+ 2^nd Sunday of Easter – April 27^th, 2025 +

Series C: Acts 5:12-32; Revelation 1:4-18; John 20:19-31

Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church

Milton, WA

“Shalom”

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

When you hear the word “peace” what comes to mind? Perhaps that word brings with it a frustration, something that’s just out of reach, like when Bob Dylan sang, “The answer is blowin’ in the wind.” Or perhaps the word peace comes with a more of a sense of longing like when you listen to Louis Armstrong sing, “what a wonderful world.”

John’s gospel gives us a little window into what was going through the disciples’ mind when Jesus appeared, alive again that first Easter evening and came and stood among his disciples and said, “Peace be with you.”

The disciples were afraid. And who could blame them. They’d been through a lot in the last few days. Jesus’ arrest. Judas’ betrayal. Peter’s denial. The guards. The religious leaders’ inquisition. Pilate. Roman soldiers. The horror and shame and cruelty of Jesus’ crucifixion. Their whole world was in chaos. Everything had come unraveled. Everything was falling apart. Nothing is as it should be. Look what they did to Jesus…we must be next, they feared.

And then into the category five hurricane that was their thoughts and emotions and lives, steps Jesus. And he speaks a word and he calms the storm once again.

“Peace be with you.”

Peace in the Scriptures, however, is more than a feeling. It’s God’s word of promise and presence in Jesus. Jesus would’ve spoken these words in Aramaic. The word is Shalom. It’s a blessing and greeting all at once. Shalom is order brought out of disorder. It’s also more than an end of war or hostility. Not just that the bombs stop dropping but that everything is rebuilt better than before. Not just an end of an argument with your friend but a reconciliation and renewed trust. Not just absence of hurt and pain and sorrow, but the presence of life and health and joy. It is harmony and wholeness and everything in its place. It’s Jesus saying, now that I’m crucified and risen… “all is well” despite the disciples thoughts and feelings to the contrary.

When Jesus speaks “Peace be with you” he’s bringing order to his chaos-filled, disordered disciples. When he speaks his word and shows them his wounds he reassures them that all is well, that everything that had fallen apart was restored, renewed, reconciled.

On that first Easter night, the disciples needed Jesus’ word of peace. Some denied him, others ran; were afraid and in hiding. Even after hearing the women’s eyewitness report: “He’s risen!” Even after seeing the empty tomb. They were still afraid. Locked behind closed doors. Disbelieving. But notice how Jesus speaks to his disciples in the midst of their disordered, chaotic, fearfulness.

He doesn’t push them away or dismiss them. He doesn’t put a quota or a limit on his grace and promises. He speaks peace into their fearful hearts. He gives peace in the midst of their chaos. And not just once but repeatedly. Again and again. And again a week later when Thomas was with the rest of the disciples.

When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. ²¹ Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you.”

Jesus didn’t leave his disciples with a one-time peace, or a temporary, one-and-done kind of peace, but his crucified and risen peace that is never-ending.

This is how our Lord is with us too. Slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and peace. Afterall, the disciples aren’t the only ones in need of Jesus’ word of peace. So are we.

While our circumstances in life are different than the disciples that first Easter evening, we’re not all that different. Our lives are often a constant tornado of fearfulness, doubt, and worries. Disordered by sin and living in the chaos of guilt and shame. Too often, like the disciples, our lives and relationships are shattered by what we’ve done. Hurt and pain we’ve caused. Like the disciples our own sin has so chaotically disordered life that we are frozen in fear…fear of what we’ve done and what we’ve left undone. Fear of death and the grave. Like the disciples who saw the death of Jesus, the death of others around us – close friends, beloved family members – it leaves us broken and undone. All of this leaves us feeling as if life itself is falling apart. We wonder is there any hope or help or peace to be found.

There is and it’s here in the words and wounds of Jesus. As he said to his disciples he says to you today. “Peace be with you.”

The same Lord who came and stood with his worried, scared, disbelieving disciples in that upper room stands in our midst today to speak and deliver and pour out his peace upon you. The peace of sins forgiven and the peace of all is well in Jesus’ dying and rising for you. The peace of Jesus death and resurrection that washes away your sin, and makes you God’s own dear child. The peace of Jesus’ body and blood that forgives sin, and heals you in body and soul. The peace of absolution that declares Jesus peace is greater and far more gracious than even your greatest sin and shame. Jesus’ word of peace is a word that wipes away guilt and makes you clean.

“Peace be with you.”

For all the wounds caused by our sin… Jesus was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities;upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.

For all the times we have caused chaos and disorder by our sin, in our lives and the lives of others, our Lord brings order and reconciliation by his dying and rising. for now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.  For he himself is our peace

For we who fear sin, death, and the grave, our Lord who died in our place, entered the tomb and walked out again three days later declares to you…“Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.” 

“Peace be with you.”

Jesus’ words are more than a feeling. Jesus’ peace is his promise. To be with you in the storm until it passes. Until the day of true shalom when all is well and made new in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. Until that day…

may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, ²¹ equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us^[b] that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. (Hebrews 13:20).

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.