There is a small gallery beside one of the churches in his diocese called the 'Peace Gallery'. Words that mean "peace" are written in many languages on the exterior wall of the building. The largest ones are in Hebrew and Greek, the languages of the Bible. In addition, words that mean peace in Latin, English, and Chinese are shaped in the form of the cross. The wall itself is an artwork proclaiming the peace of Christ, who saved the world through the sacrifice of the cross.
"Peace be with you!" These were the words the resurrected Jesus greeted his disciples with after his death and resurrection. It would not have been strange for Jesus to greet them with cold eyes and words of resentment after being abandoned, but Jesus wishes them peace.
On the other hand, the disciples are restless. The Gospel writers say they were afraid because they thought he was a ghost. They were sorry for having abandoned their teacher, but he was dead, and they thought it was all right to preserve their life, so they locked the doors tightly and hid. But that teacher who they thought was dead appeared in front of them. The guilt they felt must have shaken their whole being, but their teacher greeted them with a gentle expression: "Peace be with you!"
Even among us living in faith, the strange tension between the teacher and the disciples revealed in the story of the manifestation of the resurrected Jesus is often found. This is a tension felt as a conflict between spirit, and flesh. It occurs when the faith is not fully established and not mature.
First of all, a Christian follows Christ, but in our minds, the values and standards of the world are often more firmly established than the values and standards of the gospel. We know better than anyone else that Jesus' teachings are valuable, but feelings of uncertainty are often present. Thus, the seeds of the faith sown often fail to sprout and dry up, and we often choose to be silent rather than to think, speak, and act as Christians.
On the other hand, we often love Christ in our hearts but have difficulty following Jesus' teachings because many calculations overwhelm our minds. The love for Christ in our hearts is nothing more than an emotion, or worse, a kind of lip service called: "I love you too Jesus". As a result, we are not disobeying the teachings of Christ, but neither are we obeying them fully.
The last is when you place something else in the place of Christ, both in your head and in your heart. What holds Christ's place varies from time to time, but it is mainly power, honor, and material wealth. However, in today's society, material wealth seems to dominate everything. It is said that if you have money, you will naturally gain power and honor. This is the situation and there is no room for the seeds of any faith or the teachings of Christ. You don't need Christ, you just need the name 'Christian'.
Knowing that he would be ostracized by the mainstream forces of the time and suffer a miserable death, Jesus spent his time making present the kingdom of heaven on this earth, firmly refuting what was not his father's teaching and will. "The peace I give is not the same as the peace the world gives" (John 14, 27). The peace declared by the resurrected Lord to his disciples was not a feeling of peace as an absence of violence. As Christians, we need to see what kind of peace we are proclaiming.
