Peace Be With You (Sermon for the Second Sunday of Easter: April 27, 2025)
- Rev. Raymond Doubrava
- Apr 28
- 8 min read
Texts: Psalm 148
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Alleluia, Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia.
The text that serves as the foundation for our sermon is our Gospel reading, especially these words, “Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you.’” (John 20:19-21).
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus,
We are now in the second week of Easter, yet for our gospel reading, it is still Easter evening. Our gospel reading begins mere hours after where we left the disciples last Easter Sunday. When we left, the disciples were uncertain, in fear, huddled together in the upper room, not fully knowing yet what had happened. By this point in time, Mary Magdalene had seen Jesus and testified. A couple disciples, none of the twelve, but a couple of disciples had seen Jesus on the road to Emmaus. Still, the twelve fear. So they are gathered, uncertain because of what had happened. Even for us living now 2,000 years almost after the resurrection, it can be easy for us to sometimes fear that uncertainty that we are all tempted with. We know the confession that is ours and yet as we see this world turn hostile towards Christians, turn hostile towards those who believe, it is easy for us to be turned back to fear. And yet today in our readings, the message that we see, the message that Jesus would have us learn, is that because He is risen from the dead, we have peace with God and thus no need to fear.
Let us pray: Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, this world loves nothing more than to get us to doubt the resurrection and to fear, fear for our well-being, fear what might happen. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer, that we may always have the sure and certain confidence that because You have raised Your Son from the dead never to die again, we have peace and are reconciled with You and therefore we have no need fear. It's through Your Son's name we pray. Amen.
As children of Adam fear is our natural state. Think back to the garden. Think back to mere moments after they had eaten the forbidden fruit. What did Adam and Eve do? They feared. They were afraid. So they sewed together fig leaves to cover their shame. And they tried to hide. God comes and says, “Where are you?” Ashamed, Adam replies, “I heard the sound of You in the garden and I was afraid.” As children of Adam, we live in fear. We live afraid of punishment. We live afraid of God's punishment over our sin. We live in fear of others punishing us for wrongs we do against them, sins that we commit against them. Fear causes us to want to do everything possible to hide from it, to protect ourselves. We become like armadillos, curling up in a ball as soon as something happens to make us afraid, trying to save our own necks. We see this in our epistle reading for today. Verse seven says, “Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen” (Revelation 1:7). The trembling in fear, that wailing in fear that all the tribes of the earth will have when Christ comes again as judge to judge both the living and the dead, whose kingdom will have no end. All those in unbelief will tremble with fear. Thus it makes sense why the disciples that first Easter are gathered in the upper room in fear. They don't yet realize what's happened. They don't yet realize what their hope is.
So Christ comes to them. And three times in our gospel reading, Christ says to them, “Peace be with you”. Each of these has a different thrust behind it. First, at the beginning, in the locked upper room where “the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord” (John 20:19-20). This first speaking of peace is is Jesus casting away the fear of death. The disciples feared that they would be put to death just like their Lord and teacher had been put to death. So Jesus comes and He says, “Peace be with you”. And He shows them the nail wounds, shows them the pierced side. He shows them that He is not merely a ghost, but He is actual flesh and blood. He is risen from the dead, never to die again. And to confirm this, Luke's gospel says that He then asked for a piece of fish and ate in front of them. confirming that this was actually a real body. Death has given way to life and therefore the disciples have no need to fear because they have peace. God has defeated death once for all. In Jesus's death on the cross, all sin and all death has been defeated. Just as the disciples have no need to fear death because of the risen Lord, so likewise we have no need to fear death because of our risen Lord. Because Christ has been raised from the dead never to die again, we have the sure and certain hope that in Him we too will have eternal life. The first peace that God gives.
Next is verse 21, “Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.’ And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of anyone, they are forgiven; if you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is withheld’” (John 20:21-23). The second peace that God gives is the peace that not only did Jesus die to forgive sins, but that that forgiveness of sins is yours. The disciples had a great amount of sins racked up against them. In just the past three days, they had all run away because of fear. They had all forsaken their Lord. Peter had three times denied Jesus. They all looked on the cross from a distance, but none of them were brave enough to go and say, “Hey, I'm one of his disciples.” All of us have a great number of sins racked up against God as well. As we confess, we are poor, miserable sinners. And yet Christ comes to us with the peace of forgiveness and says, “Because I have suffered and died for your sins, you have the complete and absolute forgiveness of sins. Because I have died for you and am now raised from the dead, your sins are cleansed away from you. And the sign and seal of that peace that is yours, the forgiveness of sins that is yours, I give to you pastors. If you forgive the sins of anyone, he tells them they are forgiven. If you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is withheld.” He gives the church the office of the keys. He gives pastors to use those keys so that just as today, I said “In the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”, you may have the sure and certain confidence that that forgiveness is not my forgiveness but is God's forgiveness given to you. God is not angry with you over your sins because He has given you peace through His Son bearing those sins on the cross. And He gives this peace abundantly, as the forgiveness comes through the Word read and proclaimed, through Baptism, Absolution, and the Lord’s Supper, each of these confirming the peace that Christ has given to us.
There is a third peace given, this beginning in verse 26, “Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.’ Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’” (John 20:26-28). The final peace that Jesus gives is the peace of faith, the peace of believing in him. He has cast out unbelief. He has cast out all doubt. Through His death and resurrection. we have the sure and certain confidence that because he has died and been raised from the dead, we can truly hope and believe in Him. Do all of us always exhibit perfect faith in Jesus? I know I don't. And I bet if each and every one of us are honest, we can all say the same thing. Guess what? Neither did the disciples. actually physically saw risen Lord. And yet at times they still have their doubts. At times they still their moments of unbelief. Yet, through the working of the Holy Spirit in us, given us first in baptism, He continues to work faith in us so that we may continue to hope and believe even in the midst of fears and death. Since he has been raised from the dead by the glory of Father, we have the promise of everlasting life.
Now, having this three-fold piece of God which comes from His death and resurrection, what does that mean for us? It means we are called to do as the disciples were, to go out and share forth God's goodness to others. We have the job of being ambassadors of Christ. We have the job of going out and sharing with our neighbors, sharing with our family, sharing with our friends, sharing with strangers, that hope and that comfort that is ours in Jesus Christ. And yeah, sometimes as we do so, like the disciples, we may end up arrested. We may end up persecuted. Like the disciples, like Peter and John, we might have people telling us, don't talk about that. Yet like Peter and John, we must follow as they do in our first reading. In verse 29 of our Acts reading, “But Peter and the apostles answered, ‘We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him’” (Acts 5:29-32). You now are called to go forth and bear that faith into this world even if the world hates you for it. We know the victory that is ours in Christ. We have peace from death for Christ is risen. We have peace from sin because we have forgiveness through His blood. We have peace from unbelief because He has given us true faith. Therefore, we can bear witness, knowing that Christ has won the victory for you, knowing that He has prepared a place for you. knowing that because He has died and has risen, He has given you the crown of a everlasting life as well.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, do not disbelieve but believe. Do not have fear but believe. Receive that peace of God which is yours today and every day. Receive that peace of God which He so gladly and richly gives you today in His word, read and proclaimed. Today in His sacraments faithfully administer, receive that peace that is yours. Receive each and every day as you study God's word in your homes that peace of God to keep you steadfast in the true faith no matter what life throws at you, no matter what the world, what the devil would throw at you. Christ has won the victory. He is your peace. Amen.
May the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Alleluia, Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
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