“Peace Be with You!”

A Sermon Based on Luke 24.36-49 and John 20.19-23

Pastor Deb Troester, STHPC, April 14, 2024

Fish is an important part of the diet in many African countries. Walking through nearly any market, you can find fish broiling over a charcoal fire. In Zambia, they love tiny dried fish, called kapenta. It’s an important source of inexpensive protein. Once I was asked to speak at a women’s conference in rural Zambia. We arrived at the mudbrick, thatched-roof church where the women of that district were meeting. It was dark by the time supper was served, and the table was only lit by a couple of candles. I had some nshima – corn fu-fu or cornmeal mush – and helped myself to a large portion of what I thought were vegetables. I took a bite, and realized that in the dark I had given myself a heaping serving of kapenta. Not wanting to be rude, I ate everything on my plate, with the help of a lot of water. Fortunately I like fish. As we lay on the dirt floor that night, getting ready to go to sleep, I told the other women that I could still feel the fish swimming around in my stomach!

Fish was a similar staple food in the middle-east during Jesus’ day. Remember the little boy and his lunch of five loaves and two fishes? Four of Jesus’ disciples were fishermen, called to be fishers of men. In one of his resurrection appearances, Jesus prepares grilled fish on the beach for his disciples. The fish became the symbol of early Christianity, with the Greek word for fish – ichthus – forming an acrostic in Greek for the title, “Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Savior.”

In our gospel reading from Luke, when the risen Christ appeared to the disciples, he asked them for something to eat, and they gave him a piece of broiled fish. He wanted to show them that he was not a disembodied spirit, but rather that he was actually there, physically present with them. But let’s back up a bit. The two passages we heard this morning are telling about the same incident, one from John’s point of view, and one as told by Luke. Both take place on the evening of that first Easter. The women had gone to the tomb and found it empty. Then an angel appeared to tell them that Jesus was risen. They ran back to tell the disciples. Most of them, with the exception of John, did not believe the women. Then Jesus appeared to two of his followers on the Road to Emmaus. Somehow they did not realize it was Jesus.

When they invited him into their home for supper, as he broke the bread, they recognized him. Then he suddenly vanished from their sight. They hurried the seven miles back to Jerusalem to tell the others that they had seen the risen Christ. Luke writes, “While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’”

John doesn’t tell about the two Jesus-followers from Emmaus, but he does recall that that same Sunday evening, they were all together, with the door locked for fear of the authorities. After all, this was only three days after Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion. They might be next. Fear, confusion, grief, guilt, and despair wracked their minds. This is where we find the disciples that first Easter: frightened and discouraged, bewildered and anxious about what the future might bring. John remembers that Jesus came and stood among them, saying “Peace be with you!”

Fear paralyzes us. We don’t know what to do. We make bad decisions when we base them on fear. What locked door are you hiding behind? Or perhaps you have locked up your heart,

to protect yourself from hurts, fears and anxiety. Close your eyes for a few seconds and imagine Christ coming into your room, through the locked door, and standing there, looking lovingly and kindly into your eyes. He says, “Peace be with you.” (Pause) “Peace be with you.”

Whenever you feel afraid or anxious, this is a good spiritual exercise. You can visualize the Risen Christ coming into whatever part of you that you have locked away from others, even from yourself, and hear his calm voice saying “Peace be with you.” Let him bring peace to all your fears and anxieties. Give your worries and concerns to Jesus, and leave them there. Jesus had already told his disciples, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” Here, after his resurrection, he reminds them again of the peace he can give even in the midst of our darkest hours.

The disciples were still not convinced that it really was Jesus standing among them. He told them, “See my hands and feet and side.” Apparently the wounds or scars of the nails were still visible.

This was his way of saying, “It’s me. Yes, I’m really here.” I love how Luke includes the detail of Jesus eating the fish. We don’t know what kind of body Jesus had after the resurrection – after all, he could suddenly appear in a locked room, and could disappear as well. Yet, here he is eating a fish. There are things we cannot understand on this earth, and the nature of Jesus’ resurrection body is one of them. As a side note, Theology Professor Fred Craddock writes, “Luke is saying no to those notions of spirituality that view the body and all things physical as inherently inferior or evil. Those who view themselves as just passing through this evil world tend to neglect the physical, economic, and political needs of other human beings. Luke reminds us that the risen Christ said, “Look at my wounds,” and “Do you have anything to eat?” No one can follow this Christ and say that discipleship means being only concerned with ‘souls.’”

Once they realized that it was Jesus, the disciples were filled with joy, but, as Luke tells us, “they were still disbelieving and wondering.” Notice that Jesus doesn’t scold the disciples for their unbelief.

Instead he tries to help them believe. He doesn’t scold us for our doubts either. Yet, if we reach out to the risen Savior and walk with him, his presence will gradually become more real to us, as we live into the faith he came to impart.

John says, “The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.” They were invited to see and to touch the Risen Christ. This reminds me of the beginning of the first epistle of John: “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched —this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.” This confidence in the bodily resurrection of Christ was firmly held by the early church, perhaps because there were so many witnesses to it. Paul writes in First Corinthians: “For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures and that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures and that he appeared to Cephas [that is Peter], then to the twelve. 

Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died.”

According to Luke, the next thing Jesus does is open their minds to understand the scriptures – meaning the Hebrew scriptures, what we would call the Old Testament. He showed them how they taught that the Messiah must suffer and die, then rise from the dead on the third day, “and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” John’s account is shorter, but it concurs on the major point – that the disciples are being sent to tell the Good News to everyone. In John, Jesus says, “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”

Then Jesus breathed on them, saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Perhaps a foretaste of Pentecost, it is not accidental that John uses this word, “breathed,” which reminds us of creation, when God breathed life into the first human beings. Now Jesus breathes the Holy Spirit into the disciples, making them a new creation. Remember Paul’s words,

“So if anyone is in Christ, that person is a new creation: everything old has passed away; look, everything has become new!”

The transformation signaled by Jesus’ resurrection – now all things are made new; now God’s kingdom is truly come – extends to the disciples, and to us. The presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives will enable them to become witnesses of all Jesus Christ said and did, starting right where they are – in Jerusalem – and to the ends of the earth. The power of the resurrection extends now to all who follow Jesus. We have the power to proclaim forgiveness of sins in the name of Jesus Christ, offering new life and hope to the world.

The transforming power of the resurrection is still at work today. Joe and I had a friend in Tanzania, Patrick, who was the son of a member of parliament. His someone more affluent life-style lead to a life of partying and drinking, and he became an alcoholic. But when he encountered Christ, his life was transformed. He stopped drinking and founded the first Alcoholics Anonymous in Tanzania.

He went on to form other AA groups as well. His life is only one example of the transforming power of the resurrected Christ.

         I never understood the final verse from the passage in John: “If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” In preparing this sermon, I found this explanation by theologian N.T. Wright. He says that the disciples “are to pronounce, in God’s name and by his spirit, the message of forgiveness to all who believe in Jesus. They are also to ‘retain sins’: to warn the world that sin is a serious, deadly disease, and that to remain in it will bring death. They are to rebuke and warn – not because they don’t like people, or because they are seeking power or prestige for themselves, but because this is God’s message to a muddled, confused and still rebellious world.” We are empowered for this task by the Holy Spirit. God trusts us, as the body of Christ, to continue Christ’s work in the world.

Jesus was always eating together with his disciples. He sat with saint and sinner alike. His final night with his followers, they shared the Passover meal together.

Through the ages millions of Christians have remembered Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection in this way. This morning, we also will partake of the Lord’s Supper, celebrating the presence of the Risen Christ with us. Unlike those present that day we cannot see or touch him physically, but Jesus is here among us in spirit, and we can see him in each other as we share the bread and cup. Let Jesus calm your fears and doubts, and let us be open to hear the Spirit’s whisper, “Peace be with you.” Amen.

©Deborah Troester 2024