The Peace of Christ
April 22, 2012 | Anita Retzlaff | Acts 3: 12-19, Psalm 4 3 1,  John 3: 1-7,  Luke 24: 36b-48

Grace to you and peace from God the Father of our Lord and Saviour the Risen Christ! As I think through the words of scripture in preparation to preach on a Sunday morning I am at the same time usually thinking about you. I try to imagine what it is that you might have come for, what you hope will happen during our time of worship together. I am not so concerned about what you want to hear as much as I am concerned about what moves us all to think more fully about God. And when we think about who God is, how will that change our week, our relationships, maybe our feelings about ourselves: our world?

We find ourselves two Sundays down the road from Easter and resurrection. What is the Word for us today? What does God desire for us to know and to do especially right now in the light of the resurrection? The disciples too were poised at this side of the resurrection. When they see Jesus we are told in Luke’s account that “they were startled and terrified and thought they were seeing a ghost.” (24:37) We are also privy to their mixed reactions when in verse 41 we read that, “in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering.” I would have to confess that this is where I always find myself at Easter. What do I believe about what happened? What do you believe happened to Jesus? Maybe we can wonder about this together for these few moments this morning.

Because “believing” is an interesting concept. Recent ads on TV would have us “believe” in the London Olympics that are coming up this summer. What are we supposed to believe about the Olympics? Well I assume we are supposed to believe that we are going to be winners: that we believe in ourselves and our abilities as Canadian athletes. It is also assumed in our country that we “believe” in a political party. Do you believe in the Conservatives, the New Democratic Party, the Liberals or the Wild Rose Party? And whatever your belief of choice, how will that change things? Or how often do we approach the issues of climate change in terms of whether or not we “believe” in global warming. 

What is it to “believe?” Do you believe in the resurrection? Do you believe that God took a dead man and brought him back to life again? We don’t all believe in the same way. I think to believe something points to our confidence in or expectation that this something is real and true. And when we believe in something we are not confined to rational assent alone. Believing affects our behaviour, it changes our hearts. So what does it mean that God glorified Jesus: brought him out of the tomb of death? There are different ways of explaining this as we have evidence in the scriptures themselves through the various ways in which the stories are told and the many, many details that are never given. There is so much we don’t know. Think about that for a minute. So, I am not sure there is one particular way to believe in the physical events of Jesus’ death and resurrection.

What I do confess right off the top is that when Jesus meets his friends and disciples and says to them, “Peace be with you,” it is clear to me that these words change the course of history however they were experienced. What are the particulars of what we believe about Jesus’ death and resurrection? If you consider that all four gospels in their telling of the stories of Jesus deal very differently with the events that immediately follow Jesus’ death maybe we have a few clues. The original writing of the gospel of Mark says nothing of what follows the discovery of the open and empty tomb other than the women who witnessed it fled in terror. End of that story! 

The other writers tell stories of Jesus meeting his friends, sharing food with them in different locations and encouraging them in various ways. Only the gospel account of Luke tells the story of Jesus being carried up into heaven. The others don’t tell us anything about what happened to Jesus. So maybe we can take from this that the details aren’t the main focus. In fact it has been noted (Reumann, p. 122) that in the book of Hebrews, for example, resurrection is barely mentioned rather it is the fact that Jesus was glorified by God that is the big deal. I think that may be it!

Where does this leave us? Could it be that the words of Jesus, “Peace be with you” are the focus for us to consider most carefully? The high point in all the stories that we are given is that God demonstrated, however God did it, that Jesus will be with us always. God is always with us working acts of power in our midst. The story of Jesus is the ultimate demonstration of God’s presence. This is what we believe. It changes our hearts. It changed history.

We have two stories from the bible this morning. One is the story of the disciples coming face to face with Jesus after his crucifixion and their attempts to make sense of what has happened. We can relate to that. The second story is from Acts where a lame man is healed by Peter and the people of God are amazed and confused about how this is possible. We can relate to this too. Peter gives “the Israelites”, the Jews, a real dressing down because they have abandoned Jesus outright and do not recognize the power of God when they see it at work right in front of their noses. A lame man is healed in the name of Jesus. The peace of Christ is alive and well. It changes the hearts of those who believe. 

God glorifies Jesus, raises him up, in such a way that none of us need ever feel alone again. We are witnesses to the power of God through the story of Jesus. As a result we now believe that Jesus is with us through everything, in the simple and in the complicated stuff of life. Jesus is with us in our sorrow and in our joy, in our frustrations and in our passions. Do you believe that Jesus is with you always? We believe that at one point in history God’s power started things off on a new course. This act changed the world and continues to change the world today. The details aren’t all that clear to me. Maybe they are to you and that is good. How exactly does one explain what is really happening, for example, when we fall in love? How exactly does one explain what is really happening when God falls in love with the world? It happened. And just because we can’t always explain exactly what we believe, it is far from the end of the story. Even though the women fled in terror from the empty tomb it is assumed that the story of Jesus goes on into the future.

I love both of the stories from scripture that we have read today because both of these accounts of post-resurrection confusion do point us in a particular direction. The action does not stop because the disciples think they see a ghost. Not at all! These encounters with the power of the resurrected Jesus instead throw wide open the ministry to which we are called. For in having witnessed the peace of Christ expressed as healing and understanding we are now compelled to do to others as has first been done to us. Jesus lays it out to his disciples in Luke’s story. “Thus it has been written,” Jesus says. In other words, “This is God’s plan for humanity – for you, that the Messiah is to suffer and to 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.” Here is our mission identified. 

Jesus demonstrates to the world what it is to care about others: healing, empowering, forgiving and teaching. He cares so much that he is willing to suffer the rejection that people - not unlike us - inflict upon him. God desires for us to catch on to this way of being in the world. And so, we are to offer to one another The Peace of Christ, literally in words, and in our actions. This is what we believe; this is our response to that belief. The peace of Christ changes the world, opens hearts and promises freedom. And so we offer “The Peace” to each other in worship sometimes, in greetings, in communion services as we pass the elements to our neighbour. Patrick and I most often exchange the Peace of Christ with you as we greet you at the doors following the service. In many Christian denominations “The Peace” is a part of every service of worship. We light the peace lamp with the same thing in mind for we mention deliberate acts of peace-making and keeping the peace which are an extension of Christ’s peace and his way in the world. 

Here we are in the light of the resurrection. When we lose sight of the power of God’s presence we need only repent of our forgetfulness and come home to the heart of God. We keep returning time and again. We keep watch over each other. We keep reaching out to others, extending the peace of Christ and making a difference where we can. 

Today we remember Ernie Baergen as he prepares to return to the heart of God in yet another way. We remember those who have already gone from us most recently – and not so recently. We look around us this morning and with thanksgiving in our hearts and warm arms to welcome and support one another, hold each other up. Through the resurrection of Jesus our Lord from death we are given life in abundance near to the heart of God. The peace of Christ be with you all….and also with you. AMEN