‘On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” (John 20:19) In this short Gospel, Jesus extends this Greeting of Peace three times. (John 20:19, 21, 26) This is no mere ordinary greeting, like: “Hello. How are you?” Jesus is making a point, and to make sure we hear it, he says it three times: “Peace be with you.”

So, what is this “Peace?” Before his Passion, Jesus promised to bequeath his peace to his disciples. At the end of his Farewell Discourse on the night of his last supper, Jesus said: “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) So the complement to this greeting of “Peace” is Jesus’ cry on the Cross: “It is finished; it is accomplished”; and bowing his head he gave up his spirit.’ (John 19:30) For it is then that Jesus overcame the world that we may have Peace. So, the first words of the Risen Jesus to his disciples are: “Peace be with you.” It is as Jesus had put it: “Peace I bequeath to you—my peace I give you, a peace the world cannot give, this is my gift to you. Don’t yield to fear or be troubled in your hearts—instead, be courageous!” (John 14:27) His “Peace” is his dying gift to us who follow him. We can see here the significance of the opening words of this morning’s Gospel: ‘On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” Then we are told: ‘The disciples were filled with joy when they saw the Lord.’ (John 20:20) They leave their fear behind, like the Lord left behind his burial cloths. (John 20:6) In fear is not the way to live, and Jesus came that we may have life. (C.f.: John 3:16) We are called to enter Christ’s “Peace.”

After saying to them again, “Peace be with you,” Jesus then says, “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” (John 20:21) He commissions us to go out and be pedlars of that Peace. So, in Luke’s Gospel, when Jesus instructs his disciples as he sends them out on Mission, he says to them: “Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house!’ And if a person of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you.” (Luke 10:5-6) Whether they accept our greeting of Peace or not, make no difference; the message to those who accept it and to those who reject it is the same: “The kingdom of God has come near to you.” (Luke 10:9,11) This is the meaning of Jesus’ words following our commissioning and translated as: “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.” (John 20:23) Christ’s greeting of “Peace” means that the Kingdom of God has come; it doesn’t matter whether people accept it or not: the Kingdom of God has come; it is here, so very near!

Christ’s “Peace” is the Peace of the eschatological Kingdom that he came to establish as the ultimate destiny of humankind, where all that separates us from God and alienates us from one another and from our world is forgiven and overcome. (C.f.: Genesis 3:17-19) God’s forgiveness is ours to accept … or not; we can choose to live in the Kingdom or refuse to come in. (C.f.: Luke 13:27-28; 15:28) This means that we who live in the Kingdom, must be responsible for that Peace. This is the meaning of the description of that first Christian community given us in our first reading this morning from the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 2:42-47): we are all charged to live well together, caring for one another; we are called to live in that Peace! (Colossians 3:15)

This was well put during this Easter week at the Office of Readings, when we heard St Peter say to us: “Now, this is the goal: to live in harmony with one another and demonstrate affectionate love, sympathy, and kindness toward other believers. Let humility describe who you are as you dearly love one another. Never retaliate when someone treats you wrongly, nor insult those who insult you, but instead, respond by speaking a blessing over them—because a blessing is what God promised to give you. For the Scriptures tell us: Whoever wants to embrace true life and find beauty in each day must stop speaking evil, hurtful words and never deceive in what they say. Always turn from what is wrong and cultivate what is good; eagerly pursue peace in every relationship, making it your prize.” (1 Peter 3:8-12. C.f.: Colossians 3:5-15)

We here endeavour to live out this Peace. (C.f.: Rule of St Benedict [RB] Prologue:23-27) We are people from all round the world who choose to come together and live in Peace, and we do so with varying degrees of success. (C.f.: Acts 2:5-6) St Benedict’s word to us is: “Do not wish to be called holy before you really are; first be holy, and then the term will be truer in your case. You must put the commandments of God into action every day. Love chastity. Hate no one. Do not be jealous. Do not act out of envy. Do not be habitually quarrelsome. Flee pride. Respect the seniors. Love the juniors. Pray for your enemies for the love of Christ. If you have a quarrel with someone, make peace before sundown. And never despair of God’s mercy.” Then he says to us, “These, then, are the tools of the spiritual craft. If we have wielded them ceaselessly day and night, and returned them on Judgment Day, we will receive that reward from the Lord which he promised … The workshop where we should work hard at these things is the monastic enclosure and stability in the community.” (RB 4:62-75, 78) These are not meant to be idle words; we are meant to use them and put them into practice. In accepting Christ’s gift of Peace, we are called to learn how to use these tools, to learn how to live well together—to learn how to love one another as Christ loved us; this is our call. (John 13:34. C.f.: RB 4:1-2) “Peace be with you.”