Luke 24:36b-48
36 While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 37 They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. 38 He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39 Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” 40 And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. 41 While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate in their presence. 44 Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 46 and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things.
At 10:00 EST on Friday night the UK, France, and the United States announced that strikes against Syria had been ordered. These strikes were ordered in response to alleged use of chemical weapons. As I listened to this news story, all I could think was this was not the peace that Jesus must have intended or wanted for us. Instead, I felt startled and terrified. Even reading about Jesus’ interaction with the disciples on the road to Emmaus and hearing Jesus’ words of peace left me feeling disbelieving and wondering. When will we experience the peace Jesus intends.
In his blog, David Lose, writes, “Too often, I think, we think of peace as simply the cessation of conflict. And clearly and end to violence is a good thing. Many of us have prayed for peace in the Middle East, peace in our community, perhaps even peace in our home. But I think the peace Jesus offers is more than the absence of something negative. Indeed, I think it has its own presence and gravity. When someone reports feeling ‘at peace,’ for instance, he or she is reporting more than an absence of conflict but instead testifies to a sense of wholeness, even rightness, of and in one’s very being. It’s a sense of harmony with those persons and things around us. Peace connotes a sense of contentment, but even more fulfillment, a sense that in this moment one is basking in God’s pleasure” (http://www.davidlose.net/2016/04/easter-6-c-peace-the-world-cannot-give/).
David Lose seems to be pointing at the idea that the world cannot give us the peace we are looking for or the peace that we need. The peace Jesus offers is a gift of God in moments when we recognize there are limits to what we can affect and achieve on our own; not that we surrender responsibility, but we place ourselves, our loved ones, and our future in God’s hands.
In the midst of news that often seems filled with stories that are contrary to peace, how often do we really sense the depths of God’s promise of peace? How often do we really sense that no matter who we are, what we have done, or what happens that God will not abandon us, but is always working for our good and through us for the good of our neighbor and the world? How often do we really feel caught up in and by God’s peace and promise that God loves us more than anything and will hold us through all that may come? How often do we sense God’s deep purpose that we not only experience this peace but also share it with others?
In the midst of Jesus’ crucifixion on the road to Emmaus and the news of violence in our world it may be difficult to imagine the depths of God’s peace. And yet, in the midst of their doubts Jesus appears to the disciples and greets them with words of peace. Jesus shows them the wounds in his hands and feet and even eats with them to prove that it is in fact him. And them, Jesus tells them you are witnesses to these things.
Today, Jesus continues to offer us peace in a way that other people and the world cannot. Jesus comes to us in the bread and wine to say touch my wounds and know my peace. Jesus comes to us in the gifts of communion and baptism so that we will receive peace anew and share it with those we encounter. In the midst of doubt and fear, may we know the depths of God’s gift of peace so that we may bask in God’s promise of love and desire to use us for good. And may we leave hereempowered to be witnesses to Christ’s desire for peace in the world.
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