Lasting Peace: Neither Given By Executive Orders Nor Taken By The Coronavirus
Text: John 20:19-31
In the
name of Jesus: Amen.
People
are angry. People are also still very fearful. You can hear it in the news. You
can read it in social media posts. And
then there are those who are angry and fearful at the same time.
The
effects of the Coronavirus, as well as the stay-at-home orders, seem to be
putting many Americans in distress. Bouncing back and forth between anger and
fear, many of us are feeling frustrated, agitated, worried, and confused.
Perhaps the best way to explain things is that we are all lacking peace.
Sure,
many Americans have peace and quiet at home, without the busyness of life, but during
this pandemic and the stay-at-home orders an unsettled mind has emerged. We are
not at peace because our security, safety, and normalcy have been shaken. We are not at peace because we are in the
midst of a war against COVID-19. Our
safety, prosperity, and happiness have not only been threatened but removed,
leaving us with the lack of peace – anxiety, anger, uncertainty, and sighful
aches.
Things
are not made any better when we turn on the news or social media, for the
messages that we hear are not voices of peace, but voices that echo the
insecurity, fear, and anger already inside our heads.
It is
no wonder why experts are so worried about a rise in suicides during
COVID-19. The social distancing that we all are
practicing not only is creating economic hardship for many individuals but
enhancing social isolation and loneliness for some people. And here is the
catch, when we are left alone, we are left with our thoughts. And our thoughts during this time have more
to do with insecurity, fear, and anger, than peace itself. This is why we all need the voice of the
church right now more than ever.
You
see, dear friends, the Christian Church is unique in that it gives to troubled
minds and souls. The Christian faith is not like all the other fake religions
in the world that demand you to pull yourselves up by your bootstraps. But rather, Christ’s Church gives peace.
Consider
for a moment our reading from the gospel of John. The disciples were locked in
a room after the crucifixion of Jesus. Now, they were not locked in a room because
of a stay-at-home order but because they were afraid. They were afraid because Jesus was just
crucified, died, and buried. However, amid
their fear, in a locked room, Jesus came and stood before them. He stood before them, not with anger but to
give them peace. The disciples were
lousy friends and pathetic disciples – they abandoned Jesus in His death. Jesus would have had every right to smite
them at this point; however, He knew their fear and therefore spoke peace to
them.
But we
must be careful at this point. The peace
of Jesus is quite different than how we understand peace. You see, it would be
a mistake to believe that Jesus was leaving His own feelings of peace with the
disciples. In other words, Jesus didn’t
calm the disciples and the room by exerting a calm disposition Himself. He did not use a sedated airy voice, a tender
face with a small smile, and effeminate hand gestures to calm everyone
down. Jesus was not mothering the
disciples,
“Hush, little ones. There, there, I’m going to make you a hot chocolate,
sing you a lullaby, and tuck you into your own special beds.”
To the
point, Jesus was not trying to transfer His peaceful disposition to them, nor was
he trying to invite them into a peaceful tranquility. Jesus was not trying to implement a so-called
Buddhist inner peace by getting the disciples to calm their minds.
What
this means, dear friends, is that the peace of Christianity is not a subjective
feeling of peace. When Jesus encountered the disciples in their locked room
with fear, He was not speaking a subjective feeling of peace to them. But
instead, the peace of Christ is established peace. It is given regardless of the circumstances
of life and especially regardless of feelings.
Think
of it this way; the peace of Christ is a security that you, as the baptized,
have during the attacks of the devil, knowing that as bad as it gets, the devil
is a defeated foe. The peace of Christ is the reality that your sins are
forgiven and that you will not suffer the wrath of God on the great last day.
This peace is an assurance that you are given by the Holy Spirit that allows
you to step into death and not feel the fear of death, for you know that you
belong to Christ who has defeated death and is life. The peace of Christ is to know that Jesus has
defeated sin, death, and the devil for you, and nothing can change this reality
for you, as the baptized.
And
so, this established, objective and concrete peace that you have in Christ is
not the same as the peace of the world. The peace that the world gives only
comes when evil is removed, whereas, the peace of Christ is yours regardless if
there is evil or not.
Listen
very carefully, the world will strive for peace by trying to remove anything
that is evil or threatening to us as humans.
This is the only kind of peace that the world knows. It is a kind of
peace that results in us working to eradicate evil (which is good) and
establish a perfect peaceful utopia. But
once evil is destroyed, worldly peace is only temporary until the next threat
raises its head. And so, like a carrot on the end of a stick, the world
frantically pursues peace but never fully and permanently achieves it. The
world seriously exerts itself to remove evil for the sake of obtaining perfect
peace, but it never obtains lasting peace. The peace of the world can vanish as
quickly as it comes. But you, as the baptized, know that the peace of Christ is
yours, regardless of the troubles in this life.
The
Lord Jesus Christ spoke and gave peace to the disciples in the locked room
after His resurrection. But keep in mind
that the disciples did not live happily ever after with worldly peace –
happiness, prosperity, and safety. As we know from church history, all the
disciples, except for John, experienced extreme hardships because of the
Christian faith. For example, Matthew was killed with a battleax in Ethiopia
for the Christian faith. Peter was
crucified upside down. The Apostle Paul was beheaded by Emperor Nero. And let
us not forget Mark and Luke, the authors of the second and third Gospels. Mark was dragged to pieces in
Alexandria. Luke was hanged in Greece. And yet, every one of these disciples and
followers died in the peace of Christ.
Baptized
Saints, there is a lasting peace in the Christian faith that the world cannot give and
cannot take – it is the peace of Christ given to you. There is a lasting peace in the Christian faith that
executive orders, stay-at-home quarantines, and social distancing cannot give
and the Coronavirus cannot take. This
peace is found in the words of Holy Absolution that declare you forgiven of all
of your sins. It is a peace that is found in your Baptisms, knowing that you
have been snatched from darkness unto light – that the God of the universe has
placed his name upon you. It is a peace that is found in bread and wine that is
held up to you in the Lord’s Supper - bread and wine that are the true body and
blood of Christ. It is a peace of conscience that transcends mere emotions and
circumstances so that you might have joy in good fortune and misfortune… that
you may have assurance when life is sweet or sour… that you may have courage in
sickness or health... that you may have rest in the midst of unrest.
So
today, peace be with you in the name of Christ. Peace be upon you in Jesus'
name. Jesus is not only the true gift of
your peace, but the one who is able to establish you in peace –objectively and
concretely.