Last week we celebrated the most incredible event: the empty tomb. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is surely the most incomprehensible and unprecedented thing ever to have happened in our world. It is not the least bit surprising that people find it hard to come to terms with. But some explanation has to be sought for the experiences of the women in the garden, and of the disciples who were witnesses of the risen Jesus, as these have come down to us in the words we read in the New Testament.
Now, since we are here together this evening, I am assuming that we are all together in believing that Jesus rose from the dead, and is alive. We are all already believers in the unbelievable! But, it is nice, all the same, to come across something that seems like evidence to support our belief: some detail so small that it can’t be suspected of being deliberately planted there to distort the truth, but significant nonetheless.
I’m sure you are familiar with the argument that something must have happened after the death of Jesus to transform his dejected followers into missionaries. But it is made crystal clear by having these two readings that we’ve heard this evening together in one service. In the story from St. John’s Gospel we are told that the disciples were frightened. They “had the doors locked for fear of the Jews”.
At that point, what did they think had happened to Jesus? Well, John tells us of two incidents that give us a clue. The first is the reaction of Peter and John at the empty tomb. John apparently believed, but clearly Peter did not, and it says that neither of them understood. St. Luke confirms this by describing how Peter “went away wondering to himself what had happened.”
The other is the story of Mary Magdalene. John tells us that she “went to the disciples … and told them that he had said these things to her”. We are not told what they thought of her words. If they had taken her seriously, the gospel would undoubtedly have said so, but the fact that there is no mention of a response suggests that she was simply ignored. She certainly did nothing to change their mood from fear to joy. Luke is more revealing when he says, “They did not believe the women because their words seemed to them like nonsense.”
And fear was their predominant feeling. No doubt they were absolutely gripped by it as they sat together behind locked doors. After all, look what a predicament they had got themselves into: having followed a leader who appeared to be not only a potential enemy of Rome, but also against the Jewish establishment. And now that that leader had been brutally killed, what could they think except that they were next. After all, the Middle East, even then, was no stranger to bloodbaths.
Remember how Peter had been so scared at the trial that he had denied three times that he had any link with Jesus. To be recognised was certain death. John gives us a huge amount of detail on these denials: they were all to servants of the high priest, ie to Jews, not Romans. it was, indeed, Jews that Peter, then, and all of them now, were afraid of.
And so, as they sat there, unable to go back to being normal Jews, welcomed back by their old friends and accepted back by their leaders – and unable to think how to go forward into any kind of new life – I wonder, for instance, how many of them were contemplating suicide. For I don’t think they were a bit scared, you know: I think they were paralysed. And the mystery surrounding the disappearance of Jesus’s body, and the seemingly unbalanced words of probably hysterical women had done absolutely nothing to reassure them.
And then something did happen to transform them: “Jesus came and stood among them”. Instantly their mood changed: they were overjoyed. Isn’t it interesting what Jesus said to them? Of course he knew they were depressed and fearful, but he didn’t say, “Cheer up!”, or “Be of good courage”, both of which would have seemed to address directly their emotional state. No, he said, “Peace be with you!” And it was peace that they needed. For peace is what fear undermines, and if we are at peace, it is really another way of saying that we are without fear. Bravery may only be a way of facing down fear, and you can experience joyfulness even in an anxious life, but if you are at peace, that does seem altogether different.
He says it again, and at that point he commissions them, inviting them to “receive the Holy Spirit”. The reality of the experience is strengthened when Thomas is with them a week later. They knew, and they were overjoyed (although interestingly the doors were still locked!): Thomas hadn’t been a witness and so he was sceptical until he, too, had become a witness, whereupon he uttered that perfect creed: “My Lord and my God”. These were not light words: they were the words of someone transformed. And this is what had happened to them all. There is no further talk of fear.
But it’s not until we get to the Acts of the Apostles that we get actual evidence that this paralysing fear of the Jews has totally disappeared. It was on the day of Pentecost that Peter first addressed his fellow Jews in public. He proclaimed, “God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact.” He was fearless enough to use the words “Jesus, whom you crucified.” But his audience was not the Jewish leaders, but ordinary men and women, and 3000 new believers “were added to their number that day.”
It must have been some days or perhaps weeks later that Peter and John were seized by the priests and the captain of the temple guard, and, after being imprisoned overnight, they were brought them before the rulers, elders and teachers of the law, including the high priest and members of his family. Peter’s words show how completely without fear he now was. He was prepared to speak openly and accusingly even to the highest and most powerful men in Jewish society, the very people against whom they had previously locked their doors. Not surprisingly, they were furious and wanted to get rid of them. As we know, they were saved only by the canny advice of a Pharisee called Gamaliel.
So, in essence, we have the evidence of the locked doors that they were initially in mortal fear of the Jewish authorities, and a little later, we have the evidence that no such fear remains when they address those same authorities. Something transformed them, and the question is: What? Well, we know the answer: the knowledge of the resurrection of Jesus, and the enabling power of the Holy Spirit which they received.
But say, we didn’t know the answer. What could explain this complete turnaround? It’s pretty clear they weren’t just gullible. They weren’t ready to believe the unbelievable. They were full of doubts. But after what had happened, did they just need something to believe in even though deep down they knew it wasn’t true? Or was it that they were desperate about their future, knowing that they couldn’t just go back to being good Jews, so that they had to brazen it out with a story that they thought would win them supporters? I can’t see it, can you? Someone would have confessed and discredited the whole thing. As Gamaliel so rightly said, “If their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail.”
And even today, Gamaliel’s logic is unassailable. It has not failed; therefore it must be from God. We find ourselves nearly 2000 years later in a great company of believers worldwide to whom the risen Christ still brings peace. And that is where these stories can come into our own lives. It’s not so much the words that Peter spoke: they’re just words – preaching is of limited value! – no, it’s the fact that he was transformed. He was a different man from who he was a few weeks earlier, no longer blind and terrified, he now could see clearly and was at peace.
Now there is, of course a great mystery here. Because I don’t for one moment believe that Peter or any of the others were unrealistic about the dangers they faced. They were not numb to pain and suffering, and I am sure they did face fear – fear which at times must have tested them severely. But it’s a bit like that time when Peter was out walking on the water. We know what happened the moment he gave in to fear then! I think what they had was an unshakable sense of being at peace with God, so that they had the strength to take in their stride anything that life threw at them.
And isn’t that exactly where we want to be? We may want life to be without danger, without pain or suffering, but we know it can’t be. We all experience these things, and so do our loved ones; to pretend it isn’t so is to be unrealistic, and to cheat ourselves with a false peace. True peace means that we can face all these things with the knowledge of a deeper undercurrent running beneath them: the knowledge that we are in the loving arms of a God in whom we can trust.
This is the God who, by achieving the unbelievable, transforms his people from fear to joy. When the risen Jesus said, “Peace be with you,” the first time to his disciples, his words accompanied his presence among them. If he had not spoken, they might well have been even more terrified by this sudden apparition. There was a need for immediate reassurance. The second time he says it, he has already shown them his wounds and they know he is real. This time the words seem to be more to do with how they face their future. Go from here with peace.
Now we may not be able to see the risen Jesus physically as the disciples did, but we know, not least from the way those first followers were transformed, that it is as true today as it was then. I wonder how many of our fears paralyse us, imprisoning us as if behind doors that we lock. Locks, however, cannot keep Jesus out. Knowing all that is in our hearts, and all that we must bear, he comes and says the same words to us as he stands among us: “Peace be with you!”