Today, there will be people who will greet the new day, wishing it were their last. There will be those who will wake up to realize their pains and sorrows are still there and just wouldn’t go away. There will be those who will want to stay in their hard beds longer despite the grumbling in their stomachs because there is no food to eat. There are those who are ready to start another day seething in anger and hatred because of the bile and vitriol running through their system crying for revenge. They long for peace but there is no peace. They thirst for mercy but they is no mercy.
There is evil in the world that destroys people. There is sin in the world that is either the cause or the effect of evil in the world. Whatever estranges people from one another and destroy their relationships is sin. Whatever makes me a stranger to myself and cause me to lose my bearings is sin. Whatever I do to harm the environment and trash the planet we live in is sin. The first thing to go when sin comes in is peace. The first thing I need when peace is gone is mercy.
The blessing of Easter is new life. The first greeting of the Risen Christ is Peace. The grace he brings us is Mercy. What if I had the power to give peace, would I give people a piece of my peace? If I had the power to give mercy would I give people my mercy?
When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then 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.’ When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’
John 20:19-29