Perfect Peace

While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”

Luke 24:36

In the Middle East, it is common to greet one another by saying, “Peace.” That was true already at the time when Jesus rose from the dead. So when he appeared to his disciples and said, “Peace be with you,” it could have been understood as a simple greeting.

But it was far more than that. The disciples were unsettled. They were not sure that Jesus had really risen from the dead. They were uncertain whether they had done the right thing at the time of his trial and crucifixion. They did not know where they stood with one another, much less where they stood with Jesus.

All those uncertainties made it important for Jesus to greet them by saying, “Peace be with you.” He needed to assure them that his relationship with them was good. Because he had died to take the punishment for their sins because he had risen from the dead to prove that his promise of forgiveness was true, he could calm a whole range of anxiety with those simple words, “Peace be with you.”

We also live with uncertainty. We wonder whether we have done the right thing. We don’t know how we stand with one another, and we waver in our confidence that Jesus loves us. Because Jesus died to take the punishment for our sins because he rose from the dead to prove that his promise of forgiveness for us is true, we rejoice to hear Jesus say it to us, too. “Peace be with you.”

Prayer:

Thank you, Jesus, for calming our anxiety by assuring us that we have perfect peace with you. Amen.