[Machine transcription]
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 and just just all over the place and some of us did some terrible
things in that time Judas 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
confused we weren’t proud of that see we were scared that that we’d get arrested
too but we were also scared and confused because 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 we’re 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 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 confused and suddenly there he was Jesus was
there and 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 when he
said 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’s 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, but 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 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
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.
