The peace of Easter: a homily for Low Sunday

The peace of Easter

At early Communion on Low Sunday, 2022 

John 20:19-31

“Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you’ … Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you’ ... [And a third time] Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you’."

At one level, 'Peace be with you' was an ordinary, everyday Hebrew greeting: wishing another flourishing and well-being.

The circumstances, however, give these words of the Risen Jesus deeper meaning. The circumstances mean that these words are much more than a pleasant formality.

They speak of what the Resurrection means; of what Easter means.

The words have deep roots in the Scriptures of Israel.  When the Prophet Isaiah glimpses the time of the Messiah, he describes him as “Prince of Peace”; he speaks of the Messiah’s reign inaugurating the time of peace, when swords are beaten into ploughshares, the wolf living with the lamb.

Jesus, on the night of his betrayal, had drawn on this when he said to the disciples, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you”. Even as betrayal and death loomed, even as the disciples were to abandon him and flee, Jesus speaks to them of the peace rooted in the very life of God, greater than the darkness of that night.

And now, after the Cross and the Resurrection, Jesus’ words reveal the meaning of his dying and rising again: “Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you’ … Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you’.”

Here is the fullness of God’s peace, as the Risen Jesus shows to the disciples his wounds.  

We see here the signs of Cross and Empty Tomb.

The Cross: the sign of grace, love, and forgiveness, even in the midst of the bitterness of the deepest human sin and failure.  

The Empty Tomb: the sign of the fullness of life, of life abundant in God, of the life flowing from God in Christ, which death cannot overcome.

Cross and Empty Tomb: here are the signs of the peace of God.

When the Apostle Paul speaks of the Cross and Resurrection, he says Christ “is our peace”. 

He says that through the Cross and Resurrection we “have peace with God”. 

This is the peace of God in Christ which holds us at all times, which abides, which enfolds us - in our failures and uncertainties, our weaknesses and frailties, in our life and in our death.

This, then, is not the shallow peace of a heady optimism which cannot survive failure or setback; not the temporary, passing peace which can be briefly felt by fleeing from challenging circumstances; not the empty peace which comes from closing our eyes, gritting our teeth, and telling ourselves that all is fine.

This is the peace of God bestowed in the Cross and Resurrection of Jesus, the deep peace of God not engineered by us within ourselves, but the gift of God, given to us in heart, mind, and soul.  

The deep peace of God in Christ holding, sustaining, keeping us all our days, in all our circumstances.  

It is the peace of Easter; the peace of the Cross and Resurrection, the peace in which we dwell as we pray, as we read the Scriptures, and as we draw near with faith and take this holy Sacrament to our comfort.