Readings:
Sermon:
Stories are sometimes told of the vicar who began his sermon by asking the congregation, 'Can everyone hear me?’ and duly received the response from the pews, 'And also with you.’
Well, I hope that however and wherever you are listening to this sermon podcast, your microphones and speakers are functioning properly.
For Easter is surely the season when our our ears and our minds are more keenly tuned than ever to listen out for - and respond to - the acclamation, ‘The LORD be with you’ or ‘The LORD is here’ or ‘Christ is risen’ or ‘Peace be with you’.
And our responses, our instinctive reactions to acknowledge the powerful truth of those phrases in similarly profound and deeply meaningful words: 'And with your spirit’; ‘His Spirit is with us’; ‘He is risen indeed’; ‘And also with you.’ (With an Alleluia or two to embrace each end of those joyous liturgical sentences for good measure!)
In fact, our Gospel Reading today is arguably an account of the birthplace of our liturgical acclamations which declare the truth of Jesus Christ as Lord and God - the inspiration for our sayings and responses that we share in as a gathered worshipping community which declare and acknowledge together our common core belief and trust in the truth of Jesus Christ as our Lord and our God.
“Peace be with you,” Jesus says to his disciples three times in this passage from John’s Gospel. In all likelihood the actual words that Jesus would have used would have been the words of the traditional Jewish greeting, ”Shalom Aleichem” which translates literally as "Peace be upon you.” And the traditional response is "Aleichem Shalom" which translates as “Peace be upon you as well”. It is still a very common greeting amongst Jewish communities today, and the words are commonly sung to welcome in the Sabbath.
Our Gospel reading begins on the evening of the day following the Sabbath. The first day of the week. It is the first Easter Sunday. Jesus has risen. According to John’s Gospel account, Jesus’ empty tomb has been discovered by Mary Magdalene and two of the disciples, John and Peter, who have returned to the other disciples whilst Mary has stayed at the tomb; and when Jesus appears to her and tells her to pass on the news of his resurrection to the rest of the disciples she duly obeys. She tells them the Good News of Jesus resurrection from death and becomes the first evangelist by evangelising to the evangelists.
When Jesus then appears to the other disciples John describes their reaction: “Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord,” John says in Chapter 20 verse 20. That is truly what you might call 20:20 vision! The disciples see Jesus and then see the truth about Jesus. Their eyes make sense of their beliefs. They can comprehend that which John said only a few verses earlier evaded them: “They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead, John has previously stated in verse 9. Now Scripture has been opened up to them. And that’s not all that has been opened up to them.
In verse 23 Jesus says to them, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” The power to forgive just as Jesus has forgiven. “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors” as the King James Version of the Lord’s Prayer puts it.
But not all the disciples got to see Jesus on that first Easter Day according to John’s Gospel. We are not told why ‘Doubting’ Thomas was missing on the first Sunday of Easter when Jesus appeared in the locked room in which the disciples were supposed to be huddling together - apparently out of fear of arrest by the Jewish religious authorities. It seems that Thomas had to wait with his doubts about the resurrection until the Second Sunday of Easter when Jesus again appeared and said “Shalom Aleichem.”
On each of the three occasion that Jesus speaks these words, “Peace be with you” to the disciples we - just like the disciples - by the power of God-breathed Scripture, are receiving so much more than a friendly greeting. In Hebrew, the meaning of words is based upon the various “root" words that relate to the consonants from which they are formed. The three consonants of “Shalom” that make up its root word are “Shin-Lamedh-Mem”. Thus from the root “Shin-Lamedh-Mem” come the words not only for “Shalom” meaning “Peace” or “Well-being” but also the closely related words for “Shalom”: “Hishtalem” meaning "It Was Worth It”; “Shulam” meaning “Was Paid For”, “Meshulam” meaning "Paid for in advance”; “Mushlam” meaning "Perfect", and “Shalem” meaning “Whole”.
When our anglicised ears hear the word ‘Peace’, it may evoke various thoughts and feelings about an end of conflict, rest, quiet or stillness. But the words of Jesus, “Peace be with you” should also call to mind so much more.
When Jesus appears for the first time and says to his disciples “Peace be with you,” he is not just speaking of peace but giving peace. They are afraid, scattered, in hiding, cut off from their own community, overwhelmed and fearful for their future. Jesus gives them shalom. He gives them the blessing of peace and wellbeing. He lifts them out of their fear into a place of joy: “Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.”
When Jesus says “Peace be with you” a second time, he is not just speaking of peace but giving peace. They are confused, bewildered, trying to process and reconcile their experiences, desperate for direction and meaning. He gives them shalom. He gives them forgiveness, he tells them it was worth it, the sin that separated them from God was paid for. He tells them that the sins that will separate others from God are paid for in advance. He gives them the power to forgive: “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them.”
And when Jesus appears to Thomas and says for a third time, “Peace be with you,” he is not just speaking of peace but giving peace. Thomas has been full of doubt and uncertainty, mistrust and disbelief, walking a different path a separate path to his friends and family. Jesus gives Thomas shalom. He gives him the blessing of a belief that is perfect and whole. “My Lord and My God.”
On this Second Sunday of Easter, may the Jesus perform in you, your loved ones and communities, many many signs of his peace, the peace that passes all understanding; so that, in the words of our Gospel writer, “you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” Amen.
Questions:
- Like the disciples, do we ever feel afraid, scattered, in hiding, cut off from our own community, overwhelmed and fearful for the future? Who can we pray with about those things?
- How can we, like Jesus, not just pray or speak peace into a situation but give peace to others? Perhaps by listening to and praying with others?
- A personal question to reflect and pray upon: Are there aspects of my life and faith that need the shalom of Jesus Christ right now, a fear that needs His joy, some nagging doubt that needs His blessed assurance, or something separating me from God or someone else that needs Jesus to piece back together?