On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and
said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20
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. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” 22
And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23
If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”
Usually around Easter and Christmas, Time and Newsweek will come out with its obligatory cover story trying to make us think they are giving an honest and unbiased
attempt at finding out the truth about Jesus…who He was, what He REALLY did, said etc. We are well aware that these things are extremely lop-sided, faithless and that behind such things lay the spirit that seeks to discredit Christ and the work of God in the
world. They are trying to separate the historical Jesus from the Jesus of faith…they want to subtly create a distinction between the Jesus who lived, what He said and what He did and the Jesus that you and I put our faith in, as if they are NOT the same person.
We get upset at Newsweek or CBS because their portrayal of Jesus is not the Jesus of the Bible, when so often neither is ours. What about our portrayal of Him? Do
people look and listen to us and see the real Jesus, or a Jesus of our imaginations?
In a book I read some time ago by Matt Mikalatos called Imaginary Jesus, the author humorously seeks to uncover all the ways in which we perceive Jesus not as He is,
but how we want him to be. The book is interesting, convicting even, but it is really odd, so pursue it with caution.
He has a number of Imaginary Jesus throughout his book, all who are figments of man’s imagination, how we have made Jesus in our own image, how we have made him value
what we value, and love what we love, what we want Jesus to be, not who He really is. The point is we all do this, we decide what Jesus would like and not like…we decide what he will let slide and what he won’t, how He wants us to live and what He really doesn’t
care much about…but our inventions are often just that…OUR inventions. And so, we can often be like those who don’t have faith, we create a Jesus who is different than the Jesus in the Bible.
Upon discovering that the Jesus that he has in mind is not in fact the Jesus of the Bible, the author writes: The real Jesus is inconvenient. He doesn’t always
show up when you call. He asks for unreasonable things. He frightens people. He can be immensely frustrating… That’s the danger of following an imaginary Jesus…The more committed you get to him and his plan, the further afield from the real Jesus you get…If
you never confront your imaginary Jesus, he’ll keep popping up, perverting what you know about the real Jesus.”
John’s gospel is bent on being clear that the arrested, tried and executed Jesus of chapters 18-19 is the risen Jesus of chapter 20…the same person…with the same body.
The very same Jesus who had spikes driven into his hands and whose side had been speared, is the very same Jesus who presents himself alive with the wounds of His crucifixion in His resurrected body. No other Jesus comes to the disciples. No other Jesus can
enter their tomb like dwelling where they, with great fear, are lost in their own spiritual failure and inability.
The Christ who ministered to the disciples with his presence is the same Christ who now ministers to you with the blessing of His presence…He is the same, His words
are the same and His calling to us to abandon everything we are and follow Him, that too has not changed.
What I would like us to focus on the next two mornings is the connection that John makes between the risen Christ and the peace He brings to our lives so that our
fellowship is with the resurrected Savior. People today are running off in all directions to find peace…We might call it by different names, fulfillment, belonging, to be at rest, contentment but the bottom line is that we feel like we are missing something…we
are not at ease, we are anxious, often frustrated, unfulfilled and discontent…And we look for the answers in things, or the right circumstances when Jesus says we can only find it, in a person…in Him.
There are three occasions in our text where Jesus speaks to this peace.
Jesus’ first extension of peace in verse 19 immediately addresses the fear that grips the disciples because of the Jews. After watching what the Jews were able to
coerce the Romans to do to Jesus, they were afraid of what the community, the culture, even the religious culture might do to them, because of their relationship with Jesus.
Think about this carefully and see if this doesn’t sound quite modern:
The Jews represent the church, they are God’s people, but they have decided they can have God on their terms, do religious things but pursue what they want in and
from the world. Jesus was a threat to all of that. He said, No, a relationship with God sets a man or a woman on a different course, a different life, and just saying you belong to God means nothing if your life isn’t in pursuit of Him and the only way to
pursue Him is to follow Me.
How many today, do you think, live in the church, profess to belong to God but are no different than the world and who are not and have no intention of making sure
their lives, at every point, are set on following Jesus? The disciples could live comfortably with the Jews if they simply would not be public about Jesus…they can make sure their religion stays a private thing…who needs to know and then just carry on with
all the religious things they have always done. Have a sweet, middle class, bothering no one faith.
But here is the problem: Jesus is saying nothing BUT a radical, no holds barred commitment to and following of Jesus will be accepted as genuine, which is the very
thing that will get you in trouble with the religious establishment. The problem you can see is not an ancient one, for it is the same thing that we are faced with. Christians today, that is people in the Christian church, have the same choice before them
as did the disciples in that locked room.
Be religious, but keep it to yourself. Do not make too much of what Jesus actually said and did as if you have to follow Him in the same way. Be nice, be kind, give
to charity and let everyone find their own truth. But here is the problem: Would they have crucified Jesus if his message was only: Be nice, be kind, give to charity and let everyone find their own truth? That is not a message that gets anyone in trouble!!!
And that is not the message of the gospel!
When I do pre-marital counseling and I have done a lot of it, I begin by telling the couple that my purpose is not to shock them but that I am going to say things
that will do just that and the reason is because I have become convinced that if I don’t tell them, if I don’t say them they will never hear it. And I am going to say something that is going to sound biting and sharp but for the same reason. There is a theological
paradigm in the Christian church that says, all you have to do is pray a prayer and invite Jesus into your heart, and then no matter what you are going to heaven.
It doesn’t matter how you live, it doesn’t matter if you die to yourself, it doesn’t matter if you are sexually immoral, if you cheat, lie, steal, it doesn’t matter
if you live the cross, if you seek Christ as if looking for buried treasure…just say the words and you have your fire insurance card. Just go to church and then God has to forgive you because…well…that’s His job.
I am convinced that that single theology has sent more people to hell, than any other construct we have come up with. It isn’t true…and nothing in the Bible hints
that it could ever be true. No one can read the Gospels and think that a person could be a true follower of Jesus who followed him half-heartedly, with his or her mind often on or devoted entirely to other things.
The peace that Jesus gives is a peace that sets us to this kind of living, true gospel living. Peace is a by-product of a relationship with Jesus Christ and His bride
the Church. It is a relationship that takes priority over every other relationship. When we pursue the Savior on His terms, then there is peace regardless of the circumstances, regardless of how hard the wind is blowing. How can you explain that to someone…it
sounds impossible! And yet, for everyone who has been a faithful child of the Father for any length of time at all, this peace is not ‘theory’ it is a reality, a joyous and beautiful reality. But there is more…
Prayer: Father, forgive me for trying to create Jesus as I want Him to be. I often am demanding as a child and miss the peace that is mine that comes only in submitting
my will to Yours. You have graciously allowed me to taste that perfect peace and I long to taste it in fullness. Subdue my restless heart and may I find the peace that rests in the Savior, in Jesus name, Amen.
Hymn: Peace, Perfect Peace