The 7 Next Words of Christ: Peace Be With You

The 7 Next Words of Christ: Finding Hope in the Resurrection Sayings

“Peace Be With You”

 John 20:19-29 (New Revised Standard Version)

It was still the first day of the week. That evening, while the disciples were behind closed doors because they were afraid of the Jewish authorities, Jesus came and stood among them. He said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. When the disciples saw the Lord, they were filled with joy. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father sent me, so I am sending you.” Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven; if you don’t forgive them, they aren’t forgiven.”

Thomas, the one called Didymus, one of the Twelve, wasn’t with the disciples when Jesus came. The other disciples told him, “We’ve seen the Lord!”

But he replied, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands, put my finger in the wounds left by the nails, and put my hand into his side, I won’t believe.”

After eight days his disciples were again in a house and Thomas was with them. Even though the doors were locked, Jesus entered and stood among them. He said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here. Look at my hands. Put your hand into my side. No more disbelief. Believe!”

Thomas responded to Jesus, “My Lord and my God!”

Jesus replied, “Do you believe because you see me? Happy are those who don’t see and yet believe.”

The disciples didn’t need to be reminded of something they needed to do, but of something that had been done for them.

This greeting is Jesus reassuring them that he really is alive, that he never really left them in the first place, and he never will.

This phrase, “Peace be with you,” is Jesus calming our souls and saying to us to block out the overwhelming voices of the world and listen to the voice of God.

God has no trouble carrying on a conversation with a 3-year old… because children have not yet been convinced that they can be their own gods.

We can never experience the nature of God’s peace in our own self-sufficiency, but only in a relationship that resembles the dependence of a child on a parent.

In the statement “Peace be with you,” Jesus is reminding us that not only do we need to remove the “us,” the part that consists of the doubts, failures, and fears of this world, part of the faith equation, but that the “God” part needs to be as second nature to us as breathing itself.

The real goal of God’s relationship with us is that we might believe and not require a constant reminder that God’s presence, in, around, and about us is sufficient alone for our deepest and most pervasive moments of need.

Just like Jesus did for the disciples, he makes his scars readily available for us to touch.