I was reading in Luke this morning.  It was the first time that Jesus was appearing to His disciples as a whole after being resurrected from the dead.  The first thing He says to them when He appears to them in chapter 24 is, “Peace be with you.”  Now, I am not a scholar, just an observer.  But in my reading of the new testament and all the letters written to the churches, the salutation always opens with some form of  “peace to you”.  So I’m thinking it’s a lot like “hello” for us.  A greeting.

He shows up with a greeting of peace.  But what is their first response?   Verse 37 says, “They were startled and frightened…” The opposite of peace.  They had just heard testimony of two that had seen Him and yet when He showed up, they were afraid.  Jesus basically said, “Why are you scared?  Why are you doubting?  Look!  It’s me.  I’m really here.”  He showed them His hands and feet and then He went on to eat with them to show them that He really was real.  At this point, they wanted to believe, but it seemed too good to be true.  Then in verse 45 it says, “Then He opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.”  Now they could understand.  And by the time He leaves them to go back to heaven, “they worshiped Him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.”  And peace, too, I’m imagining 🙂

Kinda like us.  Jesus shows up and says “Hello!”  He reveals Himself.  He offers His presence and His peace.  But we respond in fear or disbelief.  Even when He gives us very obvious signs of Himself through His work or His people or His Word, we think it’s too good to be true.  Why would He show Himself to me?  Why would He choose to work in me, through me, around me?  It must be a ghost – a figment of my imagination, wishful thinking – that Jesus could or would do anything amazing in my life.

And then He opens our minds if we don’t walk away or choose to ignore Him and stick around to listen to what He has to say.  He opens our minds to Scripture.  He reveals things to us about His love for us, His plans for us, His miraculous work in us.  And we begin to understand.  A peace begins to become a reality.  We understand that His hello is more than just a greeting.  It’s a declaration that He is here. And He offers His hands to heal and guide and touch us.  He offers His feet to walk with us.  And He eats with us, offering to do the daily things of life with us.  And He says, “This is what I was talking about…” (v.44).

And so Jesus, You have me at hello…I welcome you in today to offer Your peace, Your presence and Your person in my life every minute of this day….