Peace be with You
John 20:19

I have always been interested in the fact that whenever God broke through the fog of humanity and spoke with one of His creatures the greeting normally begins with: "Peace." Just after the resurrection, Jesus came to visit with His disciples they met behind closed doors and said, Peace be with you."

Peter and John had already been to the empty tomb and saw the grave clothes lying flat on the shelf so they knew something was amiss. However, they must have been extremely nervous about meeting the risen Messiah face to face. How would you feel about talking to a man who had a few days earlier been crucified?

Not only the ghostliness of the situation was difficult, so was the fact that they all had scattered like scared birds during the trial and mob scene. Peter had denied Jesus outright but none of them showed any courage or loyalty to their Rabbi.

Some of you might respond by saying, "Yes, but just think that they had the opportunity to see God up clpse and personal." Yeah, but anyone who has failed to follow God's ways is not too eager to see Him a few feet away. These guys were from a legalistic Jewish culture that treated sinner pretty harshly and they must have been overcome with guilt, shame and remorse.

Let's face it. None of us wants to see God when we have failed. These men were human and they needed some time to get themselves cleaned up.

But Jesus came to them immediately and said they were forgiven. Peace, you see, means Your guilt is gone in scripture. He announced forgiveness to them as the very first act.

As a pastor and counselor I meet many people who fear God in an anxious manner. They carry a load of false guilt and shame so large they cannot face Jesus lest He discover just how unworthy they are. This may sound silly but a man told me that he feared confessing his sin lest God overhear him and find out what he had been doing. Keeping secrets from God was his clear intent. I let him know that confession means, Agreement with God that he was wrong. This was a surprise to him.

But Jesus comes after us as the gracious hound of heaven and says:

Peace be with you.
Your guilt is gone.