Peace be with You
19 When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 22 When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” (John 20:19-23, NRSV)
Jesus, a minority within the bounds of the Roman empire, after being unjustly killed by officers appears to his followers. He appears amid their fear of suffering the same brutal fate as Jesus. But to spur them towards action where they might disbar the evil and injustices prevalent in society, Jesus dispels fear by introducing peace. Why? Because without peace, fear may not be dismantled. And because fear may cause paralysis, trigger animosity and hostility, prompt violent protests, and inhibit God’s purpose for a renewed creation and humanity governed by justice, harmony, and love, fear must be dismantled. Fear must be dismantled if people are to participate in the restoration of the world by being mobilized for action to be harbingers of peace in an often disoriented, disinterested, and disinvested world.
Jesus’ proclamation of peace is a display of what he desires for humanity. Because he desires peace, his mission is to impart peace not only in the form of quelling hatred, violence, and senseless killings, but also by offering security, safety, prosperity, and salvation for those who are oppressed, are traumatized by past and current events, and who are unsure of how to move forward in life because of the barriers put in place that diminishes their humanity, impedes their freedom, restricts their opportunities, and subsequently seeks to darken their futures.
Jesus reveals that he has power to deliver such peace. For though he suffered brutality and death while in police custody, he was enabled by the power of God to rise above such trauma and victimization of his personhood to a new life engendered by peace. And that new life is embodied in a wounded soul, with scars that serve as reminders of his past. And it is those reminders that strengthen his resolve to participate in God’s mission for humanity to live in harmony with God and all others.
Jesus arose to a new life that is not dominated by the power of darkness or death but that is emboldened by the power of God and the life that is found in God’s Spirit. And he offers that to us today as we stand in the wake of mass demonstrations of anguish and grief over the nation’s history of the inhumane treatment of people of color.
What is God saying to us today? God is asking us to not ignore the pain and suffering of black communities. God is showing us that the roots of racism grows deep within the fabric of our culture and our nation and is expressed in a range from subtle to blatantly overt forms of discrimination. God is also making us aware of how trauma may be passed on to burden successive generations, and that the side effects of slavery and oppression may manifest themselves in various ways. But God is also revealing to us much more. In God’s light, humanity’s darkness is revealed. What do we see when we look at ourselves? What emotions are stirring within our hearts? When have we experienced such feelings in the past?
Healing and restoration need to occur not only for those who have been made to feel inferior, are harrassed because of the color of the skin, and have had their voices ignored, but also for those who are complacent or who are calloused. Many people are calloused towards racism and its harmful effects, the senseless murders and unjust treatment of black men and women, the barricades erected to hinder the upward social mobility of people of color, and the struggles that many blacks face in America. They may also be calloused towards the anger, anxieties, and other hardships and pain that many blacks in local communities often face in fighting to survive in places that are indifferent to their struggles. God wants us to be aware of that.
God is speaking. God’s purpose for humanity is for us to stand in solidarity with one another, not in opposition, thus propagating disunity, dis-ease, and strife. God wants peace to be with us. And by that peace, we may recongnize the image of God in all people and treat them with dignity and compassion.
What is God saying to us today? God is saying that all is not well with my soul. My soul is hurting. It weeps for my people that I created to display my glory in. And the answer to the healing of humanity resides in Jesus’ offering of peace which is epitomized in people living new lives in harmony with one another that do not ignore the wounds of the past. For it is because of those wounds that humankind may be determined to transform the world into a place where all lives may be illuminated by the truth, and justice may “roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” (Amos 5:24, NRSV).
On this day of Pentecost, will we hear what the Spirit of God is saying or will God’s voice be unintelligble to us?
Written by Rev. Karen Jenkins
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