Peace Be With You

John 20:19-31

The purpose statement of the gospel of John is in our reading today.
Why was this gospel written in the way that it was written?

“These are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.” John 20:31

This is all about Jesus who the disciples came to know as Messiah, Son of God.

Mark says this in a similar way in his gospel
“The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ (which is the Greek word for Messiah), the Son of God.”

There were other stories that were not told.
These were told, John writes, that you come to believe and believing have life.

The disciples were hiding.  Locked doors and afraid.
But the risen Jesus came among them, broke through their fear, the fear that’s a kind of locked door on the mind and heart.

And coming among them said “Peace be with you.”

We don’t know how we’re supposed to imagine the disciples reacting to this appearance and word of assurance.

But John writes that Jesus showed them his wounds and it was then that they “saw the Lord.”

And they rejoiced.

And poor Thomas.
All of his friends had seen and he had not.
They all shared an experience of their risen Lord and Thomas was not there.

You gotta believe us one of them urged Thomas.
Unless I see, Unless I touch, I will not believe.  As if to say.  I want the same experience you had.
And it was a week later.  In the same room.  Jesus came among them once again.

You’ve gotta wonder whose idea this was to return to the room.

I imagine Thomas with an eagerness and a zeal.
Because we do Thomas a sore injustice when we label him as “Doubting Thomas”

I think he might better be labeled as earnest and zealous Thomas.

John 11:16
Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

John 14:5
Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”

Thomas was an enthusiastic and dedicated disciple.  He loved Jesus and was a devoted friend.

So I imagine it broke his heart that he was not able to share in this experience of Jesus that his friends had.
Now there may well have been a genuine doubt about the plausibility of what the other disciples were saying.  But I imagine more than anything Thomas wanted what the others had.

These are written so that you may believe.  And by believing have life in his name.

So I imagine Thomas orchestrating this next Sunday.  Everyone take your place in the room.  Peter, make sure the door’s locked.

And then as if on cue, perhaps a bit tongue and cheek, the risen Jesus again comes among them.
"Peace be with you."

And with tenderness we hear Jesus’s words to his good friend Thomas.

“Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe."

And Thomas cries out “My Lord and my God”

Thomas is overwhelmed with the joy of experience his friend who was so recently taken from him.
Here they are reunited.  And there’s a profound and divine experience.

Thomas cries out “My Lord and my God”

Thomas sees as the others saw as Mary Magdalene saw.
And he’s overwhelmed with amazement and I imagine joy.

And Jesus responds to Thomas’s exuberance.
"Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe."

Who are the ones who have not seen and yet have come to believe?
Who are the ones that John wrote these stories for, that you might believe and believing have life?

We are the disciples gathered in a locked room.  Don’t worry the doors aren’t locked.  You can leave when you need to.

But on the first day of the week just as they did, so we do.
And so Christians have done since the day one.

We are the disciples gathered in the room, expectantly.
And despite the closed doors, Jesus comes among us in Spirit and in Truth.

When Jesus appeared that first evening to the disciples minus Thomas,
And after the disciples stopped whooping and laughing for joy and wonder,
We read that Jesus gives them more direction
"Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you."
He breathed on them. And said.
"Receive the Holy Spirit.
If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."

The faith that was forged in that room by the Spirit breathed upon them became an empowerment for mission.

Receive the word of peace from God, believe, and have life.  And that life is the life of being forgiven and of forgiving others.  Of continuing the work of Christ in the world.

Christ breathes the Holy Spirit on to the gathered community and by breathing constitutes them as a community.

And we are the disciples gathered in the room.  Hearing the words of peace, and being inspired, literally breathed into, by the words, the example, the presence of Christ.
And here we are in this room.  Doing what Christians have done for almost two millennia.
Gathering together to hear words of peace, to believe and enter into relationship with the risen Christ who is among us as the Holy Spirit of God.

And those things were written and these things are done on Sunday
That you might believe and that believing you might be given life, fullness of life.
A life that is always conscious of the grace and forgiveness of God,
Of God’s presence with you in the shadow of death and in the flowering of resurrection.

These things are prayed, are read, are sung,
That we might believe.
And that believing we might have life in Jesus’s name, by Jesus’s example, through the Spirit of Christ.

And we could probably go around the room and each one of you will tell of how you came here into this room.

And as we experienced in the book discussion during Lent.  We have very similar ways of experiencing God’s presence, although we have different histories and different ways of describing.

But we come here because we’ve experienced that life that comes from faith.
That resurrection that follows the abandonment of our fears and ego for the peace and grace of God.

We come here because our friends have talked about this or have urged us to come
And we’ve heard rumors of miracles and wonders that spiritual practice can bring.

We come here because there is fellowship and mutual desire for betterment of ourselves and our communities, because there is a longing for justice and peace, for goodness and grace.

And so we pray, and so we sing, and so we read, and so we speak, and so we sit silently together.

And the Spirit pervades this room praying in us, with us, beside us, and for us.

And I like how the poet Christian Wiman put this mystery of the Christian faith.
“Christ is not alive now because he rose from the dead two thousand years ago,
He rose from the dead two thousand years ago because he is alive right now.”

And believing may you be inspired and being inspired may you have fullness of life, a life of grace and forgiveness.  A life of relationship with the God we meet in Jesus Christ and experience by the Spirit.

And churches like Acworth gather for this reason.  That not having seen we might still believe and be blessed in our trust, in our faith, in our love.

And that’s it really.  That’s the point of the Christian gospel.
That is.  In Paul’s words, paraphrased, nothing else matters but faith working through love.

And I say amen.

But we as a church have membership and we invite all who attend this gathering to become members of this church.  To join outwardly what you have joined inwardly.

While it is true that nothing else matters but faith working through love,
We as a community have been sustained by faithful commitment to the work of ministry in this place among these people.

And so in becoming members of this church we join in a large community of faithful people doing good work.  We recognize outwardly through baptism and through witness what God has done in our lives.
And we commit ourselves to helping to make that possible for others in the future.

Becoming a member of this church, and here I won’t speak for other churches,

Does not require that you become part of a tribe.
This church does not require you to check your mind, your rational questions and doubts, at the door.
This church has a long tradition of gathering very different believers who unite in the common love of God and neighbor.
This church wants to unite people by their love of God, their devotion to Jesus, into a fellowship of the Holy Spirit.

This church exists that many more might believe and that believing they might have life.

Churches are voluntary communities and are made up of people who decide that they think this is worthwhile place to invest their time and energy.

And so I’m issuing another invitation to those who haven’t heard it before and to those who have,
To join in a conversation about membership and what it means and why we think it is important.

Once I get a feel for how many are interested we’ll set up a time to meet.

Nothing else matters but faith working through love,
Nothing else matters but Christ transforming individuals and communities by the power of forgiveness.

And yet, I think membership is important too and I invite you into this fellowship with the words passed down from day one:

Peace be with you.