THROUGH UNTRUE
When fear grips us, we behave like those of Jesus’s apostles following His crucifixion. We read in today’s gospel reading: “When it was evening of the first day of the week, the disciples gathered together in a house, and they locked all doors for fear of the Jews” (John 20:19). Fear makes us hide inside ourselves, unwilling to come out from the prison we have created.
The apostles feared they might suffer the same fate as Jesus. They were also tormented by guilt and shame for having abandoned Him during His terrible ordeal. But in the same gospel passage, we read that despite the locked doors, Jesus suddenly appeared before the apostles and greeted them: “Peace be with you.” The Christ whom they deemed as a failure and victim, whose life seemed to have ended on the cross, now stood before them, wounded yet alive and radiant.
This is the good news of the Resurrection. We cannot lock Jesus out because Jesus is never outside. Jesus does not come from without, He appears from within. Resurrection gives us hope, which is not the same as baseless optimism. Christian hope is focused on the emergence of possibilities obtainable through God’s grace and our persistence to realize them.
Hope alters our perspective, allowing us to discern the surplus of meaning amid the abundance of nonsense that engulfs us. It fortifies our belief that, despite our inclination to hide beneath layers of sin and self-sufficiency, God unfailingly uncovers and redeems us.
Jesus’s gift of hope comes with forgiveness. This must have unsettled the apostles because He did not treat them according to what they deserved. His forgiveness did not merely overlook their transgressions. It summoned the best version of themselves, which they never thought existed.
Jesus liberated the apostles from the fears that held them captive, shattering the false beliefs and expectations that governed their thoughts and actions. Through forgiveness, He transformed them from frightened, remorseful individuals into bold, resolute heralds of the resurrection.
Jesus’s forgiveness also came with the gift of peace. The peace that the world offers depends entirely on compromise and accommodation. The peace that Jesus brings is based on a steadfast commitment to truth and reconciliation (Luke 24:35-48).
Peace, like happiness, is a by-product. It results not from facile compromise or accommodation but from our commitment to put our life in order. As St. Augustine wrote, “Peace is the tranquility of order.”
Peace begins when we realize that the disorder in our lives stems mostly from sin. Humbly admitting our sinfulness fosters a sense of belonging to a human family broken by sin, enabling us to sincerely seek God’s forgiveness and be transformed by it.
God understands our tendency to betray, reject, or flee from Him. Yet, even as we stray, He tirelessly pursues us. So, when we truly repent for our sins and seek His forgiveness, we need not search very far to find Him. We need only to turn around, and there He is, awaiting us with open arms, ready to welcome us home. He always meets us where we are.
G.K. Chesterton writes: “It is not true that the Christian ideal of peace has been tried and found wanting. Rather, it has been found difficult and left untried.”