View Jesus’ Cross for Peace and Life

It was only about 47 days ago when we had our Ash Wednesday service and observed 40 days of Lent.  Then we enjoyed Easter together.  Easter is a big deal.  Maybe you noticed in the bulletin that there was a total of 116 people combined at our Easter services last week.  Divine Peace Rockwall also had 116 people at their combined services.  That means there were 232 people who celebrated Easter together as Divine Peace!  Praise God!  We remembered Jesus on the cross and we remembered the empty tomb.  These are two extreme opposites for which we are very thankful.  Because Jesus lives, everything has changed and we look at the cross in a different light.  We find comfort, joy, peace, and hope in the cross of Jesus.  This also happened to the disciples on Easter evening.  Just like the disciples may the Holy Spirit inspire us to

View Jesus’ Cross For Peace And Life

His Wounds Bring Peace

Last week we were reminded of the confusion that the disciples of Jesus had on Easter morning.  They didn’t have any peace or hope on that day.  They saw Jesus arrested in the garden and had fled into the night, confused and frightened.  As the events unfolded they saw Jesus on trial and probably heard about Peter’s denial.  Then they saw Jesus abused and beaten by the soldiers and the crown of thorns smashed onto his head.  How many disciples saw Jesus’ collapse under the weight of the cross he was carrying out to the place they called, “The Skull.”  Then they saw Jesus crucified.  Jesus on the cross was burning in their memories!  Finally with Jesus’ death and burial I assume all their hopes and expectations had also died.  What confusion filled the room!

We pick up the account of Easter today with the disciples.  Can you imagine their conversations?  First, they had confessed Jesus to be the promised Messiah, but was all of this a big lie?   They had high hopes when Jesus rode into Jerusalem as a King with the crowds shouting,

“Hosanna to the Son of David!” 

How exciting that day must have been.  But, then on Friday morning they heard the crowds yelling, “Crucify him!”  They heard Jesus’ promises made to Mary and Martha as Lazarus tomb,

“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live, even if he dies. ²⁶ And whoever lives and believes in me will never perish”

John 11:25

But, the last they saw of Jesus was a dead Jesus.  Seeing a dead Jesus tempted them to think that all of Jesus’ words and promises were nothing but a big lie.

Second, imagine the heart ache and fear because it appeared that Jesus was no longer able to protect and care for them. They had left businesses and family behind to follow Jesus. They had witnessed Jesus as he walked through the crowd at Nazareth when they wanted to throw him off the cliff.  They saw Jesus calm the storms.  Even while in the garden Jesus was able to protect them from the mob of soldiers, but if the Jewish leaders had killed Jesus, his disciples were next!  A dead Jesus could not protect them by his words or his power.  So, John records for us,

“¹⁹ On the evening of that first day of the week, the disciples were together behind locked doors because of their fear of the Jews.” 

Oh, the heartache and the fear!

However, the locked doors could not keep the word out.  Throughout the morning various people had visited the tomb and brought back reports that Jesus was missing.  The women talked about the angels.  But the disciples did not believe the women and thought they were crazy.  Peter and John visited the tomb, but that wasn’t convincing enough.  Mary had a conversation with Jesus at the tomb and told the disciples about it, but they just couldn’t believe it because fear and doubt was still stronger than comfort, hope and peace.  They were so confused as to what all this meant.  They had seen Jairus’ daughter and Lazarus raised back to life, but the resurrection of Jesus was just too!  The room was filled with doubt and fear!

Until…….” Jesus came, stood among them.”  The other Gospel accounts tell us Jesus showed them how alive he was.  He showed them his hands and feet, and his side where the spear had pieced him without any more pain.  He even ate some fish in their presence to show he wasn’t a ghost.  Jesus was alive!  And now it was time to see the cross differently than they had on Good Friday.

Jesus brought peace to the locked room.

“Jesus came, stood among them, and said to them, “Peace be with you!”

Peace!?!  Yes!  Peace!  Jesus’ presence among them was confirmation that all he had said and done was true.  When he told Mary and Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life,” these were not just words to make them feel better.  Jesus’ words were absolutely true to Bring Them Peace.  Jesus is the Anointed One who is absolutely trustworthy.  Jesus had the words to bring them peace and the power to care for them.  They need not fear any longer.  Jesus was alive!  His power was in tact.  In fact it was the greatest power they had ever seen because he raised himself from the dead just as he said he would:

“Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up again”

John 3:19

Now there was real peace!

And maybe you’re thinking, “What peace?”  It was the peace that we receive as we now view his cross!  The suffering, the wounds, the wrath of God and the torment of hell Jesus received on the cross were all done for the disciples and for us.  They were at peace with God because of those scars of the nails.  Jesus was alive and fulfilled what Isaiah recorded

“He was crushed for the guilt our sins deserved. The punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed”

Isaiah 55:3

Jesus’ suffering was now over and the disciples Viewed Jesus’ Cross Where His Wounds Bring Peace!  Jesus declared it, “Peace be with you!”

That peace is yours too!  Yes, we view the cross and realize it was our sins that caused Jesus to have to die.  But, it was Jesus’ death that also brings us peace!   Jesus’ suffering and death brought you forgiveness of all your sins.  St Paul was inspired to write,

“In fact, there is no difference, ²³ because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God ²⁴ and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus”

Romans 3

This is the peace the angels were talking about on Christmas Eve when they told the shepherd,

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward mankind”

Luke 2:14

This is the peace in which we live.  Jesus successfully completed his mission.  Jesus is alive to bring us peace!  Even as Jesus has cared for his people down through the ages, so he will continue to care for you.  This brings us peace when the world is going crazy, peace when health declines, peace when society is running wild, when wars are brewing, when economic unrest spikes, peace when we think about our future no matter what happens.  Yes, View Jesus’ Cross for Peace and Life!

His Wounds Bring Life

The disciples loved the peace that Jesus brough into that room on Easter Eve.  Jesus also brought them Life.  Yes, they were hiding in that room because they feared for their lives!   Death was part of their fear.  Remember what Thomas said,

“Let’s go too, so that we may die with him”

John 11:16

Can you imagine traveling with Jesus to Jerusalem and imagining the worst?!!  I don’t have any trouble thinking the disciples on Easter evening thought Jesus was gone for good and had resigned themselves to their fate—death!  They had no hope.  Think about it.  If you had no hope when death was approaching you, how scared would you be?  Joy and hope were in short supply in that locked room on Easter Eve.

That is until Jesus showed up.  Remember, Jesus is the Gospel.  The Gospel is the Good News.  The Good News is that Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty of all our sins, destroy the works of the devil, and to open the door of heaven for us all!  Of course they were happy to touch Jesus and watch him eat some fish.  Of course they were happy that he wasn’t a ghost.  But, how much more joyful and hopeful they would grow as they came to realize that by the work Jesus did on the cross meant they too would one day have Eternal Life in Heaven!

Seeing Jesus alive would teach them some things about the life to come.  His body was the same as before.  The wounds were still there, but there was no pain.  He had just walked through a locked door but he ate fish!  “Jesus came, stood among them, and said to them, “Peace be with you!”  This wasn’t just a wish, but this was a declaration of Jesus!   It was a fulfillment of Jesus’ words,

“In a little while the world will see me no longer, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live”

John 14:19

Jesus had died and rose again, so would the disciples.  Jesus also said, “whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have [Present Active Subjunctive] eternal life” (John 3:16).  What comfort comes from the cross where Jesus paid the penalty of sin, destroyed the works of the devil and opened the gate of heaven for all people!  The disciples now recognized that the Wounds of Jesus Brought Life!

We started this focus on Jesus’ death and resurrection 47 days ago.  Aren’t you happy the cross before you today isn’t empty?  Do you get it?  Of course Jesus was taken down from the cross and buried, but he rose again as proof that what he did on the cross worked!  Join the disciples to see Jesus’ nail pierced hands and rejoice that your sins are all forgiven.  Rejoice at the crown of thorns on his head because now Jesus wears the crown of victory in heaven.  Rejoice because you know that All Of Jesus Wounds Brought You Life! 

Now this isn’t to say that we may come to the day when our bodies will become life-less for a time.  Our bodies may be cremated or buried in a casket for a time.  But, if I’m the pastor when that happens, the same message the disciples heard will be heard by all gathered at your grave, “Peace be with you!”  Then I’ll point to the cross and says, “View Jesus’ Cross For Peace And Life!  Jesus’ Wounds Bring Peace because he paid the penalty of all your sins and Jesus’ Wounds Bring Life because he rose form the dead to overcome the power of death and open the gate of heaven for you.  Amen!