Peace Be unto You

In the evening of the day Jesus was resurrected, His disciples met together in a room with the doors shut tightly against the Jews whom they feared. Suddenly, Jesus was standing in their midst. The apostles were startled and perhaps a little frightened, for they supposed they were seeing only a spirit.

To ease their alarm, Jesus spoke to them saying, “Peace be unto you,” and then to help them know that it was really He, Jesus showed them the mark of the soldier’s spear in His side and the nail prints in His hands and feet where He had hung on the cross.

“Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so I send you.

“And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost.”

One of the apostles, Thomas, called Didymus, was not present when Jesus appeared to the others. When he was told of the Savior’s visit he would not believe his brethren. However, eight days later Thomas was meeting with the disciples behind closed doors when, without warning, Jesus again appeared before them in the room. And again He allayed their fears by saying, “Peace be unto you.”

Then, knowing of Thomas’s doubts, He said to that disciple, “Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.”

Thomas realized now that all that he had been told was true and answered, “My Lord and My God.”

Then with a mild reprimand, the Savior told Thomas what the difference is between belief and a true faith:

“Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”