John 20: 19-31 Second Sunday Easter – April 19, 2009 Grace Calvary It was about 6:15 in the morning. My dad had finished the chores and was cooking breakfast. There was a knock on the front door. In farming communities no one uses the front door so my dad knew this was not a neighbor. There stood a soldier in uniform. My mom came into the room to hear the news that my younger brother had been killed in Viet Nam in the war. They called me at college to let me know and said not to come home yet because they did not know when his body would arrive. My world stopped with the news John had died. I made travel arrangements to go home to Michigan as soon as I could. I wanted to be with family and friends who knew and loved my brother John. So the disciples were together. . . they had lived and traveled with Jesus . . .and now their world had stopped. They too must have been numb with grief, shock or even anger. We are not told what all they talked about those days, but it is clear that they clung to their close knit community as they grappled with their new reality. Then, amazingly, Jesus was there with them again. What struck me as I read this story again and again is the first thing he said to them. “Peace be with you.” Then a few minutes later after he had shown them his hands, he again says, “Peace be with you.” The story goes on to say that eight days later when they were meeting, this time with Thomas, Jesus again greets them with, “Peace be with you.” Three times in a short period, Jesus uses this phrase, “Peace be with you.” We are familiar with this phrase – we have a place in our liturgy for giving “the” peace. This is part of a long tradition. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew people used the greeting of Peace or “Shalom” which means ‘may you be well’ – a kind of blessing. This implies that to be well is to be whole - - to have the all the necessary physical and spiritual resources to be complete. The greeting carries with it the idea of fullness – “May you have what you need to be wholly yourself.” In this story the word for peace includes freedom from every form of evil. It can refer to a lack of hostility. In a context of strife and distress it is an alternative possibility: a state of peace. When Jesus said, “Peace be with you,” to his followers, he was speaking to people who were struggling desperately with grief, loss, and fear. By offering this peace, he extended and they received something transformational. Notice both parts – there is the giving and just as important – the receiving. When we give God’s peace to each other, it is more than just a “Hi, how are you?” We are offering a blessing to be well and a hope that you will receive and experience God’s calm in the midst of life’s struggles. Giving Peace to each other and Receiving Peace is a ministry -- a potentially powerful ministry. Karl was a big muscular guy in his early eighties. His hands were thick like the paws of a bear. He was from Poland. After his wife died, he married a younger Polish-American girl and was living here in the States. He had a peaceful presence. I met him when I was doing a clinical pastoral education unit at the surgical rehab center. This particular day, was the day of the monthly voluntary healing service for staff and patients. Several staff came but only three patients; Karl was one. I went to each person around the circle, anointing their foreheads or their hands. I came to Karl. He motioned that he wanted his hands anointed. I placed his thick hand, palm up into my hand. I was stunned by what I saw. There were long raised welts running across his palm. I looked up to his face, my eyes wide. In broken English he told me that as a youth he had been in a concentration camp during the war. He worked in a rock quarry. When the horses that pulled the loaded wagons up out of the quarry died, he was one of the prisoners selected to pull the wagons. The guards placed the harness on them – treated them like horses. As he labored to pull the wagon-loads of rocks up out the quarry, the harness straps dug deeply into his palms and arms. I was quiet. Then he said a remarkable thing: “The guards . . . . The guards were guys like me . . .we are brothers on this earth. Each day I would say to the guards, “Peace be with you. I wanted peace for them and peace for me.” In spite of the struggles, in spite of the sufferings, Karl received peace from God. . . .and passed it on. And in spite of our struggles, in spite of our sufferings, Jesus says to us . . . and we to each other: “Peace be with you.” The Rev. Mary Wetzel