Bible Passage: John 20:19
Pastor: Joel Jenswold
Sermon Date: April 7, 2024

Bulletin April 7, 2024

In the name of, and to the eternal glory of, Jesus,

“Shalom!”  You have all heard that word.  Many of you even say it.  You recognize it as that Hebrew word that Jewish people use both to say hello and to say goodbye.  Most often the word “shalom” is translated into English with the word “peace.”  And that’s not bad.  But the word in Hebrew is more complex than that.  According to one Hebrew dictionary, “shalom” can mean all of the following:  completeness, soundness, welfare, peace, safety, health, prosperity, quiet, tranquility, contentment, security, and friendship.  If my counting is any good, that’s twelve English words that can be used to define this one Hebrew word!

Maybe that will help us begin to appreciate our text for this morning.  For in this text we have the risen Lord Jesus making his first appearance to his gathered disciples as a group.  And it is no accident that the first words out of the mouth of the risen Jesus to his friends are, “Shalom allicha!”  “Peace be with you!”  This was so much more than just your common greeting!  Jesus was not just saying, “Hello.”  He truly wanted to convey to them, and to us, the fullness of Easter Peace.

As we work our way through this text today, we can see elements of almost every word I read just a few moments ago.  The first word I read as one of the ideas of “shalom” was “completeness.”  Does that not fit with what we see in our text?  Imagine how empty the disciples must have been feeling.  Imagine their sense of loss.  Many of you have experienced what that is like to get together with a group for the first time after someone who was a big part of that group has died.  There is the very real sense that someone is missing.  The center of their group, the center of their world, died on Friday!  And now he stands before them and says, “Shalom.”  “Peace.”  Jesus is alive!  He is back!  Things are normal again, for Jesus is with them.  Nothing is missing.  Jesus is here.  Things are complete.

Friends, think about what a gaping hole there would be if Jesus was still dead.  Paul writes about this to the Corinthians.  He says, If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins…If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. (1 Corinthians 15:17-18)  If Jesus didn’t rise from the dead Christianity is a big donut!  There’s a big hole in the middle!  It’s incomplete.  Something is missing – hope of any kind!  But there he stands on Easter night.  He’s back.  Alive!  Everything is complete!  “Shalom.”  Peace!

In that list of words I read were the words “safety” and “security.”  Remember why the disciples were huddled in that lock room?  They were there for fear of the Jews (v. 19)  They were scared!  They felt insecure.  They felt exposed and vulnerable.  They wondered if they were next.  Now the risen Lord Jesus stands with them and says, “Shalom.”  One wonders if their collective fear began to melt in the moments after this all began to sink in.  “We don’t have to be so afraid!”

Friends, we don’t have to be so afraid!  Jesus lives!  Just look at the list of big, scary things that are defeated because Jesus lives.  First of all, there is the devil.  Paul told the Colossians that Jesus disarmed the powers of hell and made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. (Colossians 2:15)  Sin and guilt are defeated.  Paul told the Romans, [Jesus] was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. (Romans 4:25)  Death is defeated!  Jesus has promised, Because I live you also will live. (John 14:19)  Even those kings of the earth and rulers (Psalm 2:2) who took their stand against the Lord’s Anointed were the big losers!  They thought the death of Jesus would silence him and his cause.  They weren’t counting on his resurrection, which has become the biggest headline in the history of the world!  Every single power that lined up against Jesus – against us – has been defeated by the risen Jesus!  Whether men or demons line up against you, you are safe and secure!  “Shalom.”  Peace!

There is yet one more component of peace that we must consider this morning.  In the list of words that define “peace” was the word “friendship.”  Jesus stood before his disciples that night as a friend and said, “Peace.”  Why would he do that?  This entire group – every last one of them – had deserted him on Maundy Thursday night!  Some friends they were!  They abandoned Jesus.  They ran.  Their own skin was more important to them than being there for Jesus.  Who would have blamed Jesus if he had appeared in that room and lowered the boom on these cowards!  But he didn’t.  He showed them his wounds.  His hands and his side.  I wonder if he said anything as they examined his wounds.  He comes as a forgiving friend.  “Shalom.”  Peace.

Friends, this is the way the risen Jesus comes to you.  He says to you, “Shalom.”  Peace.  He comes as your forgiving Friend.  And this is so contrary to the way we sometimes think and feel Jesus wants to come to us.  We sit behind our own closed doors with a hurting conscience.  We did that thing again – you know, “that thing.”  Each time you do it you feel like such a loser.  You feel like such a poor disciple of Jesus.  “How could I do that?  Jesus deserves so much more!  So much better!”  We imagine what he would say if he appeared then and there.  Surely he would say something like, “Shame!”  Maybe he would appear and say, “Disgusting!”  Maybe he would appear and say, “Goodbye!”  But the risen Jesus comes to you.  In Word and Sacrament, he comes.  He shows you his hands and side.  “Forgiven,” he says.  “Shalom!”  Peace.

Peace is a very elusive thing for many people.  They will search for it in relationships and careers and achievement.  Only to come up empty again and again.  Here in our text is the answer.  Peace is found in Easter and the “shalom” from the risen Jesus!  It is everything you could ever want.  It is completeness, soundness, welfare, peace, safety, health, quiet, tranquility, contentment, security, and friendship.  It is Easter peace!

Amen.