Wait a Minute, Jesus.
Are You Sure We’re Ready?
John 20:19-23
James Sledge April
24, 2022
Last
Sunday, we celebrated the news that Christ is risen. We filled the place with
flowers. We had special music and sang
for joy that Jesus Christ is risen today. Alleluia! But the very first Easter
seems not to have gone much like ours. There is little fanfare. There is little
in the way of celebration. In fact, our scripture reading finds the disciples
in hiding.Holy Spirit Window
St. Peter's Basilica
It is the evening of Easter. Mary Magdalene met the risen Jesus by the tomb earlier that morning. She returned to the disciples with the wonderful news that she has seen the Lord. But the evening finds the disciples huddled behind locked doors. They are not out proclaiming the good news. They are not rushing to tell everyone that Christ is risen. They are afraid of the authorities, and they are in hiding.
It is not a terribly impressive scene that the gospel paints for us—frightened, cowering disciples, trembling behind closed shutters, drawn curtains, bolted doors, with the lights turned down low. But into this unimpressive group comes Jesus with words of comfort. Twice he says, “Peace be with you.”
This is much more than a greeting. Jesus is giving them God’s shalom: spiritual wholeness, peace and harmony with God and with others. This is a profound blessing that gives restoration and the assurance of being held in God’s love. “Peace be with you.”
Does that seem at all odd to you? Doesn’t it seem like Jesus would comment on their lack of faith, their lack of understanding? Jesus has taught them, told them what would happen, told them he would be killed and rise again. Now it has all happened. Mary has told them that he has indeed risen. But they hide. Don’t you think Jesus must have been disappointed? Don’t you think he must have wondered if these were the right folks to carry the news to the world, to continue his work in the world?
But it only gets more strange. Not only does Jesus not fuss at them, Jesus commissions them for their work. “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” As the Father sent Jesus, he now sends them. Jesus is entrusting them with the very same job God had entrusted him. In the very same way that he embodied God’s love, these disciples are to embody God’s love in the world. And they are empowered to forgive sins just like Jesus.
Hold on a minute, Jesus. Are you sure? Do you really think these folks are ready? They haven’t demonstrated much reason to trust them. Why only a couple of days ago Peter, the leader of the disciples, was denying even knowing Jesus. Even after the resurrection they remain in hiding, and now Jesus says, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you”?