Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

When this world is seen only from our finite perspective, we easily fall into a closed world which futilely continues in cycles: springtime, summer, fall and winter. On the one hand, we take some comfort in the regularity of such cycles. We marvel at the majesty of creation and its massive motions. On the other hand, there are other cycles in our lives that become old, if not threatening. One thinks about our repeated succumbing to lying, cheating, coveting. Or think about the endless cycles of war that fill our world. Listen to Qoheleth in the Book of Ecclesiastes.

Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher,
vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
What do people gain from all the toil
at which they toil under the sun?
A generation goes, and a generation comes,
but the earth remains forever.
The sun rises and the sun goes down,
and hurries to the place where it rises.
The wind blows to the south,
and goes around to the north;
round and round goes the wind,
and on its circuits the wind returns.
All streams run to the sea,
but the sea is not full;
to the place where the streams flow,
there they continue to flow.
All things are wearisome;
more than one can express;
the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
or the ear filled with hearing.
What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be done;
there is nothing new under the sun.
(Ecclesiastes 1:2-9)

The earth and her people seem to groan as the old order is subjected to futility, blind to the hidden dimension of the world. The author of the Gospel of John knows this when he writes,

No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known. (1:18)

The evangelist knows of a new time and a new task for those who come to believe in Jesus as the one who reveals to us the heart of God. The very first verses of the Gospel speak of creation through the Word. This is not the Deists' god, who having created the world, the world stands in the distance only to observe its unwinding like a great mechanical clock. No, this world comes into being through the Word. The Word is the life and the life is the light shining through the dark fog for our own unbelieving eyes.

The Word has not abandoned the world. God loves the world. The Word is sent bodily into the darkness in order to make the divine claim on this world. The world that is now dead needs restoration. There must be a renewal of the world so that a new creation may come forth, no longer subject to the futility of human vanity.

For this reason the Gospel of John tells the story of Jesus, his life, his wisdom, and his great signs. There is a whole series of signs offered by Jesus. These signs point to the transcendent Father God who sent Jesus. The signs not only point to the God of Jesus. They also point back to Jesus himself as the one who reveals the One who sent him.

No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known. (John 1:18)

Here is a list of signs from the Gospel of John:

1. Jesus turns water into wine (2:1-11)
2. He heals the official’s son (4:46-54)
3. He makes the paralyzed man walk at the pool (5:2-9)
4. He multiplies the loaves (6:1-14)
5. He heals the man born blind (9:1-44)
6. He resuscitates Lazarus (11:1-37)
7. He dies on the cross (19:1-37
8. He is raise from the dead (20:1-29)

Eight signs. But it is the eighth sign that concerns us today. The eighth sign falls on the eighth day. This convergence causes us to see new creation breaking out of the old. The eighth sign points to God as the actor. The one who is raised is the revealer through whom life is restored on the eighth day.

Listen to the account of the eighth day. Keep in mind that it was on the sixth day that humankind was created and it was on the sixth day that the Son of Man was crucified. His Sabbath took place silently in the tomb. On the eighth day, that is, the first day of week Jesus was raised from the dead and from all to which Jesus was subjected.

The risen Christ made himself known to his disciples. Last week we heard of Mary’s encounter with the Lord in the garden. This week Jesus appears to his disciples on the first day of the week and then one week later on the first day of the week to Thomas. In each case Jesus passes through the walls of a room meant to secure the disciples against the very authorities who had executed Jesus. Jesus approaches and greets them with the words, “Peace be with you.” (Vss. 19, 21, 26)

Jesus speaks to them the great “Shalom” of God. Peace here means Shalom, health, well-being, fulfillment. This is the meaning of Shalom in the covenantal faith of Israel. The goal of God’s work is not simply to rest. The goal is the completion and fulfillment of God’s will. It is on this day that Jesus bids his disciples peace and blows on them the breath of life just as God did to Adam. That is why we do stop on the Seventh Day but we move beyond to the Eighth Day. Jesus also commissions his disciples to take up the work that he has begun.

Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." (John 20:21-23)

Dear congregation, we are gathered today once again on the eighth day of creation. We are no longer able to touch the risen Lord as did Mary and Thomas. We are able to say the Peace of our Lord to one another before going to the Lord’s table and sharing his own body and blood. It is at this table that we enjoy the peace won for us by Jesus Christ, who through his suffering, death and resurrection, has revealed God’s love for the world beyond the endless cycles to which we were subject.

So let us with Mary Magdalene, with Thomas and the disciples eat the meal of forgiveness and reconciliation in faith that the words of the risen Lord are true.

Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. . . This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day." (John 6:35, 40)

And the peace of God which passes all understanding guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.