A Word from Joel - May 21, 2025

“When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors were locked where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’” John 20:21

In his first resurrection appearance to this scared, shamed filled group of disciples, the
first word out of Jesus’ mouth isn’t vengeance, or I told you so. No, his first word is
peace. Peace be with you. The Hebrew word for peace is “shalom,” which is more than
an absence of conflict. Shalom is wholeness, completion. Jesus’ final words from the
cross were, “It is finished” which echoes the Genesis creation story where God finishes
the work of creation on the sixth day and rests on the seventh. Jesus’ work on the cross
was also finished on the sixth day, and he rests in the tomb on the seventh. Now, on the
first day of the new creation, he tells the disciples they are whole, complete, lacking in
nothing. They don’t know it yet, but the disciples have everything they need to face the
world outside. The work of new creation is done, which means they have peace with
God and a resulting peace with each other. This is God’s mission, to tell a fearful
creation, “You are whole.”

Do you believe that about yourself? Do you believe that you are complete, lacking in
nothing to face the world in which you live? It’s easy to look at yourself and think, I lack
so many things. My health is failing. My relationships are less than satisfying. My boss
is a moron. My past continues to haunt me, and on top of all that, the world outside is
making my anxiety go through the roof. That all may be true. Nevertheless, Jesus says
you are complete and proceeds to show the scars on his hands and side to let us know
that our wounds don’t mean we’re not whole. All of us have wounds. They are a part of
who we are and don’t make us less. Pain and loss are part of Jesus’ story, and they are
a part of ours as well, but our pain and loss do not mean we are not complete.

Every day, we get to choose to choose if we want to be a part of the new creation or
remain stuck in the old one. Which do you want to live in? If we are honest, we live in
both. We nurse our grudges, and sometimes we forgive. Like the disciples, we are
scared to go outside, yet every so often, we peek out the front door and speak peace to
our neighbors. God’s dream is that we will one day all come outside, see each other’s
scars and rejoice in the wholeness we all share. That’s God’s mission, not that we
convince each other to all believe the same things, or to be part of the same religion,
but to stop being so afraid of each other and instead see the wholeness that is all
around us and within us. You are whole. Be at peace.