1. It is the evening of the first Easter Day. In an upper chamber in Jerusalem — in all probability in the upper chamber which had been the scene of the institution of the Holy Eucharist, and was to be the scene of the baptism of the Church by the descending Spirit, and then to be the place of the first of Chris- tian assemblies, the mother of all Churches — it is in this upper chamber that we see gathered together a band of men and women. They are in a position of restlessness up to the point of fear. They feel the restlessness of men whose lives are in great danger. The tomb of the Master whom they loved was found empty. The foes of Jesus imagined that this was by the connivance of the . disciples themselves. His disciples had come, they said, and 1\ stolen the body whilst the guards placed to keep watch over it \j- slept. The disciples accordingly anticipated that that fury of the ' Jews which had burst with such force upon their Master would now descend upon their heads. But they were not only in this bodily fear. This bodily fear would not have been in them if they had not been restless in mind. They did not know what ta ' believe, they were in perplexity. The tomb of Christ was empty. By a resurrection? They could not believe that. True, their Lord again and again had tried to prepare them for that mystery of His resurrection, but they could not understand it. How then was it empty ? Not by any act of their own, they knew very well. And the perplexity was increased in this way — some people said He was risen ; some women said they had seen Him. Were these but women's stories after all ? If they were not true, what was
true ? Was He risen or was He not ?
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330 THE SAVIOUR'S EASTER GREETING
Jesus came, unannounced and unexpected, into the midst of these perplexed disciples. Their very fear drew Him to them. They wanted Him : He knew it, and could not keep away. It was " the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut." They wanted the old familiar times back again. If He would come and bring them how much more faithful they would be to Him than in the past. But He was gone, and they dare not keep the door ajar, for they had no courage and much fear. And then, lo ! He was there, standing in the midst of them, with the old kind smile upon His face, and the calm strong greeting on His lips. " Peace be unto you," He said, and showed them His hands and His side.
2. This was the greeting He would naturally have given them on any occasion on which He came to them in the days of His earthly life in the body. Those who have lived in Eastern lands seem to hear the Lord's voice when they read His salutation, the sound of which from the lips of all visitors they know so well. But we must believe that the words " Peace be unto you " had a more than ordinary significance on this occasion. They were in- tended to convey a real inward comfort, and to produce, in the mind of those who heard them, the assurance that a new and blessed influence had entered into them. In the darkest hour of their earthly companionship, when the deep shadow of approach- ing separation was resting upon them, the Lord had said " Peace ' I leave with you, my peace I give unto you." Their hearts were too sad at the time to receive any comfort from the saying, sweet and soothing though the sound of the words must even then have seemed. But now, in the very first words He speaks to them after His Eesurrection, He fulfils His promise, and proves to them the reality of His own gift. Then, having allayed their terror, He certifies them of His bodily identity by showing them His hands and His side. There was no longer any possibility of doubting the truth of His Eesurrection, and feelings of gladness at once dispelled the former doubts and apprehensions.
^ For those disciples that day had been a very restless one. They had been troubled by what the women said, and by their own many questionings and thoughts. Sin came back on Peter and on others, and the very thing they needed most was that He
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should stand and say, " Peace be unto you ; see my hands and my side." And do we not realize that very often at the end of the day Christ comes to us, when we are troubled with a sense of sin ? And those of us who are trying to live nearest the true Light are most conscious of sin and imperfection. There never was a day we ever lived in which there were not many things that came short of the glory of God, and there is never an evening in which we do not have to say, " Forgive us our debts," our shortcomings, even if we do not need to say, " Forgive us our trespasses," our transgressions. There is always the coming short of His glory, even if there is not voluntary transgression of His will. And so there never is a time when we do not need that He should show us His hands and His side, and say, " Beloved, there is the guar- antee that your sia is put absolutely away, that there is nothing between God and you but one clear heaven of love." ^