Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came.
So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it."
A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe." Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!" Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
-John 20:19-31 NIV
Grace mercy and peace to you from God our Father, through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, amen. Our text today is from the Gospel reading, with special emphasis on the first verse. “On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" Thus far our text.
He is Risen, He is risen indeed, alleluia, amen. Brothers and Sisters in Christ, today’s text is about fear. Not that fear you get in the pit of your stomach when you realize you didn’t get your homework done for your 6th grade English teacher. Its not about that fear you get every April 14th, knowing that your taxes need to be mailed in the next day. No, friends, this fear is something even more powerful than that. It is even worse than that fear you have after you watch that scarey movie at your friends house. Today’s text is about fear over life and death, and fear over the punishment of your sins. Today’s text is about the worst kind of fear, eternal fear, meeting your maker fear.
Today’s text takes place on the evening of the very first Easter. The disciples are all gathered together, but they are not celebrating. Peter and John had seen the empty tomb that morning, they had spoken with Mary Magdalene, but they weren’t excited. Instead, the disciples had locked themselves together in a room. They had the door firmly bolted, the windows pulled shut, and they were deathly afraid.
Why were they afraid?
Our text gives us one of the reasons, they were afraid for fear of the Jews. They were afraid that those same people who three days earlier had killed Jesus would come after them. After all they had been followers of Jesus of Nazereth, a man who was crucified, being accused of trying to overthrow Roman rule. A man who, when asked, “are you the King of the Jews,” responded, “yes it is as you say.” Jesus claimed to be the king of the Jews, and neither the Jews nor the Romans liked it.
Now with Jesus gone, with Jesus crucified, the Disciples are afraid that they are next on the list for crucifixion. They are afraid that they will be the next ones nailed up for the world to ridicule. They were afraid. And we can’t blame them can we? After they had seen Jesus beaten, tortured, and slowly killed, and they didn’t want to suffer the same fate, so they were lying low. They were trying to fly under the radar, they were hiding. Today they are locked up in a house, avoiding anyone who might accuse them.
But they aren’t only afraid of the Jews who killed Jesus. No, they are also afraid of the “King of the Jews”, Jesus. What? How can they be afraid of Jesus? They are afraid because of what they did as Jesus was arrested and tried and crucified. One of their number, Judas, betrayed Jesus into the hands of the Jews. Peter denied Jesus three times, and then ran away weeping. The other ten disciples didn’t even wait around long enough to deny him, instead they fled into the night. At the time when Jesus was most in need of friends, they abandoned him. They left him to die on His own, to suffer unaccompanied.
But now they have heard a new report. They have heard that the tomb is empty, they have heard that Jesus is no longer dead, that what He said about Himself was the Truth, that He must die and then raise again on the third day. Now they are afraid of Jesus, they are afraid that He will come find them and pay them back for what they did to him. They are afraid that Jesus will seek revenge on those who abandoned Him.
And they should be afraid, they had abandoned the Lord and Creator of Heaven and Earth. It doesn’t take much imagining to see that is not the kind of person you want to make angry. What punishment could God have waiting for them, it could be worse then the punishment that the Jews have waiting for them.
So here sit the disciples, locked in a small house, waiting for which ever group finds them first. They are afraid, afraid that their lives are forfeit. Afraid that they shortly die, either by the hand of the Jews who killed their master, or by the master they betrayed.
They have the doors locked, to try and keep out those who want to harm them, they have the doors locked, so that only the people they want to let in can come in. So instead of celebrating that first Easter evening, they are afraid. There they are that first Easter evening, alone, scared, locked in, waiting whatever may happen.
Those foolish disciples, don’t they know they don’t have to be afraid? Don’t they know that everything will work out? What’s the big deal, Jesus has raised from the dead? Don’t they get it? But we are guilty of the same thing. We too have fears in our lives. We too struggle to trust that God will really take care of us whatever befalls us in our Earthly lives.
What are you afraid of? What things do you run away from, hide yourself from? What things are you afraid of more than anything else. All of us have something we are afraid of. Are you afraid for your family, for their future? Are you afraid that you might not have enough money to provide for them in these difficult times? That is a very real concern in this day and age. Many of our retirement accounts have lost half their value. People are losing their jobs all over the country and we fear that it might be only a matter of time before it is our turn. Are you afraid for your loved one who is sick, and facing death? It does hurt when we see that person in pain, sometimes we would rather run away than stand up and face the problems that the world presents us with. Do you have a loved one who is struggling with a particular sin, and the pain of seeing what they are doing to themselves is almost too much to bear. Are you afraid of confessing Christ, or do you run away like the disciples?
All of us deal with these struggles, all of us deal with this sin. It is a fact of our lives here on Earth. All of us are guilty of something, some sort of sin, and as a result we live our lives in fear, fear of what the consequences will be, fear of what tomorrow may bring.
We too are often afraid of Jesus. Just like the disciples we are afraid of what will happen when Jesus returns and judges us for our sin. What secret sin do you harbor in your heart? What guilt is there that you hide away from everyone, that you don’t want anyone to know? Just like the disciples, we have abandoned God at some time or another. We know that Christ will return again on the last day, He has promised it. We even confess it in the creed when we see “from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead,” that’s you. He will come to judge you. So what do you do?
We try to hide our sin. Just like the disciples locked themselves in a room to hide because of fear, we too hide our sin away, deep down where we think no one can see it but ourselves. We try to hide the sin, and go on like it isn’t there. But it is there. It is there, and no matter how deep we try to hide it, no matter how much we try to not think about it, its there. Jesus knows our sin. We can’t hide it from him. He knows it, and He died because of it. We can’t run from him. We can’t keep him out.
Just like the disciples, we struggle with fear. We hide because of our sin. WE are a little bit afraid that Jesus will show up, and condemn us because we are not worthy to follow him.
But Jesus comes. In our text today, even though the disciples had locked themselves in, Jesus comes. So too for you, no matter where you lock yourself away, Jesus comes. He will find you no matter what. Our text says, “When the disciples were together with the door locked, Jesus appeared and stood among them and said, ‘peace be with you.’” Peace. Peace be with you. Peace is not what the disciples have been expecting. They have been expecting the judgment that comes with abandoning God, the judgment that leads to eternal death in hell, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, but instead, Jesus speaks peace, peace be with you. Jesus knows that they have abandoned him, Jesus knows they ran away from their troubles and their danger, but He still loves them, He still cares for them. He still speaks peace.
This voice that speaks “Peace be with you,” is the same voice that spoke, “let there be light, and there was.” When Jesus speaks peace, peace there will be. The disciples no longer are afraid, but instead can now rejoice, Jesus has risen and now He gives us peace.
Now He gives you peace. Now He speaks those same words, to us poor miserable sinners. Peace. Not as the world gives, does Jesus give to you, no, Jesus gives real peace. Eternal peace. He gives peace that can overcome all of those difficult situations in our life. He gives peace that can over come those deep dark secrets and sin that we hide away. He gives peace, which surpasses all our human understanding.
Just as the disciples could not keep this peace away by way of locked doors and closed window, so too, can you not keep Jesus from giving you His peace.
No, St. Paul even says, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” In that promise, you have peace. You don’t need to be afraid, God gives Peace. He promises it by His death and glorious resurrection. It is a promised sealed in His blood. It is a promise of peace.
Jesus is Risen, but we don’t have to be afraid, we don’t have to worry about what will happen when He gets here, because He brings peace, He brings life, He brings His love. He speaks loving words to you, “Peace be with you, for you are mine.” Amen.
