“Peace Be With You!” [Matt's Messages] ~ Matt Mitchell

“Peace Be With You!”

Life in Jesus’ Name - The Gospel of John

Lanse Evangelical Free Church

December 1, 2024 :: John 20:19-31

The title for this message just jumped off the page at me because Jesus says it three times in this one short passage. Verse 19, verse 21, and again in verse 26.

“Peace Be With You!”

In the Greek, John wrote, “Eiraynay humin.”

But that’s probably a translation of what Jesus said in the street language of the day. He probably said it in Aramaic, something like, “Shlama Alaykhu.”

Which is related to the Hebrew that Jews still use today all over the world, “Shalom Alaychem.”

“Peace be with you.”

Why don’t you say that to your neighbor, if you are so bold? “Shalom Alaychem.”

By the way, the traditional response is to say it the other direction back at them, “Alaychem Shalom.” "And with you peace.”

I think that when the Lord Jesus said these words, His disicples really needed to hear them. Because they were scared.

Now, remember where we are in the story. Jesus is alive again, but not very people know that.

Everybody knows that Jesus was dead. Everybody in Jerusalem knows that Jesus was crucified. He was arrested in the darkness, put to trial in a series of unjust courtrooms, sentenced to death by the Jews for blasphemy (because He claimed to be the Son of God and God the Son) and sentenced to death by the Romans for claiming to be a King. The Roman governor, Pontius Pilate had a placard nailed above His head on the Cross in three languages that proclaimed Jesus was the king of the Jews.

Everybody knew that Jesus was dead. He was killed by crucifixion.

His executioners made sure that He was dead. Not only had they nailed Him to the Cross, but they stuck a spear in His side, and there was no response. Blood and water came flowing out of his dead body.

He was buried. Like we said in the Nicene Creed this morning. Placed in a new tomb in a garden as it was getting dark on Friday evening. And then nothing happened on Saturday. Nothing but grief and mourning.

But then on Sunday morning while it was still dark, Jesus rose from the grave!

Last week, we read about how Mary Magdalene found the tomb empty and the stone in front of it rolled away. And we read about her running to the disciples, and two of them running back to the tomb to see for themselves. Peter and probably John the gospelwriter. And John believed! And then Mary saw. Mary saw with her own two eyes that Jesus was alive!

But that’s a pretty small circle of people who know. Mary has run back to the disciples once again and said, “I have seen the Lord!” (v.18). But the rest of them have not.

And they are, frankly, scared! And you and I, I think, would have been, too. After what they have seen this weekend?! “After what they did to our Lord?! What’s to stop the Jews and the Romans from doing it to us? I know what Mary said, but what are the chances that it’s true?” Look at verse 19.

“On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you!’”

“Eiraynay humin.”

“Shlama Alaykhu.”

“Shalom Alaychem.”

“Peace be with you!”

They probably needed to hear that. Now, not just because they were afraid of the authorities out there, but now because there was a resurrected Man in their midst!

“What is going on?!!! Where did you come from? The doors were locked! You were dead!!!”

“Peace be with you! Don’t be worried. Don’t be afraid. Don’t be scared. Have some peace. I am here.”

I’ve got three points to summarize our passage today, and they are all reasons to have real peace. Here’s the first one:

“Peace Be With You!”

#1. BECAUSE THE PRINCE OF PEACE IS ALIVE AGAIN.

The very first thing that Jesus does after bursting in on them and saying, “Peace be with you!” is show them His scars. Look at verse 20.

“After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.”

“See here? Look at my hands. Here’s where the Romans put the nails. Yes, it is me. I’m not a ghost. I’m not an apparition. This is not a dream. Look here at my hands. Look here at my side. This is where the executioners stuck that spear. You can still see exactly where it went in. I know that this is scary, but it is real. I am alive.

“Peace be with you!”

Because the Prince of Peace is alive again.

Just a couple of nights ago, Jesus had a lot to say about peace, didn’t He? He promised to give them His peace. Remember that? It was back in chapter 14 which we studied in July, but He just said on Thursday night. This is Sunday evening! He said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid” (Jn. 14:27).

And now He appears four days later and says, “Peace be with you!”

And that peace is possible because of His scars. I never thought about that until this week when I was studying for this message. He says, “Peace be with you!” and then shows them His wounds? He’s not just saying, “It’s me.” He saying, “Look! I have purchased your peace. Everything is okay...It is finished.” [Meditate on Isaiah 53:5 and how the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him.]

“Peace be with you!”

Or how about memory verse right now? That same night right before His arrest. Last thing He said to them. “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have [WHAT?] peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (Jn. 16:33). And here is saying, “See! I have overcome the world!” You can have that peace now.

And what better response to that could there be than joy? V.20 again.

“The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.”

I’ll bet! I can’t imagine. “He is alive. He’s really alive.” They are crying. They’re dancing. They’re shaking their heads. They go from the lowest of fear and grief to skyrocket to the highest of joys and happiness!

He predicted that, too, didn’t He? Remember that same dark night, He said, “I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy...I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy” (John 16:20,22).

We can and will rejoice because the Prince of Peace is alive again!

That’s why we worship on Sunday mornings. Because every Sunday reminds us of the resurrection. And our eternal joy.

“You’re my Prince of Peace, and I will live my life for you!”

And that’s what He asks us to do in the next section. Jesus is going to send His disciples (and by extension you and me) on a mission. He starts by saying it again. Verse 21.

“Again Jesus said, ‘Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.’ And with that he breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.’”

“Peace be with you!”

#2. BECAUSE THE SENT-ONE IS SENDING YOU WITH THE SPIRIT.

Now, there’s a lot packed into these three verses. I thought about just preaching them all by themselves. This is like the Gospel of John’s version, of the Great Commission. And it’s glorious.

First, He says again,

“Eiraynay humin.”

“Shlama Alaykhu.”

“Shalom Alaychem.”

“Peace be with you!”

And they need to hear that because the next thing He’s going to say is that they have to go out into the world on a mission. They can’t stay huddled up behind locked doors. They have to go out into the world, and they are going to have to speak up out there.

“I am sending you.” He’s come back from the dead, and He’s making demands. “I am sending you.”

“I’ve got a mission for you, and it is not optional.” They are going to need that peace. Because the world is not a safe place. And the world is not entirely receptive to their message. But regardless, they have to go.

And so do we.

Raise your hand if you are on a mission from Jesus. Every follower of Christ should be raising their hand. We are all missionaries in this room. We’re not all foreign missionaries. We’re not all supported missionaries like the ones whose pictures hang on our back walls. I’m praying that the Lord will raise up more missionaries like that from the folks in this room.

But all of us are here are sent. We have a mission. It’s called the Great Commission. We have a message. It’s the gospel. It’s our mission to make disciples through that message of the gospel.

“I am sending you.”

He’s sending you and me into our little mission fields. Whether that’s your workplace or your school or your neighborhood or wherever the Lord sends you each and every day, you are supposed to live on mission for Him.

“I am sending you.”

But notice that Jesus doesn’t ask us to do anything He’s not willing to do first. He’s not just the Sender. He’s been sent Himself. Did you catch that in verse 21?

“Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”

Who is the great missionary there ever was?

Hint: It’s not Jim Elliot or William Carey or Hudson Taylor or Fred and Cindy or Peter and Deb or Abe and Jordyn Skacel or John and Becky or Chip and Kim or even the Apostle Paul! As wonderful and used of God as all of those missionaries were. Who is the greatest missionary there ever was?

It’s Jesus, right?

I love that we’re reading verse 21 as Christmas approaches. Because that’s what Christmas is. It’s a rescue mission.

The Father sent the Son.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (Jn. 3:16-17). That’s the point of Christmas!

The Father sent the Son. Now, the Son is sending us.

Jesus predicted that, too, didn’t He? He prayed it to the Father that same night before Cross.

“My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 7 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world” (Jn. 17:15-18).

That’s dangerous. But He has gone before us and give us His peace. And more than that, He gives us His Holy Spirit to go with us and in us. Look again at verse 22.

“And with that he breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’”

Notice “and with that.” There’s a connection between “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you...” and Him blowing on them.

I know that’s weird. This is the only time that He does that in any of the four gospels. He does a lot of weird things, but this is the only time He blows on them.

The Greek word is “emphuseo.” You can hear things like “Emphysema” that are probably related words in English.

What was Jesus doing? There’s a lot of debate about that among Christian scholars, and there’s a number of possibilities including that this was the moment that these disciples first received the Holy Spirit to live in them permanently. That’s possible. [Read John 7:38-39 and think about it carefully.]

But I tend to think that it’s prophetic and symbolic of what Jesus is going to do in 50 days from right then. He’s promising to send the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, and saying what it’s going to be like. A rushing wind.

A wind that gives new life like the breath of God breathing life into the first human in the book of Genesis (2:7) or in the book of Ezekiel blowing new life into the skeletons in the valley of dry bones (37:10). Same kind of use of language.

He’s prophesying of the coming of the Spirit that He also just promised on Thursday night:

“I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever–the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you” (John 14:16-17).

“Receive the Holy Spirit.” “You don’t have go out there on your own. I’m sending you, but I’m not sending by yourself. God the Spirit is going to go with you and in you.”

“Receive the Holy Spirit.” What a holy moment! The Risen Jesus promising the gift of the Spirit for the new missionaries. The Sent-One is sending them into the world.

And here’s their message–the forgiveness of sins. Look at verse 23.

“Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

Now, that almost sounds like He’s giving the disciples the ability to dole out personal forgiveness and it affect divine forgiveness, but we know that’s not how it works. I think He’s just saying that He’s giving the disciples the job of telling people about how to be forgiven through Him. He’s saying that the disciples have to take the message of the gospel to the world, and if they believe the message of the gospel, then they will be forgiven, but if they reject the message of the gospel, then they will not be forgiven.

And it’s our job to tell people! “If you forgive anyone their sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

If we keep the message of the gospel to ourselves, how can anybody be saved?!

That’s a big responsibility. And it’s not optional.

But we are not alone. Jesus has gone before us and He sends His Spirit with us.

Who should we tell? Who should we tell this week? Who are you going to tell? Don’t be worried. Don’t be scared. Jesus has given you the Holy Spirit. “Peace be with you!” Go and tell them Who Jesus is and what He’s done.

Jesus says it one more time.

He shows up again about a week later.

Which, by the way, I’m always wondering what Jesus did in between these appearances. We don’t know. That’s one to ask Him someday in the Kingdom. “What did you do on Sunday afternoon, Jesus? What did you do between the two weekends?”

We also don’t know why Thomas wasn’t there that first Resurrection Sunday. Perhaps he was running for the pizza. Had to take over the treasury now that Judas was gone. Don’t know.

We just know that he missed this whole thing we just read. Look at verse 24.

“Now Thomas (called Didymus [Twin]), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord!’ [It was awesome! We are so happy!] But he said to them, ‘Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it’” (vv.24-25).

I don’t blame him. Thomas was a brave man who loved Jesus. Remember when Lazarus died, and Jesus wanted to go into dangerous territory to visit the family? Thomas was like, “You got it, Boss. I’m ready to die with you.”

And Thomas (I don’t know what his twin was like, but Thomas) asked good questions and wanted to know it straight. Just a few nights ago, Thomas had said, “Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?" (John 14:5).

And we know what Jesus said to that. But then they took Jesus away. And they killed Him.

And Thomas wasn’t there to see Him back from the dead. And he just wanted more proof. It’s not that he didn’t believe in resurrections. He saw Lazarus come back from the dead! But not from a crucifixion. And not with his own eyes.

“You guys might just be hallucinating. You want it too much. I will not believe unless I see it myself. Unless I touch Him myself.”

“Show me.”

I like to call him, “Missouri Thomas.” That’s my nickname for him because Missouri is the “Show Me State.”

"Seeing is believing," says, Missouri Thomas. I don’t blame Him. But he probably should have been believing his friends who were eyewitnesses. And he probably should have remembered that Jesus had promised to come back from the dead.

But Jesus was gracious to Missouri Thomas and showed Himself to him personally. Look at verse 26.

“A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them [this time]. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you!’”

“Eiraynay humin.”

“Shlama Alaykhu.”

“Shalom Alaychem.”

“Even you, Thomas. Peace be with you!”

And then He gets in a little dig. In love. But a rebuke nonetheless. Verse 27.

“Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.’”

An even better translation would be, “Stop unbelieving and believe.” He’s not telling Thomas to stop asking questions or examining all of the evidence. He’s telling Thomas to stop making excuses, stop being an unbeliever, and to put His faith in the Truth. “Stop unbelieving and believe.”

“Because it’s all true! I am alive. And now I’ve proven it to you. Don’t make excuses. Start believing now.”

And Thomas does. Verse 28.

“Thomas said to him, ‘My Lord and my God!’”

What a moment! I don’t think Thomas even touched him. When he saw Jesus with his own eyes, he hit the floor!

“My Lord and my God!”

Notice that Thomas is saying that He believes everything that the Jews and the Romans killed Jesus for. He is a King. He’s the Lord! And He is divine. He is God! It’s not blasphemy if it’s true.

“My Lord and my God!”

Notice, also, that Jesus does not try to stop Thomas from worshiping Him. He’s not like, “Oh, oh, oh, Tom, Tom, Tom. No. Stop! I’m just a man. Stop with the ‘my God’ stuff.”

No, Jesus just receives that worship as due Him. That is Who He is. That is His name. And Thomas believes in His name.

Jesus says that believing with seeing is good, but there is something better. Look verse 29.

“Then Jesus told him, ‘Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’”

“Peace be with you!”

#3. BECAUSE YOU ARE BLESSED IF YOU BELIEVE.

Especially if you believe without seeing first. One day, we will see Jesus. And we long for that day. John says in his first letter we will become like Him when we see Him as He is (1 John 3:2).

Jesus wants us to see Him in all of His glory (John 17:24).

But right now, we don’t see Him. Nobody in this room has seen Him yet. And yet we believe in Him and “...are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for [we] are receiving the goal of [our] faith, the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:8-9).

That’s blessing. So the believing people in this room are more blessed than Missouri Thomas. Isn’t that wild? I would think that Thomas was more blessed than I am. (And he was in some ways.) But there is a special blessing during this age for those of us who have not yet seen yet have believed.

Is that you? Do you believe?

Believing is seeing and seeing blessing.

Because you know what happens when you believe? You get life. Verse 30 and 31 which we studied before the very first Sunday of this series.

“Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (vv.30-31).

I love how John starts talking directly to us in this purpose statement for the whole book. He says, “I have written this so that you may believe.”

Believe in Jesus. Believe that that He is the Messiah, the Christ, the Promised One who came that first Christmas. Believe that He is the Son of God. “My Lord and my God.” That is His name. And that by believing in that name, you will have life. Life abundant and life eternal.

That’s blessing!

If you believe that without yet seeing with your own eyes, but just believing what you’ve been told by reliable eyewitnesses like Mary Magdalene and Missouri Thomas and John the Gospelwriter then you will have life.

Of course, the opposite is also true. If you do not believe, you will not have life. And you will not have peace. Because peace is found only in Jesus.

“Peace be with you in Him!”

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