Peace Comes to Us

Introduction

Picture this for a moment.

You are home, and the doors are locked.
It's late at night after the biggest disappointment of your life.

Maybe you've just lost your job.
Maybe you received difficult news from a doctor.
Maybe you let someone down and you cannot undo what happened.

So you lock the doors.

The shades are drawn.
You do not want to see anyone.
You do not want anyone to see you.

The room is quiet, but inside your mind everything is loud —
the regrets, the fears, the "what ifs," the questions about what comes next.

Now here's the surprising thing.

That is exactly where we find the disciples in the Gospel of John 20.

It is the evening of the first Easter.
Jesus has been crucified.
Their hopes have collapsed.
And the disciples are hiding behind locked doors "for fear."

But then something extraordinary happens.

The risen Jesus walks into the room.

And the first words out of his mouth are not rebuke, not correction, not disappointment.

He says:

"Peace be with you."

If you forget everything else today, remember this one truth:

Peace comes to us.

Not because we earn it.
Not because we chase it down.
But because the risen Christ comes to us.

Let's walk through this passage together and see three things Jesus does when he enters that locked room.

Expository Walkthrough

1. Jesus brings peace into our fear (vv.19–20)

The first thing we see is simple but powerful.

Jesus enters a room filled with fear.

The disciples are not brave here.
They are not confident.

They are hiding.

They had followed Jesus for three years.
But when he was arrested, most of them ran.

Only John the Apostle was present at the cross.

So imagine what they might be expecting if Jesus really did appear.

Maybe judgment.
Maybe disappointment.
Maybe a lecture about loyalty.

But when Jesus appears, he says:

"Peace be with you."

Notice something important.

Jesus does not begin with their performance.

He begins with his presence.

Then he shows them his hands and his side.

The scars matter.

Those wounds tell the story of what Jesus has done.

They say:

"I carried the nails."
"I carried the spear."
"I carried the weight of sin and death."

This is what Christians mean when we talk about the finished work of Christ.

Jesus has done for us what we could never do for ourselves.

He lived the life we could not live.
He carried the sin we could not carry.
He defeated the death we could not defeat.

And that is why the disciples did not achieve peace.

Peace came to them.

Jesus himself is our peace.

Now the peace Jesus gives is not shallow optimism.

It is not pretending everything is fine.

Jesus' peace is deeper than that.

It is peace in the middle of suffering, because the risen Christ stands with us.

The peace of knowing:

You are not alone.

And maybe today some of us are living behind locked doors.

Locked doors of anxiety.
Locked doors of regret.
Locked doors of grief.

The good news of Easter is this:

No door you close can keep Jesus out.

He walks through every barrier — fear, guilt, shame — and he says the same words to you:

"Peace be with you."

Peace comes to us.

Transition: But Jesus does not only bring peace. He also gives purpose. Once the disciples receive his peace, something surprising happens next.

2. Jesus sends people who have received his grace (vv.21–23)

In verse 21 Jesus says:

"As the Father has sent me, I am sending you."

Notice the order.

Peace first.

Mission second.

Jesus does not say:

"Fix yourselves first."

He does not say:

"Prove yourselves first."

He gives them peace — and then he gives them a calling.

And he roots this mission in God himself.

"The Father has sent me."

This shows us something beautiful about God's heart.

Mission did not begin with the church.

Mission began with God.

The Father sends the Son.
The Son comes near and gives himself for us.
And then Jesus breathes on the disciples and says:

"Receive the Holy Spirit."

This moment echoes the very beginning of creation when God breathed life into humanity.

Here Jesus is saying something profound:

"You are not going into the world in your own strength.
I am giving you my Spirit."

And what message are they sent with?

Forgiveness.

The disciples are not sent as experts.
They are sent as people who have been rescued.

People who know what it feels like to need grace.

People who know what forgiveness feels like.

So mission becomes something very practical.

Mission happens:

At work — when patience replaces anger.
At home — when forgiveness replaces bitterness.
In the neighborhood — when kindness replaces indifference.

This is the peace of Christ flowing outward into the world.

Peace comes to us… and then peace flows through us.

Transition: But there is still one more scene in this passage. Because not everyone was in the room the first time Jesus appeared. And that brings us to one of the most relatable disciples in the Bible.

3. Jesus meets us in our doubts (vv.24–29)

One disciple missed that first encounter.

His name was Thomas the Apostle.

When the others told him they had seen Jesus, Thomas said:

"Unless I see the nail marks… I will not believe."

Thomas often gets labeled "Doubting Thomas."

But if we are honest, many of us would have said the same thing.

Thomas is not asking for more evidence than the other disciples received.

He is simply honest about his struggle.

And here is the beautiful part of the story.

Jesus does not reject Thomas.

A week later, Jesus appears again.

The doors are still closed.

The disciples are gathered.

And Thomas is there.

Jesus once again says:

"Peace be with you."

Then he turns directly to Thomas and says:

"Put your finger here. See my hands."

Jesus meets Thomas exactly where his doubt lives.

Not with shame.

But with invitation.

And Thomas responds with one of the most powerful confessions in the Bible:

"My Lord and my God!"

Jesus then says something meant for future generations — including us:

"Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

Faith does not mean pretending we never struggle.

Faith means trusting the living Christ even when we cannot see him with our eyes.

It is not the strength of your faith that saves you.

It is the faithfulness of Jesus.

Even when faith feels small, Christ's grip on us is strong.

And that means something wonderful:

Your doubts do not disqualify you from Jesus.

He comes to you too.

Peace comes to us.

Application

So what does this mean for us today?

First, it means Jesus meets us where we are.

If you are anxious today, Christ comes with peace.

If you are ashamed today, Christ comes with forgiveness.

If you are doubting today, Christ comes with patience.

Second, it means we are invited into God's mission.

We carry Christ's peace into ordinary places:

Workplaces.
Families.
Neighborhoods.

Not because we are impressive.

But because Jesus has breathed his Spirit into us.

Third, it means no locked door has the final word.

Fear does not win.

Shame does not win.

Death itself does not win.

The risen Christ does.

Conclusion

At the end of the passage, the Gospel of John tells us why this story was written:

"So that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name."

That life begins when Jesus enters the locked rooms of our lives.

The disciples began this story hiding.

But they did not stay there.

Because the risen Christ stood among them.

And when Jesus stands at the center of the room, everything changes.

Fear turns into courage.
Isolation turns into mission.
Closed doors become open lives.

And it all begins with the same words Jesus spoke that first Easter evening.

"Peace be with you."

Not a slogan.

Not a wish.

But a gift.

Because when Jesus says those words, he is giving you himself.

And that is the good news of Easter:

Peace comes to us.

Click link to see original sermon: https://equipper.gci.org/2026/03/sermon-for-april-12-2026-second-sunday-of-easter