Resurrection Words – Br. James Koester

Br. James Koester

Preached at the Church of St. Augustine and St. Martin, Boston.

The Second Sunday of Easter

John 20:19-31

Something strange is happening.

Something strange is happening. A band of terrified, grieving women and men who spend most of their time behind locked doors in fear, are changing. Their fear is changing into faith. Their terror is changing into courage. Their grief is changing into joy. And soon, no door could keep them in, and no door would be able to keep them, or their message out.

Something strange is happening, and it begins with the resurrection greeting: Peace be with you!

The story wasn’t supposed to unfold this way. Jesus wasn’t supposed to die. The crowd was supposed to acclaim him as king, and together they were supposed to chase the Romans out, and once again God’s people would be free. But Jesus did die. He died cruelly, publicly, and shamefully. And his band of followers fled in all directions in fear and terror that the same would happen to them. In their grief, terror, and fear they went into hiding, behind locked doors.

And into the midst of their fear and grief and terror came words of peace.

Peace be with you!

Something strange is happening.

It’s hard to imagine the terror this band of disciples felt after the shock and horror of it all. But we all have an inkling of what it was like, for each of us carries deep within us a primal fear: a fear of being found out; a fear of being caught; a fear of being discovered. I know I do. Today, our own inner fears are compounded by the fear in which the whole world lives. At any moment, everything could come crashing down, and I’m not simply speaking of the price of gas or groceries. And into that fear, Jesus speaks words of peace. Peace be with you!

With those four simple words, Jesus shows that death and hate and the grave cannot defeat him. With those four simple words, Jesus shows that fear and grief and terror and locked doors cannot keep him out. With those four simple words, Jesus shows that the power of God is mightier than the forces of Rome. In those four simple words, Jesus shows us that the power of God is mightier than the forces of presidents and ayatollahs. With those four simple words, Jesus shows his disciples that he is risen from the dead. Peace be with you. . . . Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.

It’s not that Thomas didn’t want to believe. It’s not even that he couldn’t believe. It’s not even that he wouldn’t believe. It’s that he didn’t dare believe. Thomas didn’t dare believe, because he didn’t want his hopes dashed and his heart broken one more time. But in a word, in a phrase, his hope was restored and his heart healed: Peace be with you. . . . My Lord and my God.

If we all know what it is to live in the fear of being caught, then we also know what it is to live with hopes dashed and hearts broken. We all know those days when we are afraid to believe, not because we don’t want to believe, or can’t believe, or won’t believe, but because we dare not believe. We too are afraid that our hopes will be dashed and our hearts broken one more time, and so like Thomas we dare not believe. And into the midst of this fear to believe, stands the Risen Lord speaking words of peace. Peace be with you!

Words have power. They have the power to hurt and the power to heal. They have the power to cast down and the power to raise up. They have the power to destroy and the power to make new. In speaking these resurrection words, we discover again the power of God, who, as Thomas discovered, has the power to make all things new.

Today all of us need to hear these resurrection words. In a world divided by hatred, fear, and war, the easiest words to utter are of anger, of threat, of hatred, of violence. But such words, as we have seen these past weeks, only cause death, sow bitterness, and create division, and crush hope. What the world, what we need, are words of hope. What we need are resurrection words. What we need is for the Risen Lord to emerge from the tomb of bitterness and hatred and utter words of love and peace. Peace be with you! When we hear those words, something strange happens. Fear is turned to faith. Grief is turned to joy. Terror is turned to courage. Hatred is turned to love. Violence is turned to peace, and locked doors, meant to keep things out, cannot now keep things in. Something strange happened that first Easter because the Risen Lord broke through the hatred and fear, and spoke words of peace changing terror into courage and grief into joy. It is those same resurrection words which the Risen Lord speaks to each one of us as he breaks down the door of separation and says to us, Peace be with you! And in those words, we can know the power of the resurrection and say with Thomas, My Lord and my God!