Peace Be with You

Reflection

The disciples are hiding behind locked doors, gripped by fear. Their leader has been executed, and they have every reason to think they might be next. They have also failed him — scattered, denied, abandoned. If the risen Jesus were to appear among them, we might expect a word of rebuke. Instead, his first word is "Peace be with you." He does not come to shame them. He comes to settle them. And then he does something telling: "he showed them his hands and his side." He shows them his wounds. The marks of the crucifixion are still visible on his risen body — proof that this is truly him, and proof that the peace he offers was purchased at the cross. The wounds are not hidden; they are the evidence of a love that went all the way to death and came back. The peace Jesus gives is not the absence of trouble — the doors are still locked, the world outside is still dangerous. It is a peace rooted in his presence and his finished work, a peace that can fill a frightened room before a single circumstance has changed. And he does not let them keep this peace to themselves. "As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you." The peace is given to be carried out through those same locked doors into a fearful world. Received peace becomes sent peace. The risen Christ breathes his calm into us, then sends us out as its messengers.