Peace Be With You

At the Last Supper, Christ said to his disciples, Peace be with you. After the resurrection, when he entered the Upper Room and greeted the disciples, the first thing he said to them was Peace be with you. This is not simply an informal greeting for our Lord; it is not a meaningless platitude. This is his earnest desire: that the heart of every believer be at peace. As you read this Gospel, reflect on the state of your heart.

Peace Be With You

Gospel - John 20:19-23

On the evening of that first day of the week,

when the doors were locked, where the disciples were,

for fear of the Jews,

Jesus came and stood in their midst

and said to them, "Peace be with you."

When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side.

The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.

Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you.

As the Father has sent me, so I send you."

And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them,

"Receive the Holy Spirit.

Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them,

and whose sins you retain are retained."

Scriptural Analysis

John uses this opportunity to provide some insight into the mental state of the disciples. He mentions that they were gathered in the evening, in the darkness, which signifies the absence of Christ’s light. Additionally, they are filled with fear of the Jewish authorities, who had pushed hard to have their master executed. They were afraid that they would be next. Therefore, they locked the doors.

In his farewell discourse, Jesus had warned the disciples that he would be taken from them and then they would see him again, “A little while, and you will see me no more; again a little while, and you will see me.” (John 16:16) He also warned them that they would initially be full or sorrow and then joy, “You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.” (John 16:20) Jesus fulfills this promise be appearing to them and standing in their midst.

The first words uttered by Christ are Peace be with you, shalom. This is the eschatological reconciliation between God and his people. This was THE EVENT foretold of by the prophet Isaiah, "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good tidings, who publishes peace.” (Isaiah 52:7) Through his cross and resurrection, Christ has reconciled the world to God, thus there is no longer a reason to be afraid.

The presence of Christ’s wounds is significant. They indicate that they are not seeing a ghost but truly seeing Christ raised. They also show that the glorified body we receive in the resurrection will be the same body we had previously, but in a glorified state. Additionally, they are important because Christ is forever fixed before the Father in his sacrifice of love. They also show that the victory of the resurrection does not happen without the cross.

As the disciples are gathered, their hearts are heavy with grief. When Jesus appears, the first thing he does is to bring them his peace. He then shows them his wounds, his trophies of victory, as Saint Thomas Aquinas describes them. Jesus then offers the disciples peace again. After that, he draws them into his own mission, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” He then gives them the promised gift of the Holy Spirit. The mention of breathing on them is significant. No doubt that this ties back to the story of creation where God “Breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.” (Genesis 2:7)

Christ connects the Church’s power to forgive sins with the Holy Spirit. Jesus was hailed as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. By bringing the disciples into his mission, Jesus gives them the authority to take away sins, to administer God’s mercy, through the power of the Holy Spirit. The work of the Church on earth, the decision to forgive someone’s sins, stands in heaven.

Daily Application

Christ earnestly desires that the hearts of all mankind be at peace. Throughout his public ministry, he tells us over and over to be not afraid, to still our hearts and rest in the Lord, to be at peace. Anxiety, fear, and worry are all tactics of the enemy. Recall the words of Jesus in Matthew’s Gospel, “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day’s own trouble be sufficient for the day.” (Matthew 6:34)

Today we celebrate the great feast of Pentecost, when the Lord’s promise to send the Holy Spirit is fulfilled. In Chapter 14 of John’s Gospel, Jesus connects the promise of the Holy Spirit with his peace, and in Chapter 20, when he gives the Holy Spirit to the disciples, he also gives them his peace. Saint Paul, in his Letter to the Galatians, lists peace as one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit.

In his Summa, Aquinas tells us that, “Now peace implies these two things, namely, that we be not disturbed by external things, and that our desires rest altogether in one object.” Aquinas masterfully illustrates to us what this peace is, the peace that the Lord desires to give us and that the Holy Spirit produces in us.

First, it is the ability to remain joyful and undisturbed by the events that occur in the world. That does not mean that we are ambivalent to what happens in the world. When we see injustice, we call it out. When someone passes, we feel grief. When our children accomplish something, we share in their joy. However, through all of this, we should remain at peace. Our hearts should not be anxious, worried, or fearful.

The reason we can be at peace through all of life’s ups and downs is that our ultimate desire rests in one thing: God. Saint Augustine said, “Our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee.” When we realize that our ultimate goal is to be with God in heaven for eternity, and that is our life’s focus, the peace it brings is immense. Through triumph and tragedy, life and even death, we remain at peace because our lives are not defined by what happens to us, but by our relationship with the one who created us.