© Radu Razvan Gheorghe

Second Sunday of Easter
Sunday, April 28, 2019
Lectionary C 

John 20:19-31

Peace be with you.

The doors were locked, but Jesus came. As he spoke peace, he showed the disciples his hands and his side. Only the one who bears the injuries we deserve can say: “Peace be with you.” He, alone, knows the crushing price that our separation from God has cost.

Jesus was no unlucky martyr, and he wasn’t a revolutionary hero or a spiritual genius who came before his time. He was the Lord of heaven and Earth who took on human flesh in the womb of Mary to show for all time that God and humanity are meant to be in intimate fellowship.

The gates of hell did not and will not prevail against that dear bond of love. All the sin and fear, all the cruelty and cowardice, all the denial and betrayal, and ignorance and mockery did not win. As the world turned black that Friday, it seemed that they would. It seemed that there was no place in heaven or Earth for Jesus to live and he was torn apart between the two by gaping wounds.

He showed them his hands and his side and the disciples knew that his peace was real. There was room in the wounded side of Jesus for all of Peter’s denials, for the disciples’ scattering, for their fears and questions, and for Thomas’ doubts. There was room even for Judas’ betrayal had he turned to receive it. There is room in the wounded side of Jesus for you and me – for all of our defensiveness, anger, fear, betrayals, and cowardice. Yes, there is room in Jesus’ side for you and me.

Without Christ, we can’t be peacemakers. We can’t heal the brokenness of our world – its violence, its chaos, its devastation. So, what do we do with our frustration as believers when we feel that there’s nothing we can do to make a

Bartle

difference in the world? Good intentions or powerful slogans or hard work won’t heal our brokenness.

In and of ourselves, we cannot speak peace. But by the words of Jesus who can bring life when all doors are locked and hopes are gone, and empowered by the Spirit who hovered over the watery chaos at creation, and empowered by the Spirit of Jesus who bore and healed the brokenness of our planet, we can speak peace.

Jesus said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you” (v. 21). And as we are sent out to speak peace to our world, our word will only be believable so long as we bear the wounds of its brokenness.

– The Rev. Phyllis Bartle is rector of St. Jude’s Episcopal Church in Orange City.