Grace to you and peace from God
our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
“Peace be with you.” What a
wonderful gift of Christ to His church. Do we really understand what it is that
He gives with His peace?
I mean, peace is something we
yearn for, desire, hope for and pray for in our homes, in our community, in our
nation, and across the world. Sadly, peace is often a punchline. In the movie Miss
Congeniality, beauty pageant contestants were asked what they wanted more
than anything. The screen flashed, picture by picture, of each woman saying the
same thing: “World peace” and each time, the audience went crazy with applause.
I remember seeing a T-shirt years ago that had a picture of a peas being poured
into a blender and it read, “What I really want is whirled peas.”
Often, we think of peace as the
absence of warfare, struggle, and inter-personal conflict. That’s defining
peace from the negative: it’s not this. To a degree, that is true but not fully
so. For example, at the 38th Parallel in Korea, there is no
fighting, but both the North and the South Korean armies stand ready to fight
at a moment’s notice. I would hardly call that peace. That’s more like a
50-year timeout, just waiting for the whistle to blow.
Instead, think of peace from the
positive. Instead of what peace is not, think of what peace is. Peace,
true peace, is restoration, unification, renewal of what had been separated,
broken, and torn asunder. Peace says that past wrongs are put aside, hard words
are silenced, and hearts – once hardened – are softened with compassion, mercy
and grace. Peace isn’t pretending that these things didn’t happen. Rather, true
peace acknowledges the sins that led to separation and conflict in the first place,
but then in peace, choosing to no longer act upon what happened in the past. In
a word, peace is forgiveness put into action.
Put yourself into the sandals of
the Eleven – well, the Ten, since Thomas was absent the first time Jesus
appears. They were terrified of the Jewish leaders, yes, but even more than
that they faced their guilt and shame for the events of the last 72 hours. Imagine
yourself as Peter, who denied Jesus; James or John, who fell asleep when Jesus
asked them to pray; Andrew, or Bartholemew, or Matthew who all bugged out and
ran when the soldiers arrived. They failed Him when He needed them most. I’m
sure they thought Jesus had to be disappointed and angry Jesus with them! They
lacked peace among themselves, peace within themselves, and peace with Jesus.
Jesus’ word delivers that which
it says. When Jesus suddenly appears and speaks, “Peace be with you,” Jesus is
doing two things: first and foremost, He is speaking the peace of forgiveness
into the hearts of the disciples, saying, in effect, I died for all of these
things which you did against me and to each other. I died to restore your
relationship with Me and with the Father. Be at peace; be forgiven. The second
thing, is by appearing through locked doors, He demonstrates nothing can stop
His Word from delivering Good News to hurting souls and consciences. As the
Word in flesh can penetrate through doors and walls, so the Word spoken
penetrates even into hearts and minds locked in fear, guilt and shame.
Jesus repeats Himself: “Peace be
with you.” Once was enough, but He repeats Himself make sure the disciples are
understanding, hearing, and believing that He is truly alive, resurrected and
physically present among them, and that He is announcing forgiveness to them,
that peace – restoration – has been earned through His death on the cross and
announced in His resurrection.
But peace isn’t just for them.
Early in His ministry, Jesus called the men to discipleship. He called them
“Fishers of men.” Instead of fish-mongers, they will be peace-mongers: delivers
of peace. “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you
withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.” In proclaiming Christ’s death
for the world, the disciples proclaim the forgiveness of sins to repentant,
believing hearts. With forgiveness is peace, restoration between God and Man,
between Man and God.
This is the beginning of the
Church, defining what it is that the Church will do. From generation to
generation, the Jesus-given, apostolic-delivered proclamation of peace and
forgiveness has been passed down. People say, “what makes the church is the
fellowship.” True, but that could be said of the Red Hat Society, political
parties, or the Lions Club. What separates the church is the proclamation of
peace between God and Man, the forgiveness of sins in the name of Jesus Christ.
And, this then impacts relationships as well. With peace restored vertically,
with sins against God forgiven fully and freely, the Church forgives
horizontally as well. Sins committed by brothers and sisters in Christ against
each other are seen through the lens of the cross. As Christ forgives me, so I
forgive you. Peace is restored.
So that you know this, Christ
establishes the Office of the Keys, or the gift of absolution. The Church
usually does this in two ways: generally, in public worship, and privately,
between a troubled soul and the pastor. The general absolution spoken here, in
unison in public worship, is true and it is complete – all, not some, all sins are
declared forgiven. On Ash Wednesday and Maundy Thursday, in the liturgy even
included the phrase, “Be at peace, your sins are forgiven.”
But sometimes, there are sins
that are particularly troubling, where the conscience is cut so deeply that it
needs to bear its soul and unburden itself. That was Thomas’ problem. His sin
was doubt – not lack of faith, not denial like Judas, but doubt. He simply
could not believe Jesus was alive. For Thomas, there would be no peace until he
saw Jesus for himself. The words, “We have seen the Lord,” meant nothing to
him. He needed to see Jesus with skin on and then to touch that nail-and-spear
marked skin. Thomas needed personal, private absolution. Without him seeing and
touching, Thomas could not be at peace. Jesus delivers: “Peace be with you.”
It’s as if He says to Thomas, “Even you, you of little faith, you are restored.
So, having been restored, stop disbelieving and believe.”
Private absolution attaches God’s
Word of grace to a pastor’s skin and voice. I know a generation or two ago,
this was seen as too “Roman Catholic,” with visions of dark confessional booths
and admonitions about holy water, penance, and praying multiple Hail Mary’s
like you have seen on Blue Bloods. No – private absolution is catholic,
in that it is universal. It’s not my work or word. It is God at work through
His Word first spoken in your baptism which connects you to the cross,
delivering Christ’s death and resurrection to you. While I will urge prayer, I
don’t prescribe penance. And, as far as confessional booths, I have heard
confession in my office, in the sanctuary, in nursing home and hospital rooms,
and even at a gas pump – yes, literally, one Sunday morning Pump #3 at the
Valero gas station on FM2100 in Crosby served as the place where sins were
heard and absolved.
Occasionally, people ask me what
the favorite part of my job is as pastor. It’s not the one-day-a-week work
schedule, or the clergy pass at Golden Corall, or playing golf all week. It’s
speaking personally the words of absolution to a frightened, hurting soul that
is absent peace and declaring to them that their sin – whatever it is that is,
in their mind, so great and grievous – has been fully and completely paid for
by Christ at the cross, that it is no longer held against them by God, and that
they now have peace with God through Christ Jesus. In my ordination and
installation vows, I promised to never disclose what is said to me in
confession. You want to know what’s funny? I can hardly remember the
confessions, the sins that have been done. What I remember are the faces – the
faces of children of God that moments earlier had been twisted under the burden
of their sins but then released to joy under the freedom of the name of Jesus
and the peace He gives. If I can serve you with this gift, it is my true
privilege and I repeat – what is confessed in repentance cannot be repeated.
Then, the question is asked, what
is my least favorite part of the job. It’s not the meetings, or writing the
newsletter article that seems to come faster each month. It’s not the calls to
the emergency room or the visits to the funeral home. It’s having to say to a
child of God that what they are doing, how they are living, their manner of
behavior, is outside of the boundaries God gives for Christian living and that
if this continues, if there is no contrition and repentance – no changing –
then this, this I cannot forgive. This, Christ does not forgive because it’s
not seen a sin that needs to be repented and forgiven. That’s the hardest thing
I have to do. I remember these faces, too, albeit for much different reasons,
and I pray for these souls, that somehow the Lord shakes them, crushes their
stubborn hearts with His Word, and leads them to repentance lest they die into
eternity. Yes – it is that serious.
Sins are serious. They are
serious as death. I say this not to shock, but to be crystal clear: sins are
serious as hell. That’s what sin deserves. And, that’s why Jesus died – so that
our sins are no longer eternally damning. His death, for you, is serious
business. So also are the gifts of forgiveness, and grace, and mercy. They are
serious…seriously joyful, for in forgiveness there is life and salvation,
beginning now and continuing into eternity. In all of this, there is peace –
restoration – between you and God.
In the Divine Service, after the
prayers and before the offering, we take a moment to pass, or share, the peace.
Too often this is seen as a holy howdy, the church equivalent to a fist bump
and a high five. In the early church, the kiss of peace was shared between
Christians who had sinned against each other in the days past. Before Sunday,
they sought each other out. There was confession – I am sorry I sinned against
you by doing this thing. There was absolution – As Christ has forgiven you, so
do I, and I will no longer hold it against you. In the Divine Service, in
sharing the kiss of peace, it was both a pledge to each other as well as a sign
to the congregation that their relationship was restored.
In our culture, we don’t kiss (to
be clear: I’m talking about a kiss on the cheek) as they do in other cultures.
But, we do shake hands. Treat the passing, the sharing, of the peace with that
level of Christian sanctity. Think for a minute: is there someone with whom you
need to restore peace, in your home, your work, the church? Who do you need to
seek out this week and humbly ask for forgiveness so that peace can be
restored? The flip side is if someone comes to you this week, humbly asking for
your grace, how will you respond? Humbly, with forgiveness and, perhaps, even
asking for his or her grace also for the hard feelings you may have harbored?
Will you work to restore peace between you so that next Sunday, you can see
each other as forgiven by Christ and with peace in your heart? Will there be
restoration through Christ?
I pray so. I pray that if there
is peace among us. And, I pray that we follow in the footsteps of the apostles
in being peace-mongers among those with whom we live, work, play, and dwell.
In the name of Jesus. Amen.
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