If I were writing the script, things would be remarkably different than they are. We would have heaven on earth. Everyone would be saved. Jesus would still be running around (crucifixion should not be necessary)- God incarnate as the living presence of “truth and grace.” Poverty would be eliminated. Illness would be a faint memory. Any hint of sin would be quickly doused by deep conviction, honest confession and hearty repentance. Everyone would be filled with love for all others. Even if we hadn’t attained heaven yet, we would see glimmers of it everywhere. But, I’m not writing the script.
If I were writing the script of Jesus’ resurrection I would have also done it a little differently. I think a good walk through the temple, a face to face “now look here” with Caiaphas and another visit with Pilate to answer the question, “Are you saying you are a king?” would have put a lot of speculation and nay-saying to bed. But, again, I’m not writing the script.
Instead, sin has run amuck. Conviction does not seem to make a dent in the hearts of the worst perpetrators’ of crime Poverty is growing right alongside the crude growth rate. Illness is an ubiquitous obstacle. Clearly not everyone is saved or even interested. Those are all results of our fallenness. But, the part of the script that was totally in God’s control was how Jesus made his final appearances. The rest is the result of us messing things up.
For some reason, Jesus first appearance is rather inauspicious- a closed room with 11 somewhat fearful and recently failed disciples. That lacks the panache I would expect. But, in reading John 20:19-23, I am taken by the steely resolve of Jesus saying some rather bold, though quiet, things to the sequestered followers. Twice he said, “Peace be with you.” Only four days before, he conveyed peace to them (John 14:27 and 16:23) under much more harsh circumstances. Apparently, he meant it. Apparently, he had within his power the ability to convey it. Apparently, he knew something about peace that we don’t.
Now, someone might say, “Bishop Thomas, the “Peace be with you” line was a common greeting. We all know the Shalom offering to those we meet.” But, something more was in this greeting. He said it twice. He had not used that common greeting before with that group. He used the peace line judiciously through the process. He demonstrated remarkable peace and calm in the midst of injustice and jeers. There is just something more there. And, John recalled that marvelous first greeting many years later. “Peace be with you.” There is only one way to have peace. It is what people need desperately in the script that we actually are working from. It cannot be garnered, engineered, fabricated, self-inflicted or concocted in any other way. Peace- internal, external, among people, for eternity- can only be conveyed by Jesus Christ. And I am soaking in it. I am filled to the brim with it. My past has been forgiven and a calm exists as though Jesus has etched his initials in my heart like a junior high camper etches his initials on the walls of the camp cabin, “JC was here.”
I am patently interested in talking to people about peace in the midst of the writing of their script. We might not get everything we want. But, the possibility of peace is always there. Trust me on this. No, trust Jesus.