“Peace and Purpose Through Our Risen Lord and God”
(John 20:1-31) Nothing Important Has Changed
This is undoubtedly the strangest Easter Sunday most of us can remember. But in all the ways that matter most, nothing has really changed, has it? The cross and empty tomb are still historical facts, and Jesus Christ is as much alive today as he’s ever been! If anything, in fact, this year’s unique circumstances make our celebration of Easter even more meaningful. And we pray that the message of Easter will ring out more widely and more clearly than ever before.
I’m sure you’ve discovered (as I have) that COVID-19 has forced us to re-evaluate many of our values and priorities in life. And as we’ve engaged in that often difficult process, I think we’ve learned something vital: knowing and resting in the living pres- ence of Jesus is the most necessary, strengthening, and satisfying experience we can ever enjoy. Recognizing that he is with us—alive, aware, concerned, and in control—
brings unbelievable peace in the midst of this “storm” we’re sailing through. And his powerful presence is more than enough to fill us with greater determination than ever to love and serve him.
We’re taught that same vital lesson in Easter passages like John 20. After all, what we need today are the same things the early followers of Jesus needed. Where we tend to lack strength, so did they. And the sense of peace and purpose that may seem hard to come by in these days had all but evaporated in theirs! So John reports in ch.
20 of his Gospel, beginning at v. 19 . . . [READ TEXT].
Longing for Peace, Searching for Purpose
Now, I’ve only read five of the thirty-one verses that comprise this amazing chap- ter (which describes the discovery of Jesus’ empty tomb and several of his resurrection appearances). If you go back and read the whole chapter (which I encourage you to do), you’ll almost certainly find yourself somewhere in the story. It features a grief-stricken woman; a guilt-ridden man; a hopeful disciple; a rag-tag group of fearful followers; and one rather well-known skeptic.
I wonder: are you a person who easily loses hope and becomes pessimistic? Do you often feel burdened—even incapacitated at times—by your own weaknesses and fail- ures? Are you inwardly optimistic, yet outwardly a bit reserved (you know, content to take a back seat and learn by watching and listening)? Do anxiety and worry seem to be your daily companions—especially in the face of things you can’t control? Would you be honest enough to admit that in some areas, you may have become cynical—even a bit jaded?
Well, all those very common human tendencies find expression in the characters of John 20. But here’s what I think they all have in common (as suggested by the five verses I read). They’re all characterized by some form of fear accompanied by an unclear
sense of purpose. Everyone from Mary Magdalene to Simon Peter and John to Thomas and the other disciples exhibited a pronounced lack of peace and an almost crippling confusion about what to do next. And guess what? Those are the very issues the resur- rected Christ addressed by his own appearance among them!
I suggest he’ll do the same for believers today (people like us): grant us peace in our fears and purpose in our often undirected (or at least misdirected) lives. Now as then, he’ll do that by means of his very real living presence. Only the specific manner of his self-revelation will differ. You see, it was by many convincing physical proofs that Jesus gave these early disciples renewed peace and purpose. By many convincing scrip- tural proofs, he’ll grant us the very same things! Here’s how our living Lord and God does it.
He Pronounces Peace
First, the risen Jesus pronounces peace. The disciples were on “lock-down”—be- hind closed doors, we’re told—“for fear of the Jews.” Who could say for sure, after all, that under the present hostile circumstances they wouldn’t share the same fate as their Master? Hadn’t he warned them, in fact, that they would drink the same cup of suffer- ing he did? Even so, it must have seemed a bit cowardly for them to be hunkering down and hiding like this! Don’t forget: Peter and John had already seen the empty tomb with their own eyes; and Mary claimed to have seen Jesus himself! But they were still fearful.
Well, in the midst of this atmosphere of lingering fear and uncertainty, Jesus
“came and stood among them.” John suggests he was suddenly just there! Like Mary—
earlier that same day—they simply turned and “saw Jesus standing.” And the very first words out of his mouth were, “Peace be with you”—a common greeting filled with un- common significance. I wonder if he said it with a smile, remembering the words he had spoken to them before the cross (recorded in John 14): “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you—but not the kind of peace the world gives.” (In other words, “My peace is deeper, more lasting, less dependent on circumstances than anything the world can offer. That’s what I promised, and that’s what I’m here to give you.”)
And Jesus didn’t just speak peace: he actually proved he was the one who could deliver it. “He showed them his hands and side,” John tells us, which still bore the marks of crucifixion. He wanted them to know for sure: it was really him! They weren’t hallucinating! This was the same Master with whom they had walked for three years: the one who had really died; who had really been laid in the tomb; who was now really alive again. If he could conquer death—the very worst of man’s fears—they could certainly find complete peace in his living presence. His wounds powerfully testified:
“This is the price I to secure peace for you!”
Did you happen to notice, by the way, that Jesus repeated his words of peace?
Why do you suppose he did that? Maybe the disciples were too shocked to get it the first time. Or maybe, under the circumstances, they just needed a “double dose.” But I think his repetition served two additional purposes: (1) First, to remind them that just because
he had risen didn’t mean that all their earthly troubles were over. (2) And second, I think the Lord wanted to communicate very clearly that the peace he gives is more than freedom from fearsome people and scary circumstances. Jesus was talking about some- thing Paul would later describe in Rom. 5:1 like this: “Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” That’s the primary peace every sinner needs: peace with God. And only the crucified, risen Jesus can give it—by grace, through faith!
Listen, we fear a lot of things as human beings, don’t we?—usually involving some sort of loss: the loss of our loved ones, our health, our independence, our jobs, our freedoms, ultimately our lives. The current pandemic has simply reminded us of how vulnerable we are to such losses! And that’s one reason our world at the present time needs to hear the message of Easter again—and why, perhaps, God is allowing us to un- dergo the “fear and trembling” of these days! Our fears are confirming that we live in a culture of unbelief—and that we may have absorbed some of its doubts and confusion.
We need to be reassured that there is one who has conquered death—one who still stands among us, speaking peace.
But he does more than pronounce peace upon us—eternal peace with God and peace in matters of life and death.
He Equips Us for Mission
The risen Jesus also equips us for mission—which is another way of saying he re- news our sense of purpose in life. As Lord and God, he commissions us and sends us out to declare the very peace he’s granted to us. Then he empowers us by his Spirit to do that. Proclaiming the gospel to the ends of the earth in the power of the Holy Spirit is truly at the heart of Jesus’ God-glorifying purpose for us. (All of us!)
In v. 21, Jesus clearly connects the disciples’ mission with his mission: “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” (So we go in his name—as his represent- atives, with his message. We don’t represent ourselves or deliver a message we have concocted!)
Then (v. 22), “he breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’” Now, I don’t believe this unusual act constituted some sort of “mini-Pentecost” poured out in advance on Jesus’ disciples. It was rather a kind of prophetic “object lesson.” By physi- cally exhaling over them, Jesus was “acting out” what would happen to them in the days after his ascension. The Holy Spirit would “blow” upon them, filling them with (guess what?) Christ’s living presence and power! Acts 2 later describes the sound of a
“mighty rushing wind” that accompanied that Pentecost event. (Don’t forget: the words
“breath,” “wind,” and “Spirit” in our English Bibles all translate a single word in both Hebrew and Greek!) (So we go not only in Jesus’ name, but also with his power.)
And therefore, we go with his authority. That’s the upshot of v. 23 about grant- ing or withholding forgiveness of sins. Jesus wasn’t setting up a church hierarchy that would determine who receives forgiveness, who doesn’t, and how they get it! He was
simply indicating that our Spirit-empowered proclamation of the gospel in itself con- tains a binding authority: “Believe this good news we’re preaching, and your sins will be forgiven. Reject it, and you’ll die in your sins.” The pure gospel announces both God’s condemnation of sin and his offer of forgiveness through faith in the risen Christ.
(Spreading that message through our lives and testimony is the overall purpose for which we were saved! I can’t imagine a greater, more fulfilling purpose, can you? The most majestic Person in the universe; sending us out with the most life-changing mes- sage in history; filled with the most awesome power imaginable: his living presence!
Written That You May Believe
When it comes right down to it, this entire chapter of John (and really, the whole Gospel) has one primary objective: to elicit—even create—genuine faith in this living Savior. That’s what v. 31 says: “These [things] are written that you may believe that Je- sus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”
We’re even given some real-life examples of how such faith comes about. Look carefully at John 20, and you’ll notice that it’s shot through with unbelief—a dismal lack of faith—at least at the beginning! Nobody, it seems, expected Jesus to rise from the dead as he said he would. Even after Mary’s initial report and Peter and John’s footrace to the empty tomb, we read that the disciples “did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.” So they “went back to their homes” utterly dejected.
Then, Mary actually met the risen Lord in person and ran to tell the disciples about it. There were other personal appearances as well, were told elsewhere. Yet . . . here they all were: still on lock-down; still huddled in fear behind closed doors.
Of course, all of us know the story of “doubting Thomas,” right? (That’s really a misnomer, by the way, if you know much about this apostle). And here, I think, is where we’re confronted with the living presence of Jesus; where we’re challenged to trust in him for renewed peace and purpose. Thomas wasn’t present on the first Sunday to see Jesus with his own eyes, so he refused to believe the Lord was alive. Eight days later, Je- sus appeared in their midst again—and this time, Thomas was present. He again spoke peace and invited Thomas to personally examine his hands and side. Then, he said (in v. 27), “Do not disbelieve, but believe!” And in response, Thomas made that famous confession of faith (which I’ve referred to several times in this sermon): “My Lord and my God!”
That’s the trusting, submissive response all of us are called upon to make today.
That’s the surrender we’re to urge upon the lost: “Believe that Jesus died and is alive forevermore–Supreme Lord and Almighty God!” He stands among us, speaking peace and clarifying his purpose for us; reassuring fearful souls and empowering uncertain disciples. Do you know why Thomas was allowed to “see and believe” (and why John wrote it down)? So that we might see and believe through his testimony in Scripture.
And we’re at no disadvantage! Jesus said, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believed.” So yes, this Easter is strange! But don’t let that blind you to the living pres- ence of your risen Lord and God! Christ is alive! He is risen indeed!
