Peace: A Package Deal

Three times Jesus said to the disciples, “Peace be with you” after his resurrection. Twice, after saying it, he showed them the wounds in his hands and side. The other was between these two times, and was followed with him saying, “As the Father has sent me, so I SEND you” (vs.21). The word here is “Apostolos,” from which we get the word “apostle.” His followers went from being gathered as students (disciples) from the community, to being sent (apostles) as teachers by the Holy Spirit into the community through the wounds of Christ. Henri Nouwen, in his book The Wounded Healer, wrote: “Through compassion it is possible to recognize that the craving for love that people feel resides also in our own hearts, that the cruelty the world knows all too well is also rooted in our own impulses. Through compassion we also sense our hope for forgiveness in our friends' eyes, and our hatred in their bitter mouths.” We are apostles by His wounds, sent out into the world to heal the wounds of others.