Peace Be With You
Date: 2019-04-28
Scripture: John 20:19-31
Speaker: Eric Sin
Summary by Freedom D. & Xiaochenai
After the Lord’s resurrection, the disciples did not respond with universal joy. Instead: shock and trepidation, guilt and regret, unbelief and doubt — surrounded them. Why, after years of following the Lord and seeing his many miracles, did they meet the message of resurrection so coldly, so hesitantly? Is human nature really so suspicious?
Yes — it is. Jesus did rebuke Thomas for his little faith, but as is well known, Christ’s standards are higher than ours; and I think doubt is not necessarily incapable of good. I grew up in a traditional church, left for my orientation, and was reconciled with God again at BMCC. Wanting more opportunities to serve, I then studied theology. My doubting disposition has kept my faith always in motion — but it has also taught me the importance of humility and given me richer readings of Scripture.
Today’s church easily places doubt in opposition to obedience. But think carefully: had no one carried doubt, could we today have perceived the patriarchal frame of Scripture? Would there be any LGBTQ+-affirming churches in the world? Doubt is not necessarily disobedience; on the contrary, doubt may be precisely what obedience requires when, on the bumpy road of keeping the Lord’s way, we sometimes have to find another stream.
In unbelief, doubt, even under the fear of state repression, Christ suddenly appears among the disciples and blesses them: ‘Peace be with you.’ Today, in a Hong Kong where religious freedom is gradually tightening, as believers despised by the mainstream denominations — can we still truly feel the peace the Lord promised?
Two thousand years ago Christ was arrested; the disciples scattered. They denied their past, denied the resurrection. As the extradition bill comes to legislation in Hong Kong, if pastors were suddenly arrested one by one, the crosses inside churches violently torn down and burned — would we react any differently than Peter and Thomas?
“When it is dark enough, you see the stars.” Do you?
