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sense of release, turn your palms up and ask him to fill you<br />
with his peace and presence.<br />
Having made stunning promises of peace during his life, Jesus then<br />
secured this peace for all time through his death and resurrection<br />
(see Romans 4:24–5:1). This was made evident on that first Easter<br />
Sunday evening, as described in John 20:19–23.<br />
BIBLE EXTRACT: JESUS APPEARS TO HIS<br />
DISCIPLES<br />
19<br />
On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were<br />
together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus<br />
came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you!’ 20 After he<br />
said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were<br />
overjoyed when they saw the Lord.<br />
21<br />
Again Jesus said, ‘Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am<br />
sending you.’ 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the<br />
Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you<br />
do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.’<br />
(John 20:19–23)<br />
Significantly, this was the first of Jesus’ post-resurrection<br />
appearances to the disciples as a whole group, and the first words<br />
that he spoke to his disciples were ‘peace be with you’. While this<br />
was a conventional greeting of the time, and is still in use today<br />
(shalom aleichem), 7 the fact that these were his very first words<br />
after his resurrection to his gathered disciples, and he said the same<br />
thing not once, but twice, indicates that something deeper was going<br />
on. He was freeing them from the negatives of guilt, fear and anxiety,<br />
before filling them with a positive vision for the future. In other words,<br />
the risen Jesus alone can provide the holistic wellbeing that we all
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