The Message, April 27, 2025: "Peace Be With You," John 20:19-31

Author: Rev. Scott W. Cousineau
April 30, 2025

 

“Peace Be With You”
A Message by Rev. Scott W. Cousineau
John 20:19-31

            “Ah, Thomas, old friend. How have you been? What have you been up to this past year? And why were you not with the rest of the disciples when Jesus appeared to them on that first day of the week?”

            “Were you out shopping for provisions? Were you looking for a way out of the city? Were you out listening to what the people on the street were saying? Where were you?! What were you doing?!”

            If only he could answer us.

            Over the years, you have heard me mention the lectionary before. For those of you who may be unfamiliar, the lectionary was created with a three-year cycle of scripture readings that would encourage and enable worship leaders and Bible readers to explore the whole Bible in the course of that three-year cycle. The scripture readings are organized in such a way that each week there is an Old Testament reading, a Psalm, a Gospel reading, and an Epistle (letter) reading.

            However, there is an anomaly. Our passage this morning does not rotate. This passage is included every year, in all three cycles, on the Second Sunday of Easter. Every year. Maybe that is why attendance is always a little low on that Sunday after Easter. The faithful think to themselves, “Well … we can stay home, honey. Today is Doubting Thomas Day.”

            Initially, my thought for today was that I would skip Thomas all together. I would throw a curve ball at you. But then, as I contemplated what I might focus upon, and as I read and pondered some more, I realized that we have to start with our old friend. There is a reason why we spend time with him every year.

            Reverend James Luther Adams was a pastor and then a professor at Harvard Divinity School and Andover Newton Theological School (my alma mater). His first church was in Salem, Massachusetts. In his book, The Prophethood of All Believers, he wrote: “An unexamined faith is not worth having, for it can only be true by accident. A faith worth having is faith with discussing and testing.”

            In his First Letter to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul wrote: “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see only a reflection, as in a mirror, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.” (1 Corinthians 13:11-12)

            When I was a young child, the totality of my knowledge of my faith could be summed up by these words: “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” My guess is that a lot of us could say the same thing, and it is a wonderful place to begin our faith journeys. But, as we get older, we must ask ourselves, “Yes, but what does it mean? What does Jesus’ love mean to me? And what does it mean for my Christian life? What does it ask of us?”

            And that is why Thomas is so important for us to consider.

            When Thomas joined the other disciples after Jesus’ first appearance in that locked room, we can imagine that they recounted Jesus’ visit with a very excited and enthusiastic energy. “Jesus was here! Jesus … THE Jesus!! He was here, in this room. He talked to us! He breathed on us!!! It was amazing!!!” And we can also imagine Thomas saying, “Really? Are you certain it was him? You are all so tired and emotional. Are you sure? Is there a chance that this could be a case of group wishful thinking or delusion?”

            A week later, when Thomas WAS with the others, and Jesus appeared to all of them together, Thomas was still skeptical. “Okay, ‘Jesus.’ (He used air quotes with his fingers.) Show me. If you really are the REAL Jesus … show me.” And when Jesus did show him, when Jesus let Thomas touch his hands and his side, Thomas proclaimed, “My Lord and my God!” He was the first person in John’s Gospel account to refer to Jesus as “God.”

            Thomas questioned so that he could be sure, and his “doubt” strengthened his conviction. Thomas’ skepticism helped him be more certain of what he believed.

            And why does all of this matter? Remember that in the first part of this passage Jesus sent the disciples forth. “As the Father sent me, so I send you.” Most of the people that the disciples would reach out to will be those who have never seen Jesus. Yes, initially there would be those who were in Jerusalem when Jesus was there. But as they went forth and began their ministry, they would encounter people who would be skeptical. They would encounter people who were uncertain, so they … the disciples of Jesus Christ … had to be certain. They had to have the strength of their conviction. They cannot be like those people that we see at school or at work that stand up to make a presentation and you can tell right away that they are woefully unprepared.

            Which brings us back to where I had originally intended my focus to be this morning … the beginning of the passage. Let us go back to the part that we typically rush through so that we can get to our friend Thomas. Because the heart of the passage and the lesson is there.

            The first part of Jesus’ ministry was complete. The Word of God, the Incarnate Love of God, came and lived among us that we might see, and know, and experience God in the Flesh. Jesus walked among us. He preached and he taught. He prayed and he performed amazing acts of power. He showed the disciples everything. And then the empty tomb and the folded grave clothes pointed toward the Truth. Nothing in all the earth, nothing in all Creation, can separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ. Not even death.

            The Risen Christ, told them, “Now the ministry is yours. Now is your time. You will carry the ministry forward. You are hidden away in fear. I give you my peace. You may have thought that this was the end, but this is the new beginning. Receive the Holy Spirit. Receive the Holy Spirit of God, the same Spirit that hovered over the Chaos and called forth life. I give you my breath. Know that it is God’s Breath. Know that it is the Breath of Life. Go forth and offer that life to the world. There is nothing to fear. You have my Breath. You have my Spirit. You are in me, and I am in you.”

            Jesus came to them and gave them peace.
            Jesus came to them and gave them life.
            Jesus breathed into them in the same way that God breathed life into the first humans.
            Jesus breathed into them in the same way that God breathed life into the dry bones in the valley of the dead. (Ezekiel)

            We sang the song of our childhood faith: “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” What does it mean for us now?

            It means …
            Jesus loves me … and he gives me his peace.
            Jesus loves me … and he also gives me his breath, his Spirit, and his Presence.
            Jesus loves me … and this gives me life.

            He gives it to me and he gives it to you. He gives it to us.
Jesus’ peace be with us.
            Jesus’ Spirit be with us.
            Jesus’ Presence be with us.
            Jesus gives us life.

            And what does it mean? What does it ask of us? Just as God sent him, so he sends us. We go into the world to offer peace. We go into the world to offer God’s Presence. We go into the world to love. We go into the world to offer life.

            We have nothing to fear. God is with us. Jesus is with us. Amen.

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