On the first day of the week, Mary Mag­da­le­ne had gone to Je­sus’ grave in the mor­ning twi­light. She had found an emp­ty grave. The stone had been mo­ved from the ope­ning of the grave. Mary went to tell the dis­cip­les of this. Pe­ter and the ot­her dis­cip­les rus­hed to Je­sus’ grave. They saw that of which Mary had told them (John 20:1-9).

Mee­ting the re­sur­rec­ted Re­dee­mer

The dis­cip­les left from the grave to their dwel­ling place, but Mary Mag­da­le­ne re­mai­ned at the ope­ning of the grave crying. Je­sus ap­pe­a­red to Mary. “Wo­man, why wee­pest thou? whom see­kest thou?” Mary re­cei­ved a task from Je­sus: “but go to my breth­ren, and say un­to them” (John 20:11-17).

Mary brought the mes­sa­ge from the grave of the re­sur­rec­ted Re­dee­mer. The dis­cip­les were the first to hear this mes­sa­ge. Mary rus­hed to tell them “that she had seen the Lord!” (John 20:18)

The mes­sa­ge of the re­sur­rec­ted Re­dee­mer inc­lu­ded and still inc­lu­des the dec­la­ra­ti­on of God’s love to­wards the one who has fal­len in­to sin. It re­ve­als the pros­pects of pe­a­ce to one who is crus­hed un­der the bur­den of sin. God has not re­jec­ted me. Through His son’s re­demp­ti­on work, He has ope­ned the pos­si­bi­li­ty to be freed from sin and par­ta­ke in eter­nal life.

It is not a won­der that the dis­cip­les were af­raid. All that they had ex­pe­rien­ced had shoc­ked them. Their con­fu­si­on was inc­re­a­sed when Mary Mag­da­le­ne told them she had met Je­sus. It felt ne­ces­sa­ry to keep the doors loc­ked.

There be­hind those loc­ked doors the ti­mid, frigh­te­ned, and con­fu­sed dis­cip­les were ab­le to meet Je­sus who had won over de­ath. All of a sud­den, Je­sus stood in their midst and said. “Pe­a­ce be un­to you!” When he said this, he sho­wed the dis­cip­les his hands and feet. (John 20:19)

Joy is kind­led

See­ing Je­sus kind­led joy in the dis­cip­les’ he­arts (John 20:19). They had not be­lie­ved in vain. God’s pro­mi­ses had been true af­ter all.

Through faith Je­sus can still be met and seen in the gos­pel of God’s king­dom. When a sin­ful per­son has his sins for­gi­ven in Je­sus’ name and blood, he is re­le­a­sed from the bur­den of sin and can ex­pe­rien­ce pe­a­ce, free­dom, and joy in the Holy Spi­rit.

Be­lie­ving in the gos­pel brings forth joy in the be­lie­ver. Ac­cor­ding to the Apost­le Paul, joy is one of the fruits of the Spi­rit (Gal. 5:22).

Pe­a­ce be un­to you!

What do Je­sus’ words “Pe­a­ce be un­to you” mean to­day as we ex­pe­rien­ce rest­les­s­ness around us? We re­cog­ni­ze this even in our­sel­ves. We doubt our faith. Many temp­ta­ti­ons are fa­mi­li­ar. Many who reg­ret their sin­ful li­ves are se­arc­hing for a new di­rec­ti­on.

The re­joi­cing dis­cip­les be­hind clo­sed doors re­cei­ved a task from their Lord and Mas­ter. Je­sus for­ti­fied the dis­cip­les with the Holy Spi­rit and sent them to proc­laim the gos­pel of pe­a­ce: “Pe­a­ce be un­to you: as my Fat­her hath sent me, even so I send you.” (John 20:21-22)

Af­ter this, Je­sus gave the dis­cip­les the po­wer to for­gi­ve sins. “Whose so­e­ver sins ye re­mit, they are re­mit­ted un­to them; and whose so­e­ver sins ye re­tain, they are re­tai­ned” (John 20:23). The gos­pel of the for­gi­ve­ness of sins brings forth that pe­a­ce which Je­sus spoke of to the dis­cip­les.

Al­re­a­dy ear­lier Je­sus had spo­ken of this same pe­a­ce in his fa­re­well ser­mon: “Pe­a­ce I le­a­ve with you, my pe­a­ce I give un­to you: not as the world gi­veth, give I un­to you. Let not yo­ur he­art be troub­led, neit­her let it be af­raid” (John 14:27).

Je­sus’ fol­lo­wers want to be faith­ful to the task Je­sus has gi­ven them. This is why God’s king­dom still ex­horts un­be­lie­ving pe­op­le to re­pent and turn away from their sin­ful life. They are of­fe­red the gos­pel of the for­gi­ve­ness of sins. It is worth hol­ding on to this gos­pel of pe­a­ce! It gi­ves pe­op­le an in­ner­most las­ting pe­a­ce.

The mes­sa­ge of the re­sur­rec­ted Re­dee­mer is al­so brought to be­lie­ving pe­op­le, those who fol­low Je­sus. It en­cou­ra­ges frigh­te­ned, ti­red, and doub­ting child­ren of God to be­lie­ve. It is worth be­lie­ving, be­cau­se the goal of faith is he­a­ven. There one can en­joy eter­nal pe­a­ce with Je­sus and his own.

Text: Ant­ti Sa­ve­la

Trans­la­ti­on: An­ge­la Hän­ni­nen

Sour­ce: Sii­o­nin Lä­he­tys­leh­ti 1/2015

Teks­tis­sä kä­si­tel­lään seu­raa­vaa raa­ma­tun­koh­taa: John 20:21

Jul­kais­tu eng­lan­nin­kie­li­ses­sä kie­li­liit­tees­sä 6.5.2015.