peace be with you

• Posted by Brother Jerry (Geno) Berry March 14, 2013 - #  - 702 views
  Peace Be with You      How is it that Judas was one of Jesus' disciples?  Jesus chose his own disciples-and there were plenty of people to choose from when he chose the twelve.  I'm sure you remember that Judas is the one who betrayed Jesus.  Why did he choose Judas in the first place?  Did Jesus make a mistake?  Could Jesus not see the potential character flaws in this man?  I know how difficult it is for most people to think that Jesus might have made a mistake.  It doesn't seem possible.  So does that mean that Jesus deliberately chose a man that he knew would turn out to be his own betrayer?  This also seems strange-that Jesus would intentionally choose eleven real disciples and one fake one.  And it raises questions about what Jesus' relationship was like with this man.  Did he like Judas?  Or did Jesus constantly feel a sense of reserve around him?  Or even contempt?  Jesus taught others that they should love their enemies.  Did Jesus love Judas?  And thinking of the betrayal itself, did Judas really know what he was doing?  The fact that he hung himself later shows that he felt great remorse and suggests that maybe things didn't turn out quite the way he expected them to.  Maybe Judas did not expect Jesus to get crucified.  Maybe he thought there would be some other outcome-maybe even Jesus using all his popular support to finally get the Pharisees off his back.  Nobody knows for sure what he was thinking.  But if Judas was somehow part of God's grand plan for Jesus-maybe we should look at him a little differently than we sometimes do.  And when Jesus hung on the cross and prayed, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do"-I wonder if Judas crossed his mind at that point.  I'm not really giving answers today about Judas and his role in things.  I'm just asking questions-as part of that never-ending quest for deeper understanding.      What I want to mention today about Judas (or what I most want to mention) is the fact that whatever level of friendship Jesus had with Judas-when Judas betrayed Jesus, it had to hurt.  I mean Judas was there for the feeding of the five thousand; he was there in the boat in the storm when the wind died down at Jesus' command; he was there for almost all of it.  After experiencing so much, how could he still go on to be the betrayer?  Even if Jesus knew Judas' role from the beginning, how could Jesus not be plagued by these same questions?  How could Judas do this-after all he's seen?  After all we've been through together?  Rejection of any kind hurts terribly.  And even if Jesus knew precisely how Judas was going to act-it still had to hurt, to be betrayed like that, after all you've been through together and after all Judas had seen.       I mention Judas this morning simply to help us recall all that Jesus went through on that journey to the cross.  There was pain of many kinds both physical and mental.  There were feelings of rejection, betrayal, and abandonment.  It was very tough to go through all of that.      In our passage today (John 20) Jesus appears to the disciples.  They were still in hiding and Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you."  And they must have thought, "Who are you?" and "How did you get here?" because Jesus showed them his hands and his side as if to confirm his identity to them.  Then they rejoiced.  And Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you."       Those were troubling times for the disciples, and inward peace was not that easy to come by.  They were in hiding-for good reason.  The body was missing from the tomb where Jesus had been laid to rest.  And the disciples, I'm sure, were the prime suspects for its removal.  They were in fear for their very lives-and they had good reason to fear.  Yet Jesus said to them, "Peace be with you."  What if Jesus said that to you or to me-today?  How would we respond, or what would we be thinking?  "But you don't really understand my situation.  Peace is not really possible at the moment.  I have too many trials, too many uncertainties, too many problems, too much stress.  I wish I could have some inner peace.  But not today."  And how do you think Jesus would reply to that?  Perhaps he would say, "Peace be with you, anyway.  Go ahead-be at peace even in the midst of the turmoil."  And yet, I suspect, we might argue even more.  How can we experience peace in the midst of the anguish of life?      But Jesus tells us to have peace in the midst of turmoil as only someone who has been through it can.  Imagine for a moment that you are thinking about taking up skydiving.  You mention this to an acquaintance and also mention your fears and reservations, but your acquaintance says, "Oh, but it's really just the initial jump that's the hard part.  And really it's just the first jump.  They do get easier.  But after you muster the courage to take that leap there is the joy of freefalling through the air-exhilarating.  And the chutes these days are very reliable.  They always open.  You're probably safer jumping out of an airplane than you are driving around Wichita.  And they'll teach you how to land.  It'll be no problem for you."  Then you start asking questions about skydiving and become curious about this person's experience so you ask how many times they've jumped.  And you're surprised by the answer: "Oh, well, I've never actually jumped-but I plan to someday."  And the conversation pretty much ends right here.  Because as you think about your goal of skydiving you want to talk to people who've actually done it-people who've actually been through the experience.  The encouragement of someone who has only visualized skydiving is fine.  There's nothing wrong with it.  But it's not the same as talking to someone who has actually been through the experience.      When Jesus said, "Peace be with you," to his disciples (who had plenty to worry about as they were hiding there in that locked room) he said it as someone who had just been through some very intense trials.  Within a few days, Jesus experienced betrayal, rejection, abandonment, mockery, physical torture, public humiliation and many other things-all at once.  His own inner peace did not come automatically or easily.  You'll recall the experience in the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus felt a lot of mental anguish and turmoil and had questions about the direction things were going.  It was not a peaceful time.  But it does seem that Jesus gained some resolve and a renewed sense of trust in God as well as some inner peace during his time in the garden.  And as you watch him endure the hardships of the trial and the cross-he does seem pretty peaceful throughout that terrible experience.  And now he is speaking to his disciples as someone who has seen firsthand how God carried him through those dark days.  And Jesus says to his disciples-and to us-"Peace be with you."  He is telling us that God is able to carry us through whatever trials we are facing-and to be at peace.      It is a comforting message; a message of hope.  Peace in the midst of turmoil is something that is longed for and sought after by everyone.  And Jesus tells us that inner peace is possible-through the deepest of trials.  And the fact that he said it twice in this short passage should emphasize this: peace is possible.  The trials will still come, but Jesus' wish for us is that we may go through them with a sense of peace.      How to gain that peace is another matter, I suppose.  Like Jesus in the garden-to work through our inner turmoil and fears in God's presence certainly helps.  And like Jesus in the garden-to reach out for support from friends can help, too.       But I have to say that when talking about how to find inner peace, I can't help but think of the way I carry around a little too much stress and the way it tightens my neck and shoulders; and I can't help but recall my ability to see some little problems here and there even when, overall, things are going really well; or the way that I so easily think of things to worry about-things that I fully realize will probably never come to pass.  So in some ways, when talking about inner peace, I feel a little like that guy giving advice and sounding so knowledgeable about skydiving-you know, the one who had never jumped out of a plane.  I suppose that's a slight exaggeration, but I do want to be clear: It is not my personal experience of inner peace that I'm offering to you today, but it is the experience of Christ.  Jesus desires that you and I have a deeper experience of inner peace-even in the midst of turmoil.  Jesus gave us an example of working through his deep inner struggle to find a sense of peace that carried him through his great trials.  And Jesus offers to us his own life and power that we may have the hope of realizing inward peace.       And Jesus' words to his disciples so long ago are his words to us today: "Peace be with you