The eight-year-old son of some friends of mine loves to tell and listen to jokes. As I’m expected to have new jokes to tell when I visit the family, I found some good ones for Easter.  Here’s a sample.  What day does an Easter egg hate the most?  Fry-day. 

The same child who giggles about silly jokes like the one above also has remarkable vocabulary and conversational skills.  Talking to him is like talking to a forty-year-old.  I have to remind myself constantly of his age, because he doesn’t have the comprehension that results from an adult’s experiences.  I couldn’t, for example, tell him this joke.  What do you call ten Easter bunnies hopping backwards?  A receding hare-line.   

When I venture into topics beyond his experience level, I get from him the kind of blank stare of incomprehension that only an eight-year-old can produce.  The conscious awareness required of an adult speaking with children provides a way to understand some of the implications of today’s Gospel reading.   

When Jesus appeared to the disciples after his resurrection, he greeted them saying, “Peace be with you.” (Jn 20:19)  As this greeting can be interpreted in several ways, it is important to understand precisely what the Gospel author intended. 

“Peace!” was the counter-cultural greeting used in the 1960’s to signify a rejection of social norms.  “Peace out” was used as a means of saying “good-bye” in the 1990’s.  “Peace be with you” is a liturgical greeting familiar to all Catholics.  “Shalom” (Peace) is the greeting used by the receptionists at the Jewish Student Center at the university where I worked as a campus minister. 

Jesus’ greeting “Peace be with you” had a meaning completely different from the uses and meanings mentioned above.  Jesus’ greeting of “Peace” was a statement rather than a wish, sentiment, or intention.  Specifically, it was a statement about the radically changed nature of the world after his resurrection. 

Jesus’ resurrection completed God’s plan to pour out God’s mercy unreservedly on creation.  When Jesus greeted his disciples with “Peace,” he was saying the same thing he meant when he said, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (Jn 20:22)  The gift of the Spirit was made possible only by the resurrection; the Spirit is the enduring presence of the Risen Jesus given to his faithful disciples.  “Peace” and “Spirit” are statements about the graced nature of the world and the redeemed status of faithful disciples. 

There are many implications of this statement about the elevated and redeemed nature of Jesus’ disciples.  One of those implications is particularly pertinent in light of current world events.  We have the received the Peace made possible by being reconciled to God through the resurrection of Jesus.  It is, therefore, our obligation to give close attention to how we interact with relatives, friends, acquaintances, and strangers, as well.  The Risen Jesus is now present through the Spirit with us at every moment of our lives.  In the same way that an adult must be mindful of the way they speak to children, Jesus’ disciples must be mindful of the way they interact with others because their behavior should reflect the presence of the Spirit who is with us always.  

In the 1990’s, there was a brief period when it was popular to ask a rhetorical question about what Jesus would do in any given situation; the trend was known by the abbreviation “WWJD.”  This passage of the Gospel poses the rhetorical question, “How should you act in the presence of the Lord?”     

The gift of Peace to the disciples implies a much more serious obligation than speculating about Jesus’ potential actions.  The gift of Peace received by the disciples confers a responsibility to act always as if everything we say and do is done in Jesus’ presence; the gravity of this responsibility derives from the fact that Jesus is truly present at every moment of our lives. 

Jesus assured his disciples that God’s peace rests on them always and that God’s Spirit walks with them consistently.  Jesus’ resurrection caused a radical change in the world, similar to the radical change that provides the punchline of another joke for Easter.  How many eggs can you put in an empty Easter basket?  Only one – because after the first one, the basket is no longer empty. 

The world is not empty and void of God’s presence.  Rather, the world is full of God’s grace and mercy.  At every moment, we are obliged to speak and act as if Jesus is fully present with us – because he is.