The final two chapters of John’s Gospel bring resolution to the ministry of Jesus. This portion of the narrative centers on Jesus’ resurrection which John means for us to understand as an actual event and which he passes along as an eyewitness. All along, John has taken great care to establish that God’s saving power and presence are made manifest in the Person and work of Jesus Christ. The message of this great salvation was first entrusted to the Apostles and through them to the church.

Having accomplished atonement and being raised from the dead, Jesus now gathers his church. The ten disciples hiding in a locked room became the first official Christian assembly on the new Sabbath of a new creation. There is a sense in which the new covenant church is formally assembled at this moment for the first time. Here he calls them to mission and grants them spiritual authority. This is the moment that the disciples became the Apostles.

Jesus’ first words to them is a pronouncement of their condition before God: “Peace be with you.” Everything that the past generations had invested in the concept of Shalom is now brought to fullness in Christ. Indeed, in that brief interaction he proclaims peace to them twice. We notice how Jesus pronounces peace as he shows them his scars for it is on the basis of his dying and rising that sinners may now have peace with God. This is the everlasting peace of salvation, the sinner’s peace with God made real through the dying and rising of Jesus.