At this
point, Jerusalem was quickly filled with the gossips concerning what happened
to Jesus’ body. All kinds of stories must have emerged. The disciples of Jesus
must be excited as well as puzzled by the news. Several individuals or groups
had already claimed to have seen Jesus alive. First was Mary Magdalene. She was
the one who came running from the tomb to tell Peter and John of the missing
body. Of course she returned later and met Jesus. Then there were those women
who remained at the tomb and were notified of Christ’s resurrection. Third was
the account of Cleopas and his companion, probably his wife, travelling down
the road to Emmaus. They must have returned excitedly narrating their encounter
with the Risen Lord. Then there were news that Peter had seen Jesus. So on the
evening of the first day of the week, they were all back at the Upper Room to
talk about what had happened. John tells us later that Thomas was absent. In other words, only ten of the remaining apostles
were there in that Upper Room.
Notice
John’s emphasis on the first day of the week. From here we learn that Sunday
and not Saturday would soon become the Christian’s Sabbath. It would be the day
that we followers of Christ would set aside time to gather in His name to
worship and honour Him. Furthermore, John tells us here that they were gathering
within closed doors for fear of the Jews. The doors were shut or more accurately,
barred. But with the Lord, no barred doors could keep Him out. For He just drop
in on them and they found Him in the midst of their gathering. The Lord, the Conqueror
of death came among them. There was no limitation to what His resurrected body
could do. What a joy to know that we will also have this sort of transformed
body ultimately. But what happened here also reminds us of the promise of the
Lord, to be with us whenever two of three of us are gathered in His name.
Worthy of mention was the gracious way Jesus addressed
them when He appeared to them in the Upper Room. He did not chide them but
touchingly announced His peace upon them. He was truly magnanimous. He did not
chide Peter for denying Him nor did He demand an explanation from the rest who forsook
Him. But He went straight to assure and strengthen them. He not only removed their
sins, He now removed their fears. The pronouncement of His peace over them was
to set their hearts at rest. Everyone had failed Him but He did not hold it
against them. Immediately, He also showed them the
nailed scarred marks on His hands and the spear pierced mark on His side.
Why? They were shown not to establish His identity but to
establish the basis of the peace we all experience in life. The only way to find real peace in life is to be reconciled with God. The marks in His hands and side remain
a reminder that our peace was sealed by the marks He bore on our behalf. This Peace is now the inheritance of all who believe in Him.
In verse 21, Jesus again made another pronouncement of
peace. He said, “Peace be with you.” This is not just a mere repetition. It is
a clear indication that not only do we need to have peace with God but that we
also need the peace of God. The first peace deals with our separation from God,
the second deals with the need to stay afloat in a hostile and unrest world. We
need to be reconciled to Him but we also need to be sustained in Him. Our peace
with God enables us to stay connected to Him in order to experience the peace
of God to overcome in a hostile world. We all know that the greatest threat to this peace in our day and age is hurriedness. We
must learn to ruthlessly eliminate hurriedness in life. Let us be still and
know that He is God. Peace is Christ’s resurrected gift to us. But the peace Christ gives should
not be an end in itself, it should be a means to an end. Having experienced it,
the followers of Christ were expected to spread this message of peace. That’s
the reason why Jesus added, “…as the Father has sent Me, I
also send you” after His peace pronouncement. He came to give us peace, so our role
today is to proclaim that peace. Let us be Christ’s messengers of peace in a
world of unrest!
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