(Audio)
Peace be with you.
Jesus reveals himself to us. He shows us his hands and his sides. He commands peace to guard our hearts. By his words he casts out fear.
Do not be afraid.
I am the first and the last, the one who lives.
He is willing to repeat himself until we believe him.
Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you.
If we have trouble accepting this revelation he is willing to adapt himself to our needs.
"Peace be with you."
Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands,
and bring your hand and put it into my side,
and do not be unbelieving, but believe."
Can peace really be possible in this world? All manner of terrible things can still happen. For the disciples things were only, from a human perspective, about to get even harder for them. Is it really enough just to have Christ here with us speaking peace when for all appearances our circumstances are unchanged? Yet the peace of Christ could truly guard the hearts of the disciples because death itself had been defeated. It can truly guard our hearts as well.
Once I was dead, but now I am alive forever and ever.
I hold the keys to death and the netherworld.
Write down, therefore, what you have seen,
and what is happening, and what will happen afterwards.
We now know what happens after any sufferings we may have to endure here below.
For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen (see Second Corinthians 4:17-18).
Jesus is calling us to a faith that really allows us to see the world with new eyes. We have life in his name, not just in the Kingdom, but here and now, as we experience the freedom from fear that only his peace can bring. This will stand out to a world sick with the fear of death so much that they will long to stand in our shadow.
Thus they even carried the sick out into the streets
and laid them on cots and mats
so that when Peter came by,
at least his shadow might fall on one or another of them.
Are we still afraid? Jesus is still speaking peace. He will speak it until we get it. And even then we must continue to listen and not turn back to self-reliance. At every moment we can have peace only because he is speaking peace and he has conquered death.
My strength and my courage is the LORD,
and he has been my savior.
The joyful shout of victory
in the tents of the just
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