Second Sunday of Easter

Please pray with me: may the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.

 In today’s Gospel, we hear Jesus utter four words that are amazing: Peace be with you. I have to admit that this is currently one of my favorite things that Jesus says, mostly because I would love some peace right now! And I’m sure I’m not alone in this. We’re on day 6,159 of quarantine with no end in sight. For all you parents out there, we’re spending lots of time with our kids which is simultaneously delightful and exhausting. For everyone with roommates, either family or ones chosen by Craigslist, we’ve probably all gotten to the point where we’re looking at each other and saying, “that’s an interesting way of doing things - as in, that not the way that I would do them.” If you’re living alone, you may be longing to see another person in person, or may be overwhelmed by all of the phone calls you’re suddenly receiving. We may be anxious about our own health and economic condition, or that of loved ones. And for all of us, the constant drone of news - about worsening economic conditions, the very real toll the coronavirus is having on people’s health and well-being, the incompetence of elected officials, the systemic inequalities highlighted by the pandemic - all of this news ends up being so overwhelming and hard to make sense of that our brains are either constantly buzzing and keeping us up all night or crave a couple of quality hours with the Panda Cam at the National Zoo.

 Yes, on this 7,536th day of quarantine (yes, it’s been another 1500 days since this sermon started), we are exhausted. We crave rest. We crave certainty about what the next days, weeks, and months are going to look like. We crave a reality that is different than the one we’re currently living in. Yes my friends, we crave peace.

 So Jesus’s words to his disciples as he appears to them in the locked room are amazing. Peace be with you! Jesus is offering them something that they desperately wanted.

 We meet the disciples on the day of the resurrection. They are under a self-imposed stay-at-home order: they have locked themselves in a room to protect themselves from something outside that seems to have authority over their lives. Sound familiar?

 The disciples had heard Mary’s amazing testimony earlier in the day, that she had seen the risen Lord! Everything Jesus had promised was true! But yet they still locked themselves in a room because they were afraid. They were afraid that they all may also be victims of the same system that killed their teacher. They were anxious. Their minds were anything but at peace. They had experienced a tragedy that shook their understanding of the world. Everything that they had thought to be true was no longer true. Their teacher was dead, maybe? I can imagine they were arguing about what they should do next: should they stay in Jerusalem? Should they disperse? Should they deny that they ever even knew Jesus? Should they teach others what Jesus taught them? Or should they just stay in the locked room until everything blew over and they could move freely again?

 Then Jesus appeared to them, in person, in the middle of that locked room. He showed them his hands and side to prove it was actually him, offered them the gift of peace, they felt his breath on their faces, they received the gift of the Holy Spirit and a commission to go out and forgive sins. All are incredible experiences, and they rejoiced because of it!

 But yet again, a week after all of this happened, they’re back in their locked room. They encountered the risen Christ, but their actions suggest that they’re still afraid. That they’re still anxious about what will happen to them if they tell others that they’ve seen Jesus or carry on teaching in his name. That those people and forces outside that locked room still have authority over their very lives.

Perhaps we can sympathize with the disciples here. We know that Jesus has risen, he has risen indeed, Alleluia! as we proclaimed last Sunday, but we are still afraid. We are still anxious. We have encountered the good news of Jesus’s resurrection and we find hope in that good news. But even hope can’t put our minds at ease and provide peace. Even hope can’t always eliminate the genuine fear we are feeling.

 But Jesus shows up. He still shows up in spite of our fear, in spite of our anxiety, in spite of our need to know that he is risen indeed and for sure. Jesus shows up and is with us, no matter what fears we have, what anxieties we carry, or where we find ourselves. Jesus shows up and continues to offer us the gift of peace, a peace that not only calms our hearts and minds but assures us that he is with us.

 And we can thank Thomas for helping us to see this. (You were all wondering when I was going to mention Thomas, right, since the unofficial nickname for the Sunday after Easter is “Doubting Thomas Sunday”) Thomas was feeling a little left out after he heard that Jesus had appeared to some of his friends, but not to him. He had also experienced tragedy; his worldview had also been shattered; his future was suddenly uncertain; he too was afraid and anxious. Thomas simply wanted the same experience that the other disciples had. So he demanded that Jesus show up.

 Incredibly, Jesus showed up. He knew that Thomas needed to see him with his own eyes and to touch him with his own hands to believe the incredible news, so Jesus showed up. Jesus came to him, in person, showing him his hands and side, offering the gift of peace to both him and the disciples with him. Thomas believed indeed, so much that his reaction was a confession, naming who Jesus is: my Lord and my God!

 Jesus didn’t only show up to Thomas here, but to all of the disciples who were with Thomas, the disciples who still carried their own fears. Thomas was bold enough to name a need that the other disciples may have been feeling, but couldn’t say for themselves. Thomas needed Jesus to show up to him as he grappled with the tragedy he had witnessed and the fears he was experiencing, so he boldly requested it. And boldy, he responded with more than just joy: “My Lord, and my God.” I like to think that Thomas’s demands helped his friends believe more deeply that Jesus was indeed risen. That Thomas’s confession helped them understand more deeply who Jesus, their teacher, really was. And that the gift of peace that Jesus offered anew sunk in a little more deeply.

 The remainder of the Gospel of John is stories of how Jesus continued to appear to the disciples. Each time, the disciples grew in confidence in their knowledge about Jesus’s resurrection and his identity. They became more and more confident in the mission Jesus had given them to share the good news of his resurrection with the world. The peace that Jesus gave them moved from being a sense of inner calm to one of certainty to one that they shared with others through their words and actions without fear of even death. They knew that Jesus would be with them, just as he had been with them the entire time.

 Jesus is with us now. He is showing up in the midst of our fears, in the midst of our anxiety, within the uncertainty we hold about the future. He is with us as we figure out how to live our lives in this strange new reality that we’re living in. He is with us as we figure out what a new normal will look like when the immediate crisis of our time has passed. He is with us as we struggle to believe that we are living in the resurrected world that has been promised. He shows up to us in our own locked rooms as good news about the recovery of a friend; grace extended to and received by coworkers; the good care of neighbors and staff; time spent getting to know ourselves in a new way. Jesus is with us now and offers us the gift of peace that passes all understanding. He is with us as we move from fear, to peace, and eventually to bold action and proclamation.

 I encourage you all this week to spend time reflecting on the ways that Jesus is showing up to you in your own locked room. And please share! Write it on a sticky note and stick it on a wall in your house. Post on Facebook or share on the church’s instagram pages. Tell the next person who calls you. Jesus is showing up in big and small ways that we can tell people about and by doing so, share the gift of Christ’s peace with a world that desperately longs for it. May Christ’s peace be with you always.

Thanks be to God,

Amen.