John 20: 19-31

Have indulged after the end of lent have you now cleared all remnants of Easter away with the empty egg boxes? Most shops will now have cleared all the bunnies, and the chickens and the shops will now be launching into try to encourage us into summer mode and holiday shopping.

But in the church we don’t forget about Easter that easily. Like Christmas the Easter season continues in the church for a good few weeks as we continue to celebrate the amazing truth of the resurrection, central to all we believe and why we are here at all today.

So in our readings for the next weeks we will be looking at the different resurrection accounts.

Before Easter I introduced to you the idea that we would be concentrating on discovering more about what Jesus teaches us about himself – how we can Know him better through the readings that we have been given in this period of Easter tide.

What it means to us to Know him influences how we are going to be and how we are going to live as Easter people in our own relationship with God and in our relationship with each other.

So what can we learn about Jesus from todays reading? Normally faced with this reading I would be concentrating on Thomas but today because of our focus I want to focus on Jesus and three things he calls us too.

Firstly He calls us to live at peace – because he brings it

Just imagine for a moment how the disciples were feeling at the beginning of our reading. Huddled in the upper room because they were afraid. The news of Jesus’ resurrection had got out and the jewish authorities were not happy. So the disciples were frightened as to what was going to happen.

And then into this fear Jesus appears and brings with him the greeting of Peace.

What a strange thing is happening in that room. The Prince of Peace has come to them and they are afraid. He is the very one who can calm all their fears. He is the one who had told them before his death, (John 14:27) “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”. But here they are very afraid. He proves to them that he is not a spirit, not a ghost. He shows them his hands and side. They see clearly that this is indeed the resurrected Christ.

At that moment of revelation their fears are gone. Their sorrow is turned to joy. Their hopes are revived.

The presence of Jesus turns everything around. Jesus had said “I will never leave you nor forsake you”, and the realisation of this is what made a difference to his disciples that night.  

What about us – are we aware of the Prince of peace with us.  The message from the resurrected Christ is that his presence with us gives peace.

We may not experience it outwardly with things going on in our lives but knowing Christ’s presence with us can bring to us a deep seated and inner peace.

We need to hear this message again today - Jesus says Peace be with you.

Do you know that peace for yourselves? The words of the resurrected Christ come to us afresh and call us to spend time with him to discover or rediscover the peace he brings to us. Because it is by consciously spending time with him that we grow in our realisation of his presence with us and the peace he brings. 

Jesus says to his followers, “Peace be with you.” That is a powerful revelation of his heart toward us. Think about the way these disciples have been behaving. Suppose you had served twelve people for three years. You had cared for them and taught them. When they found themselves perishing on an angry sea you came and rescued them. They had told you how much they loved you and would even die for you. But then when the pressure got on they wouldn’t even pray with you. You asked them to pray but instead they slept. When the authorities came to arrest you, you made sure they were safe and not arrested. You are about to be brutally beaten and crucified. One has betrayed you. One openly denies even knowing you. All of them have run away and left you to deal with the problem alone. How would you feel about friends like that?

Would your first words to them be “Peace be with you”? I think I would probably say something like this, “A fine bunch of friends you people are. With friends like you, who needs enemies? I’ve had it with all of you and doubt I will ever be able to trust any of you again. I hope you know how deeply you have hurt me? Do you have anything to say for yourselves?”

Isn’t it wonderful what Jesus does not say to these people? He does not say to them “Shame on you. I’m really disappointed in all of you.” Quite the opposite, he says, “Peace be with you”. 

We can at times be just like the disciples when we disappoint Jesus failing to admit our discipleship, falling asleep on him in our complacency, running away from his challenge. And yet just like his message to his disciples he says to us- Peace be with you.

And then the second call we see from this passage is that of the call for us to share in the resurrected Christ’s ministry and how he equips us with the Holy Spirit of life.

Straight after Jesus brought the message of peace he commissions the disciples for the next chapter in the story.

He knows that his earthly life was coming to a close when he was to ascend to heaven, but he knew that the next revelation of him was going to be through the disciples and followers of Jesus. So the commission to them is clear-as the Father sent me so I am sending you.

And the message that seems to be stressed here is that of forgiveness. The death and resurrection of Jesus allows the ultimate forgiveness of sins and the disciples are to preach that and to practise that in their daily lives.

This must have seemed like a daunting task to the disciples but at the same time as commissioning them he equips them with the Holy Spirit.

Now this is where it can get a bit difficult to understand- because here we have Jesus breathing on them and them apparently receiving the Holy Spirit and this is before Pentecost.

But the easiest way of understanding it rather than thinking it is in terms of the writers emphasis on the Holy Spirit. In John the emphasis is on a life giving spirit and in Luke’s account in Acts the emphasis is on the power of the Holy Spirit. So John’s account shows that the life of the Holy Spirit the spiritual life of knowing God for themselves, of knowing their own forgiveness and the ability to share this with others is given to them here. Later in Acts we see the power of the Holy Spirit shown clearly.

So the disciples are commissioned to bring forgiveness and are given the life enriching Spirit to equip them to do this.

And then the third call for us is when Jesus challenges the doubt of Thomas and calls for a response to him.  For Thomas the pain of the death of Jesus had caused him was evident in his response. He brought to mind the crucifixion clearly with his desire to see the nail marks.  Perhaps his pain and suffering marred his believing. Perhaps he just couldn’t bring himself to be hurt again if he discovered it was all some scam.

And then Jesus appears to him and he is brought to a realisation of the risen Christ.

Jesus challenge to him is clear – stop doubting and believe. Don’t let the pain of hurt now cloud your reaction to me, I am here risen believe it. And what is his response well he falls in submission to Jesus – My Lord and my God. Realising the magnitude of the resurrection and answering the call to stop doubting and believe he affirms his faith clearly.

What about us – can we be a bit like Thomas sometimes. Can the pain or hurt of a situation cloud our belief, make it difficult for us to wholeheartedly submit to the risen Christ.  Do we need to hear Christ’s call to us again this morning – Stop doubting and believe. See me as the risen Christ, know my presence with you- the peace I bring to you,  hear my call to go out and tell others about me in how you live your life and what you say, equipped with the Holy Spirit of life to bring forgiveness to the world.

This is the third call on us from the resurrected Christ in this account. But the call links in with the call to know his peace and to go out in to the world. What is our reaction to these calls this morning?