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In this Gospel of John, we have another appearance of Jesus. Although the doors are locked Jesus has no trouble appearing to his disciples. The first thing Jesus says is “Peace be with you”, and He will soon say it again. Jesus makes it clear that peace is an important part of his Gospel. He says it twice here and in several other scriptural passages. Unfortunately, we Christians have not done a very good job of keeping the peace. Wars and armed conflicts have almost continuously occurred throughout history. This command has not been taken seriously.

Peace is not an absence of conflict.

Because we are not perfect beings there will be times when we will need to be skilled in forgiving. Jesus spoke about forgiveness many times. I draw your attention to Matthew 18:21-35 when Jesus is asked how often should we forgive? The answer is a powerful 7 times 70 times. Jesus is telling us to be a forgiving people. As important as forgiveness is for peace to flourish, we have not done a very good job with forgiving.

The second issue I want to draw your attention to is the story often referred to as Doubting Thomas. I have to admit I think this perception of him as Doubting Thomas is unfair.