The Lord’s Day Evening
March 14, 2010
Luke 20:19-23
“Peace Be With You”
The Reverend Mr. Jeremy H. Smith
Turn with me if you would in your Bibles to the gospel of John to the twentieth
chapter. John chapter 20 and we’ll
pick up the reading at verse 19.
John chapter 20 verse 19. Before we
read God’s Word let’s look to Him in prayer.
Our Lord and our God, this is Your Word.
It is for our instruction, it is for our edification, it is for our life.
Lord God we pray that by Your Spirit You would speak to us this evening,
that You would press these things down upon our hearts that we might grow in the
grace and love of the Lord Jesus Christ. This we ask in His name.
Amen.
John chapter 20 beginning at verse 19:
“On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked
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.
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 forgive; if you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is
withheld.’”
Amen, thus far the very words of our God.
John has been describing, telling the story of the last week leading up to the
resurrection now for eight or nine chapters.
Really since chapter 13, his focus has been on three or four days.
It begins in chapter 13 on a Thursday when His disciples are gathered
with Jesus for the last time before His crucifixion.
They are in the Upper Room and He begins by washing their feet and He has
things that He wants to say to them before He goes to the cross.
They sit down, recline at the table, and have that last supper.
And then at some point in the evening they make their way out into the
garden where He is betrayed by Judas, where He is taken into captivity, where He
is then processed through a series of trials that take place in the night.
And then on that Friday morning, He goes to the cross. His death in the
afternoon leaves only enough time for the removal of the body from the cross,
just the rudimentary beginnings of a proper burial before evening on Friday, the
beginning of the Jewish Sabbath, which means all work must come to a stop.
I’ve often thought what that Friday evening, especially that Saturday would have
been like - for the disciples it would have been heart wrenching.
They have just watched their Friend, their Master, this Messiah, be
crucified. They would have been
angry at the injustice, crushed at the thought that all they had heard from Him,
all they had believed, all their hopes that had been placed on Him had now been
trampled on, that they had come to nothing for Jesus is now dead.
Monday morning, we’re told even before the first light, Mary Magdalene
makes her way to the tomb only to find it empty, something that she reports then
to the disciples. Peter and John
first come running and discover that empty tomb and then we have a series of
Jesus’ appearances, first to Mary then to the disciples on the road to Emmaus
and then now on that evening. The
disciples are gathered together and Jesus appears to them.
Whereas Friday night and Saturday would have been characterized by sorrow
and grief, devastation perhaps beyond anything that we might imagine, now on
Sunday there is the beginnings, I don’t think the completion, but the beginnings
of something of hope. Mary has said
she’s seen Him. Two disciples on
the road to Emmaus have come and they have said they have seen Him.
Is there belief? Yes, some
belief. Is their disbelief?
No doubt disbelief is there.
Fear, we’re told quite explicitly, there is fear in the room.
After all, they’re locked behind closed doors in some undisclosed
location in
And Jesus appears to them, passing through, going around, simply appearing in
their midst. And the first things
out of His mouth is this word of peace – “Peace be with you.”
I imagine when the disciples first heard that word there were many things
that were going through their minds, but perhaps irony not among them.
In fact if this was the same event that Luke is recording at the end of
his gospel, and I think it is, we’re told that they thought they may have been
seeing a ghost or a spirit. So He
says “peace” to them. Now removed
from some two thousand years I think we can look back at the context and smile a
little as Jesus declares this peace.
After all, here are His disciples hiding out.
They have locked the door.
Peter said, “Check that door twice.
The Jewish leader, they have come for Jesus.
They might be coming for us.
We might be next in line. That
might be us tomorrow morning out on that crucifix.”
They’re frightening. Just a
small band of believers in all the world and to that group Jesus says this word,
“peace.”
I. What is the meaning of peace?
What does He mean when he says “peace”?
That’s the question before us tonight, at least the first question.
What does Jesus mean when He says “peace”?
And the first thing we can observe is that whatever He means by peace it
has nothing to do with the external circumstances of life.
After all, they’re huddled together afraid behind locked doors.
Friends, that’s terribly good news for us that this peace, whatever it is
that Jesus means by peace, is not contingent upon the circumstances where we
might find ourselves. We find
ourselves in a world that’s not generally characterized by peace.
We could look at politics or we could look at economies.
We might look at global situations that would cause us to question this
notion of peace. But even more
closely, even closer to home, we have life circumstances that speak a word
perhaps different than simply “peace.”
Relationships – there might be those in the congregation tonight who are
at anything other than peace with the spouse with whom they drove to church
tonight.
I’m a father of relatively small children, one of whom has a little fever, which
means my family is not here tonight.
And as I was preparing to come to church this afternoon to make final
preparations for this evening the scene in my house might generously be
described as chaotic. And as I was
reaching for the door, my wife sitting there on the couch there said with a bit
of a smile, “Hey, how bout I go preach tonight and you stay home with the kids?”
In these and a million other ways the circumstances of our lives might
suggest something other than a peaceful existence.
Those who study culture suggest that we might be moving into a period of western
civilization that we haven’t seen since the fourth or fifth century where it
might actually be very costly to be a Christian.
There could be, if not in my lifetime, in the lifetime of my children or
grandchildren, sanctioned persecution for Christians in the west.
It’s a possibility and it speaks a word other than “peace” by the
circumstances. And yet the first
thing we can observe is that whatever Jesus means by “peace” it’s not a peace
contingent upon circumstances, which makes this question that much more
important. What does He mean when
He says this word, “peace”?
I think it’s instructive to see what He does immediately after saying this word
of peace. Actually He says it not
once but twice and sandwiched in between those two declarations Jesus does
something. We’re told He holds
forth His hands and then He lifts the garments of His robes in order to display
the wounds of His side so that His disciples sitting in that room might see
where the nail passed through each hand, where that Roman spear had punctured
His skin, and where that blood and water had come pouring out.
He points to the scars in His body in between this dual declaration of
peace. And when He’s doing that
He’s doing several things. On the
one hand He’s confirming to them who He is – “I am that same Jesus that you have
spent your lives with for the past two or three years.
I am that same Jesus whom you have lived with and ministered alongside.
I am that same Jesus who has been your teacher.
I am that same Jesus who just a couple of days before told you in no
uncertain terms that in this world you will have trouble, but in Me, you will
have peace. I am that same Jesus
who was with you washing your feet.
I am that same Jesus you saw hanging on that tree.
I am that same Jesus.”
He is confirming to them who He is, but even more than that He is pointing to
the product of His work on the cross.
He is saying that “This peace that I am speaking about, this peace was
accomplished by what I did on the cross, the marks of which I still bear in My
body. What I did on the cross has
everything to do with that peace which I am now saying to you.”
He’s saying that, on the one hand, all the circumstantial problems that
we experience in this life are in one way or another, or in every way, tied up
with sin. Whether it be conflicts
in the home, whether it be relational estrangements, whether it be social
injustice, even earthquakes and hurricanes, the very groaning of this creation
under the curse of sin. All of
those things, at their core, are problems of sin.
But even more than that He’s saying “You see, for you to have peace, I
had to go to the cross because whether you knew it or not, the biggest problem
you had in this life was that you had no peace with God.
As you were born into this world, as you have lived life in this world,
until I went to that cross, that dreadful cross, you could have no peace with
your Maker, with God Himself.”
The declaration “Peace be with you” comes on the heels of Jesus’ declaration on
the cross, “It is finished.” As He
hangs there as His life ends, He cries out those words, “It is finished.”
Because it is finished now when He comes into the midst of His disciples
He can say, “Peace be with you.”
Where once there was enslavement to sin, Jesus says, “It is finished” and in its
place there is life. Where once
there was guilt and shame, that too is finished and now you may know the peace
of being justified, being declared righteous, in the eyes of God, being adopted
into His family as sons and daughters.
Where there was the threat of eternal separation from the goodness of God
that is finished and in its place now stands the promise of the presence of God.
You see, the Gospel message is more than simply the avoidance of the
wrath of God. It is because of that
finished work of Christ to which He reminds His disciples by pointing to His
scars they might know that God is for them and that God is even with them.
And because of that, because of that, Jesus says this word of peace.
It is the product of His work on the cross.
II. Declared peace.
The second thing that we might observe about this peace is this – it is a peace
that is declared. Jesus doesn’t
come into the room and say, “Friends, I wish peace for you.
I hope that you’ll have a peaceful life.”
No, this is the same Jesus, the same second member of the Trinity, who on
the first day of creation spoke into existence light.
That simply by the word of His power, Jesus said, “light” and where there
was nothing there was now light.
The very concepts of light, all the spectrum that goes into light, the particles
and the waves that are part and parcel of light, all those things come into
existence by the very word that Jesus says – “light.”
And it is that same word of God that is now standing in the midst of His
disciples saying, “peace.” And He
can declare that because it is a peace that has been accomplished.
His body bears the marks.
“It’s not wishful thinking, it’s not cross your fingers and hope for it, it is
because of what I have done by My life, by My death, and by My resurrection.
I declare to you peace.”
Now that’s not to say that peace cannot be experienced in various different
levels. The circumstances of life
often press against us in certain ways that it causes us to forget.
A number of years ago my wife and I had to go and do one of those
dreadful things you have to do in life.
We had to buy a car. I had a
car that was consistently breaking down and was unreliable.
It wouldn’t start some days.
I couldn’t get home and some days I couldn’t get to work, and you can only bum
so many rides from your kind boss, which I was doing on a relatively frequent
basis, before that generosity is more than one can bear.
And so the fact that we had a car that didn’t work meant that we had to
go and buy a car. And after several
months of driving this car I finally got around to reading some of the things
that the dealer had given us about the features of the car and other things we
might expect from the car. And as I
was reading this one of the things that it told us was that as part of the deal
we were given a complementary subscription to satellite radio for a period of
time. I had no idea.
So I said to my wife, “Do you know that we have XM radio?”
A blank look on her face as well – she hadn’t read the thing either.
Sure enough, I went out to the car and did what it told me to do in order
to activate this service and there it was – commercial free, satellite radio.
It was mine and I had no idea.
Now it was only a three month subscription and I found it out towards the
end of the second month. I didn’t
enjoy it for more than a handful of weeks, but it was mine.
I didn’t have to do anything additional to have it, but I didn’t know it.
Because I didn’t know it I didn’t enjoy it.
I was stuck with the
And you and I friends can live as if we forget that we have already received the
proclamation, “Peace be with you.”
It is a peace that is declared and in fact, these same disciples who heard Jesus
say these very words, eight days later were told, in verse 26 – where do you
find the disciples? Once again in
an undisclosed location in
III. It overflows into life.
There’s a third thing that we might say about this peace that Jesus declares.
It is peace that is a product of His work on the cross, it is a peace
that He declares, and it is a peace that overflows into the very circumstances
of life that sometimes suggest that we live lives other than what might be
characterized as peace. Because we
are the recipients of the peace of God, that peace works its way out even into
the circumstances of life where we find ourselves.
We find that peace which we experience, that peace which is given to us,
is in fact a model at the very source for extending peace into the circumstances
of our lives. What does Jesus say?
“He who has been forgiven much ought to be the kind of person who
forgives a lot.” Friends, that’s a
word that gets as this concept of peace.
Because you have the peace of God you in fact can interact with others
from that perspective. You have
been given peace, you have been reconciled with God, and as such that
reconciliation overflows into the very circumstances and relationships of our
lives. We might characterize the
peace that Jesus speaks of along those lines.
But there’s more to this passage than this declaration.
There’s more to it. It’s the
beginning of this passage but there is much more to this.
This is in fact what is often times called the Great Commission passage
from John’s gospel. You know the
Great Commission we typically think of as in Matthew’s gospel, Matthew chapter
28. Well John here has his own
commissioning statement from Jesus.
We’ve already read it. You’ll find
it there in verse 21 as Jesus speaks a word of peace to His disciples.
“Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you.’”
Then He turns on them. He
turns to them and says, “As the Father has sent Me, even so I am sending you.”
Now who’s in this room? Well
certainly the disciples, the Twelve.
Actually no longer the Twelve, it’s ten.
Judas is dead; Thomas is absent as we’ll find from verse 24 and
following. There’s the ten
disciples but again if this is the same occasion which Luke is narrating at the
end of his gospel, also the disciples who were on the road to Emmaus are here in
this room and perhaps others. The
disciples here are those who hear this word of peace and based on that word of
peace they are now commissioned. It’s all who receive this peace who are
commissioned by these words – “As the Father has sent Me, even so I am sending
you.”
There’s no further instruction.
There’s no further training ground.
He doesn’t say, “Now I am sending you off to training camp where you might learn
how it is that you’ll go out into this world.”
No, if you have received this peace you have been commissioned by Jesus
in this passage to go into this world.
Jesus tells us more of what He means as He says this – “As the Father has
sent Me, even so (or in this way) I am sending you.”
As He says this Jesus is telling us that His sending of us is a
continuation of His own ministry.
That is, God the Father had sent Him.
Jesus had been sent into this world with a mission, and now as Jesus is
departing to return to heaven He says, “As the Father has sent Me, My ministry,
My mission continues now in My sending of you.”
There’s a continuity.
There’s a continuation. Just as
what Jesus has been doing, He now gives His disciples to do.
This sending is one of the major themes of John’s gospel.
Over and over again Jesus will tell the crowds, “The Father has sent Me.
I’m here to do the will of the Father.
As the Father has given Me this task and so I go about carrying it out.”
And so He is saying that your mission, that this commission, is a
continuation of His ministry.
And so we need to ask the question – What is it that characterized the mission
of Jesus? Because as we look at the
mission of Jesus we are in fact looking at our mission, that mission to which He
has commissioned us to go and to do.
How might we characterize this?
If we were to take the whole gospel of John I think it would be a very
fruitful endeavor to see all the things that might be characteristic of the
mission of Jesus. I don’t know if
you would suffer with me as we made our way past eight and nine and ten and on
into the wee hours of the morning, stretching from the beginning of John to the
end of John – I’m not going to do that.
Don’t worry. But it would be
instructive for us and I would challenge you that the next time you read through
the gospel of John look for the things that Jesus says about His mission.
But we might draw your attention to a couple of things that are
characteristic of the mission of Jesus.
The first is this – the mission of Jesus is characterized by the Son’s obedience
to the Father. Remember Jesus’
words? “It is My meat.
It is My sustenance. It is
My food to do the will of My Father.”
Over and over again in John’s gospel He will tell the religious leaders,
He’ll tell the Pharisees, He’ll tell the crowds that “I am here to do that which
the Father has given Me to do. I am
here in obedience. I am here doing
the will of My Father.” It’s one of
the characteristics of the mission of Jesus.
It’s marked by obedience to the Father.
I think as Jesus commissions us, as He sends us out, we might say that
one of the marks of the works that Jesus has given us to do, the mission of
Jesus continuing in us, is to work to do the will of the Father.
What is it that Jesus told His disciples in Matthew 28?
“To make disciples and to teach them all that I have commanded you.”
And in fact as we go about ourselves learning what it is that Jesus has
commanded, as we go about being faithful disciples of the Master, we are in fact
carrying out the mission that Jesus gives us in John chapter 21.
Just as Jesus’ mission was to obey the Father, so it is our mission work
to do the work that God has called us to do.
We might say it in another way – discipleship, that being a disciple of Jesus,
that learning and knowing and doing those things which Jesus taught,
discipleship is our mission. Those
two things, missions and discipleship can never be separated.
We often speak about missionaries and we do so to highlight the special
calling that God has placed on their lives. But one of the ways that we might
define what a missionary is – a missionary is a disciple of Jesus who happens to
live in another part of the world.
There’s a difference of course in terms of where they live.
There’s a difference also in the emphasis of their vocation, but
fundamentally missions work is the work of being a disciple in the world.
And in that way there is no discontinuity between what takes place in
other parts of the globe and what takes place in our own lives in
There’s another thing we might say about the mission work of Jesus.
It was a work characterized by the word rescue.
“The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.”
That as Jesus came in obedience that mission which the Father had given
Him was a work to rescue. Now
there’s some parts of Jesus’ work of rescuing that we are not called to follow.
Jesus Himself went once to the cross dying one time for the sins of the
world – an unrepeatable act both in our lives and in Jesus’ own life.
Jesus doesn’t die over and over again for the sins of the world.
That was a once and for all event. And yet the continuity, the
continuation of that mission, it’s not that we would die for the sins of the
world, because Jesus has died for the sins of the world our mission then is to
declare that which Jesus has done.
That’s mission work. Part of it is
being a faithful disciple in the world and part of it is declaring that which
Jesus has done. Jesus, who died for
the forgiveness of sins, who died for the freedom from sin, who died that we
might have life and have it abundantly, these things we declare to the world and
in so doing we continue this work that we Jesus’ work, this mission of Jesus.
The third thing that we might say about the mission work of Jesus is that not
only was it a work of obedience, not only was it a work of rescue, but it was a
work into the world. We’ve already
heard sung that “He laid aside His crown to come for the good of my soul.”
The Father sent Him into this world and as the disciples have been saved
from this world, Jesus is now sending them right back into this world.
And as the disciples of Jesus Christ, likewise He has sent you back into
this world to carry on this mission that Jesus began and which we continue.
Now how do we go about being in the world?
Well part of where God has sent you is where you are.
God has sent you into a family and surely all of us can think of those in
our families who do not yet know the peace of God.
God has sent you into a particular family, a family made up of
individuals, some no doubt believing, and yet some who do not believe.
God has sent you into a host of circumstances in your life.
Unless you’re ready to say that
There are folks that you know.
There are all sorts of folks, whether you work with them, play tennis with them,
play golf with them – he might deliver your mail, she might wait on you when you
go out into a restaurant – there are any number of places where you interact
with the world at a host of different levels. And
that is precisely where Jesus has sent you.
He has sent you into those places in order that you might be His disciple
there, and by being His disciple, by declaring that which He has done, you might
carry on that mission work which He began and which continues in you.
There’s an intentionality in all of this.
God intends to continue the work of His Son in and through you.
In John we read, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only
begotten Son.” I don’t think it’s
too much, based on what Jesus said, that we might read it also like this – “For
God so loved the world that He now sends you” because you are the continuation
of Jesus’ work.
This is Christ’s plan for missionary engagement in the world, that those who
have been the recipients of this peace of God, won on the cross of Calvary,
might be placed in this world, might live lives of faithful discipleship to
their Master, might declare those things which Christ has done, and in so doing
carry on the work of the Savior.
Our great God and our heavenly Father You have given us a tremendous calling,
something which we are not fit to do, and yet You have told us that we now have
experienced the peace of God that passes all understanding, a peace bought by
Your Son the Lord Jesus Christ. And
so we pray, just as You have done this marvelous work, that You would equip us
and make us those who are faithful to the mission work which You give.
This we ask in Christ’s name.
Amen.
Will you stand for the Lord’s benediction?
Peace be with your soul.
Amen.
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