Sermonette: Peace be with you

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “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.”

– John 20

One of my favorite songs that we sing at my church is a short simple verse that we often use as a part of our prayer time. The lyrics are:

"Take, o take me as I am,

Summon out what I shall be,

Set your seal upon my heart and live in me."

The tune is leading and melodic, yet slow. There is a sense of longing in the chord structure. Each time we sing it, I am drawn in and reminded that through Jesus, God does take me as I am. I am also newly aware each time I sing it that Jesus has set his seal on my heart, and that the Spirit of God does live in me. In the reading above from the book of John, we see this same theme as Jesus makes his post-resurrection visit to his disciples – God taking us as we are.

I suspect that the disciples – having denied, betrayed and abandoned Jesus – were really wallowing in their shortcomings on the eve of the resurrection. It wouldn’t be a stretch to think they were perhaps passing around blame and justifications for the death of Jesus. Can you imagine their conversation – one of them saying “clearly it was all the fault of the priests who condemned Jesus, what could we do?” and another saying “maybe if Judas hadn’t sold him out this wouldn’t have happened,” and yet someone else saying, “look, there just wasn’t enough room for us at the foot of the cross with all those women there” ... on and on. We know how this goes, right? When we know we’ve messed up, we do the same. We either blame someone else, or we make excuses for our choices.

The doors of the room where the disciples were gathered were locked. They were afraid of who might try to get in. But, as can often be the case, the biggest danger was actually on the inside, not the outside. They locked themselves in with all their blame and despair and shame.

Enter Jesus, who is having none of this. Jesus, who literally came to proclaim release to the captives and freedom to the oppressed. He will not have them hiding in fear, and so he essentially crashes their pity party. Notice that the writer does not report that Jesus visits the disciples after they’ve confessed or repented. Jesus did not wait until they had perfected their faith and become somehow worthy of Jesus’ presence. No. Jesus took them as they were – full of fear and I would guess more than a little shame. Because it takes more than locked doors and low self-esteem to keep Jesus out.

In fact, when we are at the point in life when our failings have overwhelmed us, when we have completely blown it, when we are so undeniably aware of our need for God’s grace – THAT is when Jesus comes and says “My child, there is no need for you to be afraid of what I have already defeated.” In the most uneven exchange in the history of ever, Jesus takes all our failings and exchanges them for his own blessedness.

Jesus enters the room where the disciples have gathered and says to them, “Peace be with you. Receive the Holy Spirit. Proclaim the forgiveness of sins.”

And they do. They did. Thanks be to God.

Beloved of God, life is too long to spend even one more minute locked inside rooms of fear and blame and shame. Not when forgiveness is real and Jesus is breathing peace and saying be free, it is finished.

Amen.