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Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Brothers and sisters, looking mostly at the gospel reading today for the text, please be seated.
Yeah, I’m one of them. I’m one of those disciples of Jesus that you heard about today who locked themselves in a room and were hiding because we were scared and confused. My name is John, and I’m the one who wrote that story that you heard today. I was one of Jesus’s chosen 12 disciples. In fact, Jesus even had a nickname for me and my brother, my brother James; he called us the sons of thunder. Yeah, right, because there we were hiding and scared.
But you got to understand everything was such a mess. It was so confusing; so much had happened in such a short time. I mean, there we were just Thursday night enjoying a nice, peaceful Passover meal with Jesus, and the next thing you know, he’s arrested, and we’re scared and confused and just all over the place. Some of us did some terrible things in that time. Judas betrayed Jesus, and Peter—Oh, Peter—denied Jesus three times.
But we can’t just blame them; all of us were guilty of denying and betraying Jesus at that time. And so, yeah, there we are that Sunday night, scared and confused. We weren’t proud of that. See, we were scared that we’d get arrested too, but we were also scared and confused because He was gone. Jesus was gone. For three years, we were convinced that He was the Messiah, our Savior. He was the hope for our nation. He spoke of being the bread of life and the living water and that He would bring peace to the world.
Our Messiah, our Savior, wasn’t supposed to die; none of this was supposed to happen. We loved him so much, and now he was gone. He was dead. There was certainly no peace for us without him. We were scared and confused.
And then, to make things even more scary and confusing, that morning some of the women went to the tomb where Jesus was put, and his body’s gone. I went there. I saw the empty tomb myself. Peter and I ran there. I beat him. Peter was always better at running his mouth than running, I thought.
So, yeah, we’re scared and confused, and I’m not proud to write about it either, but the people need to hear this story. In fact, I hear the same thing about people today, about disciples of Jesus today, hiding and being scared. Scared of what other people think about them for being disciples of Jesus. Scared of being laughed at about their faith in Jesus, or afraid that they might not be able to say the right thing when they try to tell other people about Jesus. Or worse, they don’t even live or act like their disciples of Jesus at all.
Kind of seems like denying or betraying Jesus too, doesn’t it? Sins like that can cause confusion and fear in Jesus’s disciples today, and they can have no peace. Oh believe me, I know what it’s like. I know that there are times in life when you’re confused and scared and without peace. I mean, I’ve been there and done that, okay? Remember, I wrote this stuff.
Let me remind you of what else I wrote: that there we were that Sunday night locked up in that room, scared and confused, and suddenly there he was—Jesus was there. He says to us, “Peace be with you.” Jesus knew exactly how we were feeling and what we needed to hear, and even said it twice: peace. And then said it again a week later when he appeared to us again, when he said that—to us—”Peace be with you.” Wow, that changed everything. We were overjoyed, but we could see that it really was him. There were the scars in his hands and in his side. It was really him, alive.
And it shouldn’t have been a big surprise to us because many times in our three years together, Jesus talked about how he was going to have to die and also rise up again. We didn’t understand it then, but now it was becoming clear to us. Jesus also said that there were going to be times where we would be scared and confused, but also that we would have peace when he rose again. He would give us that peace, and now he did.
We have peace because of what Christ has done; he died for us for the forgiveness of our sins—forgiveness of denying and betraying him, of being fearful of being his disciples. He forgives us, and He’s alive again.
You should have seen us after that. No longer scared, no longer confused—total opposite. We disciples went out all over the place telling people about Jesus and what He’s done by dying on the cross and rising again, telling them about the eternal life that He promises, telling them about the forgiveness of sins.
We weren’t afraid to do that. We weren’t afraid of being arrested or persecuted or even afraid to die for this. No prison, no sickness, nothing could stop us. In fact, you can read about that in a book called Acts. A guy named Luke wrote that one. In fact, you heard part of it this morning. We no longer lived like it was Good Friday; we lived like it was Easter. We lived like we have a living Savior. Jesus is not dead; He’s alive. He is risen.
There are disciples of Jesus today. You understand that. You know that. But there are people that don’t. We lived like our sins were forgiven and are at peace with God. But there are many people who don’t. They don’t know about the forgiveness of their sins, and they carry guilt and shame with them every day. And their life is a mess, and there’s no peace in it. And we can tell them about that.
But I know that can be scary. I know that can be very, very frightening to do. But I hear that there are disciples of Jesus today who aren’t afraid to do that—who are bravely, boldly proclaiming Christ all over the world, and they’re getting arrested for it, and even dying for this. But they aren’t confused or scared; they’re living in peace in serving God by telling others this good news—people who need to hear it.
We know the joy of it, but there are others who don’t, and I know it can be difficult. But I encourage you to be that way too. I encourage you to live like you have a living Savior and that you’re not scared to be a disciple of Jesus, but bravely telling others what he’s done and the peace that they can have too. I encourage you to live as forgiven people wanting to proclaim that forgiveness and peace to others, so live confident in his peace for you.
Yeah, I know it’s easy for me to tell you that, but I’ve been on both sides of it. I’ve been in the scared, confused, denying, betraying mode. Living as a forgiven disciple of Jesus is much better. You know that. Jesus, as He sent me and sent the other disciples, He sent us. He’s sending you too.
And by faith, live like you have life in His name. Live knowing your sins are forgiven. Live knowing you have eternal life. Live knowing that Jesus is the Son of God. I mean, that’s why I wrote these things for you to hear, as I heard it from Jesus himself, and wrote down that He is the Son of God and that in His name you may have life.
I heard Jesus say those things, and I heard him say, “Peace be with you.” Disciples of Jesus today, may that peace be with you. Amen.
Now may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.
