Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Foreign.
[00:00:09] Welcome to another edition of the weekday podcast. We're starting a brand new week with a brand new theme. If you haven't picked up on it a lot of times, Pastor Chuck and I will try to connect the week of the podcast with whatever was taught the day before the Sunday leading up to it. And this week, Pastor Jordan had an amazing message. He's our student Pastor Chad, challenging our graduates on Graduate Sunday, but had a great word for every single one of us. And today I want to play off of that message by talking about the words that change everything. Now, In John, chapter 20, verse 19, it says, on the evening of that first day of the week when the disciples were together with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and he stood among them and he said, peace be with you. Now think about it. Think about one of the worst moments of your life, right? The moment where everything you believe felt like it collapsed, or that moment where the thing you were counting on just didn't come through.
[00:01:03] Now imagine being in the room with the disciples that were sitting in on that Friday night. These guys had watched Jesus get beaten. They've seen him be mocked and nailed to a cross. The man that they called Messiah, the one that they had walked away from their careers, from their families, from their whole lives to follow, was now dead in a tomb.
[00:01:21] And now they're huddled behind a locked door. They're terrified that they're going to be next. Their dream seems like it's over. The movement seems like it's finished. And everything they gave their lives for for those three years is now gone.
[00:01:34] And then Jesus walks through the wall. Like, literally, he passes through a locked door like it isn't even there. And here's the part that I can't get over. The first thing out of his mouth isn't, I told you so. It's not a lecture about their lack of faith. He doesn't open with, you abandoned me. He doesn't lead with dis.
[00:01:53] Instead, he says, peace be with you.
[00:01:57] Now, I think a lot of us carry around this image of God as someone who's tracking our failures, who's waiting to catch us in our worst moments so that he can remind us of how badly we messed up. And honestly, I understand why a lot of us were taught faith. That way you get it right, you get God's approval. You get it wrong, you feel the distance. But that's not the way Jesus shows up in that locked room. The Jesus who shows up their walks through the walls, through the fear, through the failure through the locked doors. And he leads with grace, not punishment.
[00:02:27] Not. We need to talk about what you did. Just peace.
[00:02:31] So here's what I want you to sit with today. The resurrection didn't only prove that Jesus was who he said he was. The resurrection reveals to us what his first instinct is towards those that are broken, towards those that are scared and failing people.
[00:02:46] And his instinct is grace.
[00:02:48] So maybe today you're locked in the room of your own right now. Maybe fear has you hiding. Maybe you're convinced that the distance that you feel from God is because of something you did or didn't do. Maybe you've been in that room for so long, it just feels like where you live now.
[00:03:03] Jesus has a habit of showing up in those rooms. Jesus has a habit of coming in that moment. And when he does, he always leads with the same way that he led with them.
[00:03:15] Peace.
[00:03:16] The first word of the resurrection is not condemnation. It is peace. So today, that's my prayer, as you encounter Jesus, that you would find his peace today. Have a great day. We'll see you back here soon.
