good news with boldness.
In Acts 3, we hear Peter—one of those disciples who’d been in hiding, the one who’d been so afraid that he’d denied Jesus three times rather than risk being arrested himself—Peter addresses a whole crowd of people, calling them to repent and turn to God for forgiveness. He boldly accuses them of being the ones who killed the Author of life, and then offers them the opportunity to repent.
When Jesus shows up, people change. Nancy Blakely points out that in this story, the disciples move “from fright and alarm to…joy mixed with disbelief and amazement to…open and understanding minds and hearts…Jesus did not bring them security. Rather, they risked all in following his call.
For they had come to understand that Jesus had conquered the ultimate threat, death itself, and their fears were groundless. Jesus’ words ‘Peace be with you!’ came to fruition in their hearts.”
Imagine the difference in our world when we receive that peace. Imagine a world where instead of escalating circles of violence, we take seriously Jesus’ call to love even our enemies.
Imagine if instead of calling for vengeance, we see all people—even those people, whoever they are—as made in God’s image.
Children of God, hear the words of Jesus: Peace be with you. As we share signs of God’s peace later in the service, hear it as good news for you, and proclaim it as good news to those around you.
And may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our risen Lord, and send you out to share the good news. Amen