The following homily was shared at our Sunday Evening Eucharist Service March 7. 2024.

“On the evening of that first day of the week,

when the doors were locked, where the disciples were,

for fear of the Jews,

Jesus came and stood in their midst

and said to them, "Peace be with you."

When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side.

The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.

Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you.

As the Father has sent me, so I send you."

And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them,

"Receive the Holy Spirit.

Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them,

and whose sins you retain are retained."

Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve,

was not with them when Jesus came.

So the other disciples said to him, "We have seen the Lord."

But he said to them,

"Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands

and put my finger into the nailmarks

and put my hand into his side, I will not believe."

Now a week later his disciples were again inside

and Thomas was with them.

Jesus came, although the doors were locked,

and stood in their midst and said, "Peace be with you."

Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands,

and bring your hand and put it into my side,

and do not be unbelieving, but believe."

Thomas answered and said to him, "My Lord and my God!"

Jesus said to him, "Have you come to believe because you have seen me?

Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed."

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples

that are not written in this book.

But these are written that you may come to believe

that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,

and that through this belief you may have life in his name.” (John 20:19-31)

The Lord is Risen. Christ is Risen indeed.

Not only is He risen, but we have seen the risen Lord.

In our gospel reading, the disciples of Jesus are all gathered together because word on the street according to the womenfolk is that Jesus isn’t dead after all. Then Jesus shows up and says to them, “Peace be with you.” The apostles rejoice that Jesus is here, and then He says, “Peace be with you” again. Jesus is really emphasizing His peace. There’s something about that peace that the disciples need. That you and I desperately need.

How will we receive it? As classes and work and marriage and child rearing and mission trips and job searches and wars and a plethora of other demands draw us to lock ourselves up in a room, wouldn’t you like Jesus to show up in your life and say “Peace be with you?”

In your prayer time or during Bible study this Tuesday night. In your community group or at church. Heck, wouldn't it be real swell if He just showed up right now? Or was willing to play nice and show up at the appropriate time a few minutes from now when we’re ready to receive Communion?

I can hear myself saying something like this when I was younger: “Man, I wish I could have just lived back then when Jesus was walking around. Believing in Him would be so much easier if I could just see Him. If I could just touch him. If I could just hear Him speak.” I still think things like that. I bet you do too. I bet you my car that you do.

I just want to tell you that that’s just not true. It wouldn't have been easier for you to believe in Jesus if you had been there and seen the miracles. I know we’d like to believe so, but it isn’t true. Sure, some people believed when they saw Jesus and the apostles do incredible things, but it wouldn’t have been you and me that was believin’. Jesus’ parable of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16 tells us as much. “If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rises from the dead.” Ok Jesus, foreshadowing much?

After all of the miracles and close-enough-to-touch opportunities, it’s only maybe ten of the disciples and a few Marys that are in that room when Jesus shows up again. Compared to the crowds that were quote-un-quote “following” Jesus when he was feeding thousands and healing multitudes. I bet you and I would have been a part of the crowds and not in that little locked room. And those disciples don’t even believe it!

The Gospel of John records this exchange between Jesus and His disciples before the Crucifixion. Jesus says:

“I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father.

His disciples said, ‘Ah, now you are speaking plainly and not using figurative speech! Now we know that you know all things and do not need anyone to question you; this is why we believe that you came from God.” Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:28-32)

In Christ we can have peace.

Thomas knows what it means to be in Christ. And even He is adamant before he starts cavity searching Jesus, saying that, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe." Thank God for Thomas. If he can make it, so can we.

So what is it actually going to take for you and I to believe Jesus isn’t still dead? How can we believe at all? How can we too be in Christ? When we cry out, “My Lord and my God” and Jesus says, "Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed," how shall we believe?

God’s peace is what it will take. That’s what we see in the Gospel. Peace be with you. Peace be with you. Peace be with you. He says it three times. It’s going to take someone else telling us “Peace be with you.”

Let me share some of Christ’s peace with you now. I want to say to each of you right now to CHILL OUT! You don’t have to get anxious about being more or less blessed for believing, with or without seeing. You don’t have to feel guilty that you’d actually rather just see. You want to touch Jesus? You want to receive his peace? Good news, that’s what’s about to happen. It isn’t a coincidence that we are about to go to one another and give each other Christ’s peace and embrace each other.

Here in a moment, Jesus is going to show up and do something to all of us in this Eucharist. I don’t want to invite you to imagine or pretend that when we say “The Peace of Christ” to one another here in a moment that it is like Jesus doing it, or a very pretty picture of it, but that it is Jesus’ peace. Instead of imagining and pretending, I want to encourage you to believe that it is Jesus’ peace.

Come see Jesus. Come and look. Come touch Him. Come and eat His body and drink His blood. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Let us rejoice too. It has always struck me how much giggling happens here at Eucharist when we receive the gifts of Christ’s body and blood.

I have seen the risen Lord. Do not be unbelieving, but believe. Amen.

His Peace Be With You: Philip Matherne

POWERED BY SQUARESPACE