Dearly Beloved in Christ,

On the evening of the day of the Resurrection the disciples are cowering behind locked doors "for fear of the Jews."  Will their fate be the same as that of their crucified master?  In an attempt to shut out what they fear they have created for themselves a prison.  Into this fear-filled room the Lord appears with the words "Peace be with you."  And he immediately shows them the wounds of his crucifixion in his resurrected body.

A week later he appears in the same room where the doors are now shut but not locked.  His greeting is exactly the same: "Peace be with you."  And to Thomas, who was not present a week earlier, he not only shows the wounds but extends the invitation to do that which Thomas had said he would need to do to turn unbelief into faith: "Put your finger here, and see my hands, and put out your hand and place it in my side."

Why is it that the Lord's bestowing of peace is so closely associated with the physical reality of the wounds from his crucifixion?  The peaceable kingdom, promised through the Prophet Isaiah, will not come in its fulness until the Lord returns.  Those things that assail us, that create fear-filled prisons, will not be completely removed until the end of the age.  But the wounded hands, feet, and side witness to the truth that the Lord's peace comes in the midst of a still fallen world where there are natural disasters, sickness, war, and death. 

The wounds are signs of love.  They are signs of conquest: "Take courage; I have conquered the world." John16:33.  When we see these wounds we can trust that in the midst of our fears He can and will bring His peace: "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.  I do not give to you as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid." John 14:27.
   

In His Peace, Grace, and Love,
Rev'd Sarah+