“Sent in Peace”
John 20:19-23
What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus Christ?
What
does it mean to believe in the resurrection?
What
does it mean to be a leader in the church?
Jesus addresses these question in his first appearance
To the
disciples n the Upper Room.
They
were fearful, they were hiding,
And
Jesus met them where they were.
He
entered into the room of fear,
And
sent them into the world in peace.
Peace, irene, is the theme and if you don’t get it the first time,
Jesus
says “Peace be with you” three
different times.
Irene is greeting but it is also a state
of being.
When
our new church officers are elected
I
generally tell them that part of their calling
Is
to be a “non anxious presence”.
That
doesn’t mean that we won’t deal with conflict,
Or
hear people’s complaints or concerns
But
we will listen with non anxious ears.
So
that instead of fanning the fire
Of
fear and anxiety we can seek
Christ’s
guidance and the
Presence
of the Holy Spirit.
That’s
part of what Jesus means …but there’s more.
In this resurrection appearance Jesus is
sending his disciples
out into the world in peace.
And
there are three parts to this sending then and now.
First notice that he shows the disciples
his wounds.
Often
we think of Thomas as examining the wounds of Jesus
But
in verse 20 it says “he showed them his
hand and side.”
Being a disciple of Christ, being sent
in peace means
To
pay attention to the woundedness around us.
Remember
in Matthew 25 when Jesus says:
“As you have done it to the least of my
brothers
you have
done it to me.”
Remember in
Genesis where it says that we are created
In the image of God…
Remember the
Good Samaritan stopping for the
Wounded
traveler on the road to
When Jesus shows the disciples his
wounds,
he is
challenging them to pay attention to the wounds
that they
see around them every day.
Those are the people, we are the
people,
That Jesus was wounded and
died for.
To
be a disciples of Christ, a leader in the faith,
Is
to pay attention to our own woundedness and
The
woundedness of those around us.
Of
course this is not easy.
If
we pay attention to the pain around us
We
get what sociologist call
“compassion
fatigue.”
Jesus is aware of this and so his next
act is
to breathe
on the disciples and say “receive the
Holy Spirit.”
Jesus knows
that we are limited in our capacity to care,
So he says don’t try to do it
all yourself.
When the disciples
fed 5000 people
They were
abler to do it with Jesus
in the center.
When
the disciples were gathered in Pentecost
It
wasn’t until the Spirit came upon them
That
they were able to act.
When
God created Adam he was a lifeless being
Until
God breathed life into him.
Let God breathe life into you as he
did Adam.
I went over to the Lord’s
Diner Friday to appreciate
Our volunteers who
are there every month.
I was wet and cold, I had no
time, no energy-
I was just there
in body alone.
But as I
put on an apron, name tag,
And
we prayed, Christ breathed into me,
And
I think everyone else because
that group of volunteers and the people
who gathered to eat
became the
Body of Christ,
by Christ’s Spirit.
Lastly when Jesus sends us out in peace,
He
sends us with grace and forgiveness.
If
we are leaders in the
We
need to be forgiven when we make mistakes
And
we need to forgive other.
If
we don’t do it then our mistakes, our anger,
Our
revenge just piles up and suffocates us.
If
we don’t forgive as we have been forgiven
We
end up carrying a large burden with us
And
we can’t move forward or backward-
We
are just stuck.
It’s
like the unfortunate, racist comments of the radio personality
That
have been overplayed and over blown in the past week.
Whether
the media will get it or not is to be seen
But
at least the
Was
able to move on with the words:
“We
forgive him.”
So that is Jesus message for us in this
second Sunday of Easter
In
which we experience again the risen Christ again.
He sends us out in peace: to see our
woundedness & the wounds in others,
to receive the Holy Spirit because we can’t do it all on our own
and to
forgive as we have been forgiven. AMEN