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Rev. Sue Yarber
I was dumbfounded when he appeared to us and said, “Peace be with you.” Yeah, right, a guy, one whom you love, one whom you saw die with your own eyes, comes through a locked door and tells you, “Peace be with you.” I was totally freaking out! I was thinking …easy for you to say…you are gone. The Romans can’t hurt you anymore. We are still here, your followers, a minority among a minority. We, Followers of the Way, oppressed among our own, among the Jews. How can I be at peace, take peace with me, when I live in a world that threatens my very existence?
Do you struggle as a G/L/B/T Christian with what it means to preserve and protect yourself and your interests and, at the same time, be true to God’s call to spread the good news? Do you ask yourself, “How can peace be with me when a war is happening, or my lover left me with a broken heart, or my family still hasn’t accepted that I will not change whom I love?” What is this everlasting peace? What is its source? How do I get some peace? These are all good questions and there are no easy answers. I often say that the spiritual journey is all about the questions and not really about the answers. I try to see in my own journey when have I been holed up, maybe inside my own self, unwilling or unable to share and be open to the presence of Christ, ever so faintly calling out, “Peace be with you?”
It is one thing for God to send Christ, fully human, fully divine, to bring a message of God’s unconditional love for all. Who the heck am I for Jesus to send me to do the same? Jesus breathed on us, just as the sacred breath of God breathed life into the first creatures. In the breath of Christ, we were given the power to forgive sins, the gift of the Holy Spirit. Deep breathing and forgiveness go hand and hand. Try to react to pain when you are deeply inhaling…it is impossible. Jesus, living in a human body, and now standing before us in a glorified one, knows that if we truly breathe in and receive the Holy Spirit it will be impossible for us not to forgive. We breathe in the truth of our own humanity, the imperfection of each of us and we breathe out the peace of Christ. The Holy Spirit enables us to see our brothers and sisters, works in progress, standing before us and doing the best that they can at the time. We take in, through the Spirit, our own failings and faults, our own trials and troubles and we see that we, too, are just human. We feel the grace of God surround us and fill us.
Thomas couldn’t believe that we had seen the Lord. He needed proof, to touch the scars, and see the marks. Faith calls us to accept without proof that which seems impossible or, at the very least, unlikely. The Risen Christ living among us, assuring us that peace from God is but a breath away. We have power in the eyes of God to forgive and to bring peace to one another. Each of us has touched the marled skin of a scar. We know that scars are evidence of healing. Whether healing happens at a physical level, an emotional level or a spiritual one we can see evidence of healing when we look at our own lives. When Jesus said to Thomas, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe,” a peace washed over me. I knew in that moment that it was Jesus Christ the Lord in front of me. Maybe he didn’t look the same as he had before, it was difficult to register how a crucified one could communicate with us. Faith is a deep knowing of an eternal truth. Faith is the recognition of a power beyond you in the midst of difficulty. Faith is when a statement resonates in your soul and you know from your insides out that you are in God’s presence.
We all, every one of us, see Christ in our midst. We see scars, the evidence of healing, everyday. We see Christ when we listen to one another and offer the gift of presence to one another. We see Christ when we recognize our own growth, we handle situations that we used to be overwhelmed by with grace and ease. We see Christ when deep in our spirits we listen to a small still voice leading us towards the God that resides in each of us. Christ is with us daily, reminding us of the promises of peace and power given by God to transform our world. Claim that peace and use that power to make our fear and doubt into faith and deeds that really will bring us ever closer to God.
My Lord and My God! We have life in your holy name and for that amazing gift we give you all the glory.
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