Jesus stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you’. After he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you’. (John 20:19-20)
I’ve always been moved by this moment in John’s gospel. The scene comes after the crucifixion, and after the resurrection (if you are reading this at the start of April, then this passage is next Sunday’s gospel reading). By this time Jesus has overcome death and the tomb, and now stands before his friends. Christians like me believe that Jesus is God, who created the universe out of nothing, and so you might expect Jesus to be dressed accordingly, radiant in glory, surrounded by angels. But no, he meets with his friends bearing the wounds that caused his death, his broken body on display. Kintsugi is the ancient Japanese art of repairing broken pottery, bringing the pieces back together to restore their wholeness in a new way. The craftsperson uses a pure gold lacquer to bond the broken pieces into a treasured work of art. All the cracks and damage are not only on display, but they are honoured by the preciousness of gold. Western methods of repair work do their very best to hide the cracks, attempting to fool the owner that nothing has been broken, and nothing has been repaired. The best examples can be seen on the wonderful BBC One tv programme – The Repair Shop. Not so with Kintsugi. And not so with Jesus. His body showed the cost, as well as the glory. Kintsugi pottery is beautiful. Somehow through its renovation it becomes more complete, and more treasured than it was before. And so it is with God’s grace and our lives. The grace which we receive from God is the gold lacquer that binds us together, a gold seam, like lightning dancing through life of the church, bringing not only each of us together, but heaven and earth to. It is spoken in words of peace and forgiveness, in words of love and understanding. It means that even in the most difficult and challenging of times the peace of Christ can make us whole. ‘Peace be with you’ he said. ‘And also, with you’, we say. As Ruth and I move on, we go having been recipients of grace, and of peace. We leave here having received far more in kindness than we feel we could ever repay. And we leave having shared life with many we now call friends. Thank you for everything. May the peace of God be with you, and with all whom you love, now and always. Revd Jeremy Putnam |
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