Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”
Jesus repeats His greeting of “Peace be unto you.” Why? For emphasis. Why did the disciples need for Him to emphasize this phrase? Perhaps to completely erase all of their fears and to settle them down from their rejoicing to receive the commission He was about to give them. The Lord spoke this phrase to Gideon when he was confronted by a messenger from God bearing his commission and realized that it was an angel (Jud 6:22-23). Gideon named that place Jehovah-Shalom (Jud 6:24), the Lord is peace. This fact is even more completely fulfilled in the finished work of Christ Who has become our peace (Eph 2:14). Jesus was now going to send His disciples out to the world with His message of peace (Isa 52:7).
Judges 6:22-23 When Gideon realised that it was the angel of the LORD, he exclaimed, “Ah, Sovereign LORD! I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face!” But the LORD said to him, “Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.”
Judges 6:24 So Gideon built an altar to the LORD there and called it The LORD is Peace. To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
Ephesians 2:14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility,
Isaiah 52:7 How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
This is the first of the three commissions given by the risen Christ. The second took place on a mountain in Galilee (Matt 28:16-20) and the third was on the Mount of Olives (Luke 24:44-51).
Matthew 28:16-20 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Luke 24:44-51 He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven.
The mission of the disciples (and us) proceeds from that of Christ. We take up where He left off. In fact, it is His commission which we bear. As Morris notes, “It is only because He has accomplished His mission, and indeed precisely because He has accomplished it, that they are sent into the world.”
Note the similarities between this statement and His prayer in (John 17:18). The sending by Jesus is on a level with the sending by the Father. Those sent are on a similar level, too, because of delegated authority. We are to act on Christ’s behalf (John 13:20).
John 17:18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.
John 13:20 I tell you the truth, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.”
In what ways do you think our sending is the same as that of Christ? What are the differences? (Think about Jesus being the Prophet, Priest, King, witness to the truth, not to be ministered to but to minister, not to do His own will but the will of the Father, and not to destroy the Law but to fulfill it and compare those to what we are called to do and be.)