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1. Peace
The disciples had been run through the wringer. They had ridden an emotional roller coaster during the last week. Their grandiose hopes and dreams of Palm Sunday were soon shattered, giving way to the terror of Maundy Thursday, followed by the grief of Good Friday and the sorrow of Holy Saturday. Easter evening was a mixed bag of emotions as stories were swapped about Jesus’ four appearances earlier that day: to Mary Magdalene, to the other women, to Peter, and to the Emmaus disciples. Our text now records Jesus’ fifth appearance: “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!” Peace...now that was a foreign and unfamiliar feeling for the disciples these days. In fact, it had eluded them completely during Holy Week. Their Master had been captured, condemned, crucified, and consigned to a hurried grave. With their Friend and Master dead, theirs was a lost cause. What good was a god who lay dead in the grave? They were men without a country so to speak. They didn’t know where to turn. They were the next thing to outlaws. They were in turmoil. Suddenly, Jesus appeared among them, proclaiming peace amidst peril and turmoil.
Although those words were a common Oriental greeting, the risen Savior gave them new meaning beyond ‘Good Evening’ or ‘How do you do?’ Peace was a lifetime project of Jesus. It was announced by the angels at His birth: “Peace on earth, goodwill toward men.” His whole life was lived with that grandiose goal in mind. He didn’t go around staging peace protests trying to get the Romans off the Jews’ backs. He didn’t set up a political platform advocating peace. That wasn’t the kind of peace He was bringing to the world. In fact, in regard to world peace, He once said: “I came not to send peace, but a sword.” John 14:27 makes it clear that His peace was a much more comprehensive peace: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you. I do not give you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” This was peace in the highest sense of the term -- peace of soul, peace of mind, peace of conscience. Peace between God and man.
That peace was a lifetime project and process worked out by Jesus. He had to live a perfect, sinless life to satisfy the Father’s demand for perfection. But that was only the first part of the peace-making process: His active obedience. The hardest part was yet to come: His passive obedience -- His suffering and death for all mankind’s sins to satisfy His Father’s demand for justice. Peace was irrevocably won on the cross. It is a privilege of the Passion. Jesus had earned it, and it was His to give. So, on Easter evening, He proclaimed peace to His disciples. All except Thomas, that is. He missed it because he missed Christ. He continued in his grief, fear, skepticism, and despair. That was the penalty he paid, the forfeiture he made, for missing the Lord. Lack of peace is a terrible price to pay.
But that is the price that many, far too many, pay when they fail to meet Christ where He can be found -- in church and worship. These are the blessings they miss, who miss Christ by failing to permit His power and influence to come into their lives through the Word in worship. God knows the world needs peace. Hearts need it. Families need it. Nations need it. It’s not hard to see how doubt and unbelief sour and embitter many a life; how fear, restlessness, and hopelessness grip people as they ponder an uncertain future; and how despair and grief envelop people as they are confronted with the shadows of death. People need peace. The place to get that peace that the world cannot give is in community with other believers in a church where the Word is preached and practiced in its truth and purity. There, the Prince of Peace greets you with the words: “Peace be unto you.” There you confess your sins, which want to rob you of peace, and there you receive absolution for them, the assurance that those sins are forgiven. There, you receive a very personal peace knowing that when Christ died, He died for you. There, you hear that precious Gospel message, through which the Holy Spirit plants a peace that passes all human understanding into your hearts as He fills your cups of faith, which the world is desperately trying to drain. It is at the Lord’s house and in His presence that you receive peace from the Word that is present and presented there.
2. Proof
Thomas missed this peace when he missed Christ. So do people today when they miss regularly attending church. But Thomas missed more than just peace. He missed proof positive that Jesus was alive and the accompanying joy, the joy of his salvation. Jesus knew that merely proclaiming peace was not enough, so He provided proof: “After He said this, He showed them His hands and side.” No doubt, He did this for two reasons: first, it was to remove every doubt and misgiving that they might have had in regard to His identity. But more importantly, it was to bring joy to their hearts. Those nail prints in the hands of the dying Savior were symbols of shame and disgrace. They provoked sorrow and grief. But in the hands of the risen Savior, they were signs of His Resurrection and seals upon the certainty of the forgiveness of sins. This proof pushed out all fear and replaced it with joy. Our text says: “The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.” The joy they felt was more than the joy of just seeing their old Friend. This joy was the joy of their salvation. They were redeemed, and they knew it. The Good Friday gloom and sadness were replaced by Easter joy and gladness.
All the disciples experienced this joy. All except Thomas, that is. He missed the joy because he missed Christ. He wasn’t there when the Lord appeared. The only nail prints he knew were those in the hands of the suffering Savior on Good Friday. Therefore, he was still in his doubt and despair. Hear his words upon his return: “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.” The joy of salvation, which the other disciples felt, was foreign to his own heart. He missed this joy because he missed Christ.
People today miss that joy, too, when they miss seeing Christ at His home in our houses of worship, where He comes to us through His Word to dispel all fear and doubt and instill in us the joy of our salvation. Outwardly, there may appear to be very little difference between the church-goer and the non-church-goer. But there is! A huge difference! The one has seen the nail prints in the hands of the risen Lord and rejoices; the other has no cause for such rejoicing. Visit any serious sickbed. Linger at any casket side, and you will soon see the difference between people who know the nail prints in living hands and those who know them only in dead hands, if they know them at all.
The joy of the risen Savior in our lives isn’t that He removes all sorrow from them but that in the midst of that sorrow, He is there, and He cares for us, assuring us that He has taken care of our greatest sorrow: sin. And that He certainly will help us through our lesser sorrows. He reminds us, too, that our suffering is for only a short time and that it can’t even be compared to the glory that we will one day enjoy for all eternity. Those who miss meeting Christ at their church miss the joys of heart and soul, which only Christ can bring.
3. Purpose
Thomas, for a time -- a week to be exact -- missed yet a third blessing when he missed Christ. He missed purpose in his life. The blessing of meeting the risen Christ is not just that He makes us feel good, but that He makes us do good. He gives purpose to our lives. He gives us work to do. Important work: “Again Jesus said, ‘Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” The Father sent Jesus to save us from our sins, to preach the Gospel, and “to work while it is day, before the night comes when no man can work.” Now, Jesus sends His disciples and us to do the same thing. We can’t save people from their sins, of course, but we can point them to their Savior. We must bring Christ to people so that the Holy Spirit, in turn, can bring people to Christ.
He doesn’t send us out there alone, but He joins us and lends power and direction to our preaching: “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” Through the Word, the Holy Spirit does His work. And so we are to bring to people the forgiveness of sins. We are to “preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified, that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life.” We are to lift up Christ with our lips and with our lives so that all people might be drawn to Him. As we preach and witness, the Holy Spirit will work through the Word we share and warm people's hearts for Christ and His cause.
Thomas missed this direction and purpose in his life because he missed Christ on that first Easter evening. And so do those who don’t take advantage of meeting Christ where He can be found this side of heaven. They miss that definite purpose for their life.
This world is awfully large. It is really easy to lose our way, our direction, and our purpose in this life. Many people are drifting, wandering aimlessly with no real direction. Many have chosen a direction, but one that inevitably will lead them down a dead end. Usually, people who miss meeting Christ in worship regularly end up pursuing pleasure, profit, popularity, or power, none of which provides any lasting pleasure, all of which are buried with them when they die.
But we have the one thing needful, the one thing that truly gives our lives direction -- the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is ours to share. It gives our life direction and purpose.
So many miss that direction and purpose for their lives because they miss meeting Christ in church on a regular basis. For you who are faithful in your worship attendance, enjoy that peace, that joy, and that purpose that He gives to your life. Prize highly your church attendance. Saints, my prayer for you is that every Sunday finds you in the fellowship of other believers, eagerly and anxiously sitting at the feet of our Lord, hearing His Word, and singing His praises. Then, the blessings that those first Easter Christians experienced will be yours as well. Then, personally, you shall experience again and again that “blessed are those who hear the word of God and obey it.” Amen.
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