Easter 2 April 28, 2019 The Sunday of the Upper Room Appearances

Easter 2
John 20:19-31
April 28, 2019

“Peace be with You”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

• Ever want to go lock yourself in a room somewhere where no one can find you and no one can bother you? Nothing can hurt you?
  • That’s what disciples did
    • Scared
• We’re all scared of something…some more than others…but
  • Very often scared of fitting in….i.e. scared of keeping our reputation….scared of being rejected by others
• You want to fit in at school, at work, at church, with other families, whatever…scared of being an oddball
  • Disciples understand…scared of being rejected by all their peers, the Jews…
    • Scared of even worse…being killed by them
• Scared of the future…what will happen tomorrow? What will happen for my children and grandchildren? What will happen with my health? Will I get cancer? Will I die young? Will I lose my memory? What will happen with money? Will I always be alright? Will I ever lose my job? What will I do then? What will happen with the state of IL? Will we go bankrupt? Or even with our country?
  • The disciples understand that
  • Scared of what would happen tomorrow without Jesus? Scared of what would happen to them physically? Arrested? Crucified? Scared of what would happen with their entire nation without Jesus?
• We also are often scared of being wrong. It’s why we always thing we’re right…because we’re scared of being wrong. What if we’re wrong about God? What if we’re wrong about heaven and eternal life after death? What if we’re wrong about Jesus? What if we’re wrong about our virtues and our commitments?
  • The disciples also understand that. That’s exactly what they’re afraid of locked in their room. What if we we’re wrong? What if Jesus really wasn’t the Savior? What if all these years we’ve been listening to the wrong guy?
• Now into their scared, locked room appears Jesus
  • And notice His words…three different times in reading
  • “Peace be with you.”
    • Yes, that’s a greeting.
    • But more than “Hey, how are you?”
    • It’s a prayer and blessing of peace, one person giving the peace of God to another person
    • If you’re here on Maundy Thursday we share the peace. That’s a blessing from one of us to another. “Peace be with you.”
  • Here it’s God Himself, Jesus, giving peace to scared people
    • Peace be with you. And then what does He do? Shows His hands and His side
  • There are the marks of peace
    • There are the reason they don’t need to be scared
    • Those marks…where He died and now lives
  • So what happens to their fears?
    • Scared of not fitting in and losing their reputation?
    • Nope, not scared of that anymore. Because their reputation before God is entirely secure. Even if the Jews do kill all of them, which they do, they fit in with Jesus in the kingdom of heaven. They’re good. Nothing to be afraid of.
    • Scared of the future? Scared of what would happen to them?
    • Nope, not scared of that anymore. Jesus says He will be with them. He’s sending them. And Jesus promises that He will give them the words and His wisdom and His Holy Spirit and He will work all things for their good.
    • Scared of being wrong? Are they scared that Jesus isn’t really who He says He is?
    • Nope, not scared of that anymore. Because they saw Him die and now they’ve seen Him alive. With the marks still on His body. So they know. They know. They know. He is true. Only God in the flesh can die and rise again. And that’s what Jesus did.
• So what happened to all the things they were scared of? “Peace be with you.” Those words of Jesus dissolve fear.
  • What about you and me? Where do you especially need to hear Jesus’ peace right now?
  • What are you scared of?
    • I can’t list all the things you might be scared of…
    • A bit different for all of us
    • So you take these words of Jesus, “Peace be with you” and you take them to heart wherever you’re scared
  • Peace be with you, Jesus says.
    • He has beaten death. So you don’t need to be scared of that anymore. He is risen and we will rise.
  • Peace be with you, Jesus says.
    • Everything is under His control. Scripture is very clear about this. There isn’t anything that’s going to happen in your life that catches God by surprise.
    • So be at peace. If the Lord is for us, who can be against us?
  • Peace be with you, Jesus says.
    • He answers your prayers. Again Jesus is very clear about this. He listens to your prayers. Be at peace. Because everything you pray is heard and answered by God.
  • Peace be with you, Jesus says.
    • He is the truth. You will never be wrong when listening to Jesus. His words are backed up by action. He rose from the dead. That means His words are true.
  • Peace be with you, Jesus says.
    • Even if you suffer, it’s for your good. That’s His promise. So don’t be scared of suffering. God will work it for your good. He will use it to produce character and hope. Have peace in your suffering.
• But now we come to the final and ultimate peace that Jesus brings. The ultimate peace that drives away anything we would be scared of….
  • And that’s the peace of forgiveness
  • I mentioned earlier about being scared of losing our reputation. Scared of not fitting in….
  • That’s a big one…if not thee biggest.
    • All of us want to fit in…to be accepted…most importantly by God
  • And that’s where forgiveness comes in….
  • What if someone could take all the negative things about you away?
  • You know there’s a lot of good in you. After all, God made you.
    • You know you’re not a loser with nothing to offer.
  • So what if someone could just take away all the things not good about you?
    • Hmmm…that’s what Jesus does, is it not?
    • He takes all the sin away…all the negative…all the corruption of our heart and mind
  • He forgives it….cancels it…covers it
  • So that before God we are sparkling, pure, and clean….perfect
• Forgiveness stands us up square and perfect before God and He says, “You are perfect, my child.”
  • So what do you have to be scared of?
• Forgiveness is the ultimate peace
  • You’re at peace with God because He forgives you
  • You’re at peace with your wife because she forgives you
  • You’re at peace with your husband because he forgives you
  • You’re at peace with your parents because they forgive you
  • You’re at peace with your friends because they forgives you
• This is how forgiveness and peace work
• And Jesus says, “So I am sending you.”
  • You and I are sent with forgiveness…to be peacemakers
  • To tell others, “Peace be with you”
• Sure, you could hold a grudge, you could try to get revenge, you could stew over it all day every day, you could vent your anger and self-righteousness to anyone who will listen….
• Or you could bring peace. You could forgive others as you’ve been forgiven.
• So take these words of Jesus with you this week…
  • Peace be with you.
  • Take them for yourself so that you know you don’t have to be scared of anything
  • And take them for others so that they will know the peace of Jesus’ forgiveness.
  • Peace be with you. Amen.