Easter 2 – John 20:19-31
St. John tells us in his Gospel that on the evening of the first day of the week, the doors were locked where the disciples were, “for fear of the Jews.” The disciples of Christ, as they huddled together on the evening of that first Easter, were afraid.
They were not afraid of the Jewish people as a whole – which, of course, would have also included themselves. Rather, they were afraid of the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem: the high priest; the leading members of the Sanhedrin; all those people of power who has been complicit in Jesus’ condemnation and death.
The disciples’ fear was not unreasonable. They had seen what the corrupt leadership of their nation was capable of. But in the midst of their fear, Jesus appeared among them. John reports:
“Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.”
These men were very much aware of the fact that Jesus had been killed. This is why they were afraid that they, too – as his followers – might likewise be killed.
To be sure, earlier that day Mary Magdalene and the other women had claimed that Jesus was risen from the dead. Peter and John had gone to the tomb, and had seen that the body of the Lord was no longer there.
But even so, they didn’t quite know what to make of this. They were confused.
Now, however, they knew that the report of the women was true. Now they knew why the body of Jesus was no longer in the tomb. The body of Jesus – Jesus himself – was alive; mysteriously and gloriously alive!
The disciples had been cowering together in fear. Jesus knew that. And so, the first thing he said to them when he came among them specifically addressed their unsettled hearts: “Peace be with you.”
On an earlier occasion, Jesus had described the new kind of peace that he would bring into the world, and into the hearts and minds of his followers:
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”
The external circumstance in which the disciples found themselves on that first Easter evening, was a circumstance of their being afraid for their lives. They knew, or seriously suspected, that the Jewish leaders harbored ill will toward them.
When Jesus came, he spoke his peace into that situation. But his words did not change this external circumstance.
He did not come among the disciples and say: “Peace be with you, for I have made the high priest stop hating you; Peace be with you, for I have caused the leaders of the Sanhedrin to think about something other than arresting you and punishing you.”
No. When Jesus spoke his peace to them, their external circumstance, and the danger that they felt themselves to be in because of that circumstance, remained as before. What Jesus had spoken into their hearts and minds was, rather, “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding” – as St. Paul later described it.
The kind of peace that the world gives, is a peace that can be defined as a cessation of physical threats and outward hostilities. This kind of peace is easy to understand.
The disciples would have been able to understand rationally the kind of peace that would have come about for them, if they had become persuaded that the Jewish leaders were no longer interested in arresting them. But the peace that was now theirs because of Jesus’ presence, and because of Jesus’ words, was a peace that surpasses the understanding of human reason.
By every natural expectation – since there was still a real possibility that they might have been arrested and punished – the disciples should still have been worried and anxious, and not at peace.
But this natural expectation gave way to the supernatural reality of Jesus: the reality of the victory over sin and death that Jesus had won for his disciples, and indeed for the whole world; and the reality of the gift of heavenly peace that he is now bestowing upon his disciples, and speaking into his disciples.
John tells us that “the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.” In their gladness – their exuberant gladness – they no longer gave any thought to the question of whether they might be on the high priest’s “hit list” – a question that previously had consumed them.
None of that really mattered anymore, because Jesus, who had died to redeem them, had now risen from the dead to absolve them. Jesus had made them glad – truly and deeply glad – not because he had changed their external situation, but because he had changed them.
They were no longer afraid, not because this world’s threats against them were gone, but because their hearts were now oriented toward another world – where there is no more death or fear of death. This other world – this world of life, from God and with God – is a world that had now decisively broken in upon them in the appearance of their resurrected Lord.
Not long after this encounter with Jesus, once they had begun to preach the gospel of Christ in Jerusalem, a couple of the disciples were in fact arrested – and beaten – by the command of the high priest and the council. But they were no longer afraid. The peace of Christ was now with them.
After a few years, the apostle James was beheaded in Jerusalem by the command of Herod Agrippa. But the disciples were still not afraid. The peace of Christ was still with them.
Church history tells us that eventually all of the apostles – with the exception of John – were martyred because of their faith, and because of their ceaseless preaching of Christ and of the resurrection of Christ.
Sometimes the manner of their death was quite cruel and painful. But they were not afraid. The peace of Christ was with them.
The risen Christ – who had promised to be with the disciples always, even to the end of the age – was indeed with them while they lived, and while they brought the gospel of Christ’s forgiveness and salvation to a fallen world: baptizing and teaching all nations. And, the risen Christ was with them as they died – as they died in peace.
In the divine promise to which they clung in life and in death – “I will never leave you or forsake you” – they knew that “never” means never! They knew that the death of his saints is precious in the sight of the Lord. And they knew that on the other side of death, Christ, their living Savior, was waiting for them.
Once the fear of death is removed from the human breast, nothing else can really make us afraid again. Christ had removed that fear from them.
And Christ will remove that fear from you, too. John continues his account:
“So Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.’ And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’”
God the Father had sent his Son into the world, to live, die, and rise again for humanity’s redemption. God’s Son had come in the flesh as the Lamb of God, to take away the sin of the world, and to reconcile the fallen human race to its creator.
Human sin has twisted the heart of man, and has severed man’s fellowship with God – so that in their natural state people are both at enmity with God and are afraid of God.
Only through God’s forgiveness can the heart of man become once again what it was always supposed to be, namely the dwelling place of God’s Spirit. Only through God’s forgiveness, can the barrier and offense of human sin be removed, so that man’s fellowship with God can be restored.
When people are still in a state of alienation from God, their hearts are filled with anguish and anger, and not with peace. And they are disconnected from God’s life, and from God’s protection.
Without that life, there is only death. Without that protection, there is only fear.
But just as Jesus had been sent into the world by his Father to win forgiveness for the world, so too are the disciples now being sent into the world by Jesus, to distribute this forgiveness to the world.
In the name of Christ and by his authority, the church, and its called ministers, warn the impenitent that their sins are still upon them, and will damn them unless they turn away from those sins. But also in the name of Christ and by his authority, the church, and its public ministers, declare the forgiveness of Christ, and the peace of Christ, to all who do renounce their sins, and yearn for reconciliation with God.
Through Jesus, and through the forgiveness of Jesus, they have that reconciliation. And they are no longer weighed down with fear.
God’s forgiveness – through the life, death, and resurrection of his Son – does not remove us from the world, or from the threats and dangers of the world. But the comforts of the gospel that we receive in Word and Sacrament change us on the inside, so that we become capable of saying what King David said in Psalm 27:
“The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? … Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident.”
And when earthly dangers and earthly chaos intensify, rather than subsiding, we are still able to be at peace with God, and to be at peace within ourselves – knowing that whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. While we live out our limited time on earth, and live out our callings in family, congregation, and community, we heed the encouragement that Paul gives us in his Second Epistle to the Corinthians:
“Christ is…not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you. For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. … Comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.”
Christians in many countries today endure deliberate persecutions, brought upon them by evil and godless men. Christians also endure the sicknesses and natural disasters that are common to all men.
We “walk in danger all the way,” as one hymn puts it. Being aware of this danger could have a debilitating effect on us, paralyzing us with hesitation, causing us to be afraid to move forward in life, in any direction.
But even though we walk in danger, we also walk with the Lord. And he takes away our fear. He takes away our fear especially when he takes away our sin, and justifies us, in his absolution.
This removes our fear of God’s punishment, and frees us to call upon God instead as our loving Father in heaven – asking him for help and strength in times of trial and need.
And when our life on earth does eventually come to an end – through natural means, or through the attacks of those who hate us – in peace we will then ask the Lord to send his angels to bear us home, “that we may die unfearing” – in the words of another hymn.
Even when the attacks that we endure are not natural but supernatural, Christ, our companion and guide, still emboldens us to know who we are in him. He defends us from any and all satanic assaults that are brought to bear against our souls.
He has indeed equipped us with “the shield of faith, with which [we] can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one” – as the Epistle to the Ephesians reminds us. And so we can say and sing with confidence:
“Though devils all the world should fill – all eager to devour us – we tremble not, we fear no ill. They shall not overpower us.”
“The same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’”
When we are in fear – in fear of God’s displeasure because of our sins; in fear of attacks on our faith by the world, the flesh, and the devil; in fear of the bodily harm that our earthly enemies may bring to us; in fear of the collapse of all that we value in this world – Jesus comes also among us.
He comes among us in his Word and Sacrament, to absolve us and to protect us, to nurture us and to fill us with his life and presence. And in his gospel he says to us: “Peace be with you.” Amen.