Peace in the Turmoil

This sermon was given at our Sunday morning service on 12th April 2026, the second Sunday of Easter.

The Gospel was John 20:19-31.
 
 

Let me start by wishing you all a happy Easter! And yes, it is still Easter, though, of course, we are now on the second Sunday of Easter, rather than Easter Sunday itself.

 

It is, though, my first opportunity to wish you all a happy Easter, as last week – as some of you may know – I was on retreat at the Community of the Resurrection in Mirfield, where I experienced a very different Holy Week than any I have experienced before. It was very special, but I did miss you all, and the Holy Week and Easter we share at St Michael’s. I’m very glad to be back and able to preach for you here today.

 

A photo I took of Mirfield House of the Resurrection on the morning of Palm Sunday.



Our gospel this morning is a very famous passage, and one I’ve preached on a number of times before. That’s one of the things about being a Reader; you often get to preach on this today, the second Sunday of Easter, because all the priests are worn out after everything they put into the weeks before!

 

That’s OK though, because I really like this morning’s gospel reading.

 

I said it wasn’t Easter Sunday any more, but that wasn’t quite right, because that’s actually when our gospel this morning starts; this time last week. Well, in the evening anyway.

 

The disciples have hidden themselves in the house where they were meeting. This was probably the house they met in only three nights ago when they shared the Last Supper with their teacher, and the whole horror and danger of the last few days started.

 

And don’t get me wrong, this has been a horrific time in the city. Only a week ago, Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, which is not the humble act we like to think it was. No, this was purposeful visual symbolism of the Messiah, the one foretold to release Israel from oppression. When churches around the world marked this event the other week, palm fronds were waved by children and then everyone calmly processed into church. Two thousand years ago, on that first Palm Sunday, Jesus more likely than not incited a riot, as an oppressed people saw a chance to rise up against their oppressor, with a figurehead they could point to, to justify their violence.

 

That feeling continued throughout the week, as the disciples met and ate together in this house in which we find them back today whilst disorder raged throughout the city. As we know, it culminated in the public execution of Christ, alongside two other criminals – potentially rioters themselves, as the powers-that-be attempted to regain control over the escalating situation. You can bet that over that weekend, Roman soldiers were searching for the rest of Jesus’ band of domestic terrorists.

 

And then, in the morning, when some of the women in the group had gone to pay their respects to Jesus’ body – before it was light, mind, so that they weren’t apprehended by any soldiers or guards – they found that the body was gone – to who knew where? Taken by the Romans to put on public display? A sign to any others who might be contemplating rebellion? Maybe drunken rioters had broken in and done who knows what with his body?

 

And then – the rumour; that some of these women had seen this dead man walking around. You can bet even more than before that the authorities were swift to tighten their grip over the city on that Sunday. The place was fraught with tension.

 

And so, it is in this context we find the disciples cowering in the upstairs room of their locked house. They’ve likely never been more scared in their lives.

 

And then a dead man appears in the room with them.



I think I’d be terrified.

 


But Jesus, as always, flips the situation. To the terror, and the horror, Christ speaks peace. 

 

Peace be with you, he says.


And then again, Peace be with you.

 

And then, the next week, when he appears again and Thomas is with them this time, he says it again. Peace be with you.

 

The crowds outside are still angry. Peace be with you.


The authorities are still looking to quell this revolution, through more violence if needed. Peace be with you.


The world is forever flipped on its axis, and nothing will be the same ever again. Peace be with you.

 

Christ is risen. He is risen indeed! And the natural order of things has been shattered. Peace be with you!

 

What is this peace?

 

 

The world thinks that peace means quiet. On retreat, I experienced a lot of quiet. I also experienced peace. They weren’t always interconnected.

 

There was quiet that was anticipatory, and quiet that was tense, and quiet that was awkward.

 

And there was peace that lay in the noise and the busy-ness.

 

The peace that Christ offers does not need the world around you to be still. It exists in the midst of fear, not just when fear is abated. It cannot be lessened when all around is chaos. The peace of Christ lives on – and rises through – death and destruction.

 

Christ’s peace is not a peace that exists in ignorance; it lives full in the knowledge of the situation all around.

 

Christ’s peace is not the peace of acceptance of defeat either. In both these situations, Christ’s peace knows the end game, that the darkness will never overcome the light, that Love wins, and that we all must pay our part in bringing about God’s kingdom – a kingdom of peace.

 

Christ’s peace is the peace that calms in the tiniest boat tossed about on the stormiest sea.

 

Christ’s peace is the peace that lights the fire of hope and boldness in the darkest and most hopeless situation.

 

Christ’s peace is the peace that even when nailed to a cross, and pierced with a spear, and dies and is buried and is left sealed in a tomb rises and lives again and shines brighter than it ever did before. 

 

Christ’s peace is the peace of God, and it passes all human understanding.

 

It is the peace of God, and – if you want it – it is here for you today. Like Christ to Thomas in our Gospel this morning, God opens his hands to you today. Come and touch. Come and see.

 

Peace be with you. Christ’s peace is yours to take.

 

Peace be with you.

 

Amen.

 

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