On this second Sunday of Easter, the story of the resurrection continues to echo in sermons from almost every pulpit where the gospel message is being heard this morning… and the why behind this is the mere truth that the resurrection is not only about the hereafter, but also, it is about a relationship… (Genuine relationship) authentic…

We live in an environment where relational assurance is never guaranteed… (They are here today and are gone tomorrow…) Think about the relationships that have changed over time, that can’t go back to the way they were before; or that need to change, but maybe can’t…

So we exist in tension and frustration and grief because we are not sure how to handle an acceptable demise or how to negotiate what this means for our relationships in the future.

Or think about the relationships that ended too soon -- by terrorist acts, the ruthlessness of illness, the not-so-random events of nature’s reaction to environmental complacency, the sudden separations not planned, never anticipated, and so devastating, for whatever reason and for whatever cause.

So our lives exist in, and are defined by lasting relationships. (Family, job, friends, marriage, children, etc.)
But it is not so with our relationship with God. This is the truth that the gospel of John brings to us this morning.
The point of God’s revealed self in the Word made flesh, the Word crucified, the Word resurrected, and the Word ascended, is the commitment, like no other, just to show us what true relationship means.

And this is why I chose for a theme today; Resurrecting to an everlasting relationship
Why I chose this theme, is because the joy of our Lord’s resurrection is established in the truth that we have all been raised with him… Colossians 2:12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.

Our Lord Jesus validates this truth as we see him as he appears to his disciples in our gospel text this morning reassuring their hope in this relationship (everlasting)

A relationship assured in his peace
John 20:19-20 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”
a. in this assured peace he seeks to release them of their everyday fears – the fears of what might happen… afraid of isis, our past, failures, sickness, future, GOD – (We create our own little prisons, we get locked in our fears...) it disables us from doing God’s mission…
b. not a peace of his physical presence, but rather a peace of his abiding presence… (Notice he pronounces this peace three times…)
c. this assured peace is evident in the proof of his resurrection…

A relationship secured in his life
John 20:22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.
We know that the H.S. is the lord and giver of life who proceeds from the father…
The peace of God is only found in the life of God’s spirit – in other words, we have to have him… (What good is it, if you say to someone who lacks, be warmed and filled without providing them with blanket and food?)
But also think of it this way, the word (Jesus) breathes the life of the H.S. upon them…

A relationship engulf in his compassion
John 20:23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.
We can now see here that the mission of this relationship is compassion. (we seek forgiveness for other as we also are forgiven) – we speak to others about God’s salvation because the H.S. fills our hearts with his compassion for lost souls…