“The Path to True Peace, Part 2:  The Triumph of Peace” by the Rev. Dr. Don Wahlig, April 20, 2025, Year C / Easter - Luke 23:33-38 · Luke 24:1-12

THEME:  Easter is the springboard God has given us to share his peace, love and justice with others, as Jesus did.
 

Have you ever had the experience of desperately wanting something really good to be true, but you dismissed the possibility because it just seemed too good to be true? That is exactly what is going on in our scripture on this Easter Sunday as we conclude our special Holy Week sermon series on the topic of God’s true peace. A group of women have been following and supporting Jesus and his disciples all the way from Galilee up to Jerusalem.  These same women are eyewitnesses to the momentous events of Passover week in Jerusalem. They were there at Jesus’ trial, when their worst fears were realized. They sobbed when he was nailed to the cross. They watched in unspeakable grief as he breathed his last breath. They were still there when Joseph of Arimathea took down Jesus’ body, wrapped it in linen, and placed it in a tomb.  Then they saw the stone rolled across the mouth of the tomb, shutting it up tight. 

All of this they saw with their very own eyes. There was nothing left for them to do but go home and prepare the spices needed to give Jesus a proper Jewish burial.  Now, on the morning of the third day, after resting on the Sabbath, the women approach the tomb to anoint Jesus’ body.  They clearly expect to find his body where they last saw it:  inside the tomb. Their biggest concern is finding someone to roll the stone back for them. But when they arrive, the stone is already rolled back.  So, they peer inside the tomb, only to find that Jesus’ body is not there.  Instead, they encounter two brightly illuminated men. Surely, these must be angels. “Why do you look for the living among the dead?” the angels ask.

Put yourself in the shoes of these women. They are at first perplexed, then terrified, and finally amazed. The other disciples, however, dismiss their news as idle gossip. Even after checking the empty tomb himself, Peter has no idea what to make of this. One thing is crystal clear: the reality the disciples encounter, is not the reality they expect. In the coming days and weeks, they will grasp the full extent of this new reality. They will come face to face with the risen Jesus himself. They will realize that he has indeed overcome death. Because of that, he has made new life possible for them, and everyone who trusts in him. Even more, over time, they will come to see that, by raising Jesus from the grave, God paved the path of lasting peace for all humanity. As a result, the disciples will perform the most astounding deeds of power in Jesus’ name. They will realize that the resurrection is, quite simply, the best news imaginable.

But we are getting ahead of ourselves. On this very first Easter morning, the disciples do not have the full picture of what God is doing. Despite the testimony of the women, they do not trust God’s good news to be good.  Aren’t we all just a little bit like that?  We are slow to believe that God can and will make something truly new and profoundly good happen in our lives. This week I have been wondering why that is.

There are three reasons. First, we are all familiar with the reality of suffering. Negative, hurtful things can and do happen in life. We get a disturbing diagnosis. Jobs are lost. Loved ones get sick and die. Marriages come to an end. When these things happen, it is downright painful. These experiences of deep disappointment and grief have an effect on us. They condition us to constantly fear that the worst will happen. And fear pushes hope aside.

Second, the reality of life’s pain leads us to try to take control of our lives. We go to extraordinary lengths to insulate ourselves from experiencing suffering. I am not talking about doing sensible things like seeing your doctor regularly, or keeping your insurance up to date. I am talking about the excessive, over-the-top efforts to micro-manage the course of our lives. This is the reason why self-help books are one of the largest and fastest growing literary categories on the planet. Every year, we spend more than $10 billion on books and podcasts that try to convince us of the benefits of everything from Swedish death cleaning to adopting so-called Atomic Habits, little changes that will magically make us happier and more prosperous. More often than not, none of these remedies have any lasting effect.

Finally, beyond the reality of painful life experience and our fear-based need for control, there is a third, more fundamental reason why we are slow to trust that good things will happen in our lives. We do not feel comfortable relying on God’s goodness.  In truth, we question his goodness. When we give in to these things, they lead us to a place of despair. And that makes God weep. Because it is the very opposite of what he wants for us.

Easter is the proof of that. The cross is the demonstration of God’s love, and the resurrection is the source of our hope. It is the means of reconciliation with God and with one another. And it is the one and only foundation of true and lasting peace. The challenge we face is that we are likely to misunderstand what that peace is, and what it is for. When you and I think of peace, our first thought is usually rest. We think of taking a nap or lying on a beach, or watching snowflakes gently fall on a winter’s evening. Those are certainly aspects of God’s peace, but if that’s all we mean by it, then our vision of God’s peace is far too static.  The peace that God accomplished for us on the cross is dynamic. It is the springboard for a life of active faith. 

Teresa of Avila, the great 16^th century Christian mystic, said it best. Speaking of God’s peace, she wrote, "May today there be peace within.  May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.”  She does not stop there. She goes on to say, “May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith.  May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you.”

Friends, faith in general, and peace in particular, are not arm-chair activities. Such a divine peace cannot sit still.  The peace we know with God is the launching pad for our mission of sharing his peace and love with the world. That is our purpose. When we take our mission seriously, we radiate God’s peace and love to our families and our communities. That is God transforms not only us, but our country and our world. As one theologian famously put it, when disciples carry God’s peace and love into the world, it takes on the shape of justice. 

That is what Jesus did. Like him, you and I are called to do the same: to seek out the least and the lost, the marginalized and the poor, the orphan and the widow, the immigrant and the foreigner.  And we will follow in Jesus’ footsteps to make them whole and give them new life, just as Jesus taught us to do.  

We are all familiar with his parable of the Good Samaritan. This is the parable that Jesus used to illustrate for a young lawyer what loving our neighbor looks like in practice. Despite the historical antagonism between these two ethnic groups, the Samaritan showed extraordinary compassion and care for the Jewish man who lay beaten and bloodied beside the road. It is a powerful parable. But I wish that Jesus had gone on to tell us more. When the Samaritan returned to the inn to check on the Jewish man whose life he saved, surely they talked. What did they learn about each other? Did the walls of cultural and religious hostility that divided them begin to crumble? Without question, both men were changed. And no doubt they told their families what happened.  Maybe their attitudes were changed. Maybe their neighbors, too.  That is how God changes the world. 

Friends, our world is every bit as divided as theirs was. And there is no shortage of wounded people needing to be made whole. Do you know some of them? We all do. There has never been a better time, or a greater need for Jesus’ disciples to follow his example. Our nation and our world are crying out for the good news of God’s peace, love, and justice. 

Easter is the springboard God has given us to go out and share it with them.

May it be so.