Grace and Peace

 

On the evening of that first Easter, as Jesus’ disciples gathered behind closed doors, they were dispirited, maybe even terrified. Now, with Jesus gone, the next knock on the door might be the Roman police coming for them. Would they be crucified like Jesus? And to make matters worse, their fear was combined with remorse: why had they followed Jesus so impetuously in the first place? Why hadn’t the “kingdom come?” Why on earth had they left their families? For this? To huddle together in fear?

 

The room called regret. The room named remorse. The room filled with failure and fear. It is a room we have all known at some point in our life, one way or another. That room of shadows and despair … who has not occupied such a room?

 

William Temple, the Archbishop of Canterbury during World War II, accurately pointed out that the Resurrection in the Gospel of John is not a “mighty act,” but rather “the quiet rising of the sun which has already vanquished the night.” How true. Then Jesus comes among them. How He appears the text never says — just that He was there, standing among them. Quietly, like the rising of the sun, Jesus shows Himself to His bewildered disciples as they huddle together in fear and says, “Peace.”


And in that sacred “peace” which passes all understanding, the disciples are forgiven for their betrayal, their faithlessness and their fear. “Forgiveness” in the Bible means “a return from exile.” It means “to come home.” Here, it means returning from a radioactive room called regret and remorse to a new room — a room called Resurrection. “Do not let your hearts be troubled. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?” (John 14:1-2)

 

In that moment of forgiveness, even though they never leave the room, the disciples are taken to the room called Grace. To the room named New Creation. Before it is about anything else, the Resurrection is about forgiveness, the return of exiles.

 

Easter evening reveals the Offended calling the offenders home. To miss this point is to miss the Gospel. Just as Jesus had done when He called Lazarus out of a room called Death, He now calls the disciples forth from an upstairs morgue into the light of new birth. That’s Grace. That’s what Love does. And that is what we must do — forgive. In fact, if we do not exercise this God-given capacity, our lack of action is not neutral. Without forgiveness, we hold each other in bondage. Without forgiving and being forgiven, we cannot be free, so … Forgive.

The Rev. John R. Bentley, Jr.
Pastoral Associate
If you would like to reply to this devotional, please email
the Rev. John Bentley at jbentley@smec.org.