Jesus Gives His Peace--No Doubt About It!--April 15, 2007 sermon

"Jesus Gives His Peace—No Doubt About It!"
John 20:19-31
First Sunday after Easter
April 15, 2007

+ "Grace, mercy, and peace be unto all of you from God, our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. +

John 20:19:Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, "Peace be with you."

PRAYER:
Lord God, our Heavenly Father, we come to You once again to give You thanks and praise for the resurrection of Your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. We know that You used people like St. John to proclaim Your truth so that we may believe and have life in Your name. Yet, in spite of that, we still have doubt and lack of faith and trust in You. Forgive us for that, O Lord, and keep us mindful that Your Word is truth and the truth is because of Jesus, we are forgiven for all of our sins, and we do have eternal life in Your name. And now may the words of my mouth and the meditation in our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

It is a gross understatement to say that Satan is a cunning, crafty, conniving devil. We saw examples during the Lent season as we read about his tempting of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, and how he even tempted Jesus in the wilderness. One Sunday in Lent, we read where Jesus refers to Satan as "the father of lies."

Satan actually thought that Good Friday was a day of victory and celebration for him. His arch-nemesis, Jesus was crucified, dead, and buried. Jesus would interfere with Satan and his domain no more. Right?

Wrong! Satan was soundly defeated. And Jesus went to hell to show Satan that he was defeated. Jesus won the victory. He is risen. Sin, death, and Satan's power have all been defeated forevermore.

However, do those facts discourage Satan from trying to lure people away from Christ and His truth? No way. In fact, he begins trying to work on the disciples the very day that Jesus rose from the dead. You see, as Jesus was with the disciples during His earthly ministry, He talked about how He would suffer crucifixion and death in the hands of evil people. He also mentioned that He would rise again on the third day. That last part didn't register with the disciples over that weekend. Satan had them convinced that it was indeed all over after Jesus' death. Jesus' predictions finally clicked with John when he went to the tomb that morning. But for Peter and the rest of the disciples, there was nothing but doubt and fear. Satan had the disciples very fearful of what a potential future without Jesus would be like. After all, with Jesus gotten rid of, what was going to prevent the Jewish leaders from getting rid of His closest followers next?

That fear caused the disciples to have the doors locked when they were together that evening. Suddenly Jesus appears. Satan was trying to convince them that it was simply a ghost, nothing more. However, Jesus says to them, "Peace be with you." And then He shows them His hands and His side. They now know that this is indeed their Teacher and Friend. It finally registered with them that Jesus, who is the Word and the Truth did just as He said He would do.

It is also important to note that Jesus gives the greeting, "Peace be with you." This greeting was very common among the Hebrews. However, when Jesus says "Peace be with you" there is so much more. Jesus talking about a peace that passes all understanding, (Philippians 4:7) a peace that the world cannot give (John 14:27). It is a peace that gives the assurance of Christ's presence in which sins are forgiven and life everlasting is assured. Having Christ's peace and seeing His hands and side enabled the disciples to realize that Jesus was in deed alive, and it ultimately showed that the father of lies is just that—the father of lies.

Satan, though, is not one to miss an opportunity to lure someone away from Christ. He knew full well that there was one disciple, Thomas that was not present that evening. So, when the disciples mentioned to Thomas that they seen the resurrected Christ, Satan was on the warpath very subtly trying to tell Thomas that his friends are lying to Him. Through Satan's crafty schemes, Thomas says he won't believe Christ is risen unless he's able to see and touch the holes in His hands and side.

Jesus, the Word and the Truth, once again shows how much more powerful He is against the father of lies. He appears to Thomas and before anything He gives Him the greeting "Peace be with you." Jesus then lets Thomas see and touch the nail marks in His hands and the area of His side that was pierced. Thomas makes the confession, "My Lord and my God." Thomas now knew that Jesus was living. Thomas also had the Lord's peace—the assurance of sins forgiven and life everlasting.

Now we get into the "how does this story apply to us" portion of the sermon. Even though Jesus had proven to His disciples that He had risen from the dead, don't think for a moment that Satan didn't try to keep luring the disciples away from Christ even after those events that occurred within one week of each other. Satan tries to do that with all of Christ's followers. And the more faithful people are to Christ, the harder Satan is going to try to lure them away. He did it to Adam and Eve and their children; he tried to do it with Christ and failed miserably; he did it to the disciples; and he's done it every living human being ever since, including you and me.

Many times every day, Satan is tempting us to do things that we know are against what God desires for us to do. Yet, as mentioned at the beginning of the sermon, Satan is a cunning, crafty, conniving devil. He can make any sin so appealing to our sinful natures that it becomes so easy to fall for those temptations. The thought of being "like God" was very appealing for Eve that day in Eden. He is that way with all of us, too. He'll twist God's word any which way possible to make us think that God won't mind if we sin "just this once. Once we have sinned, the Satan does a 180 and says, "I gotcha now! You've really done it to God this time! No way he's going to forgive a sinner like you!" Thus, Satan plants doubt into us, and we find ourselves questioning God's love and forgiveness.

Once again, Jesus, the Word and the Truth, shows how much more powerful He is then the father of lies. He does forgive us for all of our sins, no matter how often or how severe they are, He forgives you and me. As He said, "Peace be with you" to the disciples, and then to Thomas, He says it to us too. The peace that Jesus gives is for you. You have the peace of Christ that assures you that as a baptized child of God, you are forgiven for all of your sins. You have the peace of Christ that assures that the Holy Spirit is always present in our lives, guiding us through our good times and our times of trouble, and also keeping us in God's Word of truth. You have the peace of Christ that assures that when you come to this altar, you are receiving the very body and blood that was given and shed for you on the cross. You have the peace of Christ knowing that because Jesus lives, you live also—not just here on earth, but also in His heavenly kingdom.

My dear friends, that is what this Easter season that we celebrate now and every Sunday is all about. Just as Christ gave the disciples the Holy Spirit and the authority to forgive sins, Christ also gives that to the church. When you come to church each Sunday, you know that you are going to hear God's Word and Truth, which says to you, "Your sins are forgiven." Because you are very special to our Lord, He gives you His peace free and unconditionally. And the victory Christ won on Easter Sunday is yours now and forever.

Thanks be to God; He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!

In Jesus' Name, Amen.

+ The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep our hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, our risen Lord and Savior. Amen. +