A GREAT SIGH OF RELIEF

 

Saturday, January 14, 2023

 

A GREAT SIGH OF RELIEF

 

John 20:19-20

19 Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.

20 And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord.

 

          Please forgive the personal story which well illustrates my topic of the day. We have all known sighing in all the ways it is used. We have known the sigh of regret, the sigh of weariness, the sigh of loneliness, and the sigh of despair. But there is one more sigh that is very welcome, and that is the sigh of relief. There is even a word for it. It is “whew”.

 

          The word “glad” as it is used in John 20:20 is chairo and it means “calmly happy or well off.” It forms the basis of our parting “fare-well”. Can you imagine the relaxing of tense muscles and an easing of the tightness in the chests of these disciples? Jesus had been arrested, abused, and crucified but now He stood in their midst having “appeared” through a closed door like a vapor. You can hear the collective sigh of relief.

 

          Last night I slept nine hours and twenty-eight minutes and woke up refreshed. This is much more than my usual four and a half to five hours of sleep. Why? Because my brother-in-law had been found. A minister of the Gospel for over 50 years, he lived in an assisted living facility which is a step-down from what we know as a nursing home. A few nights ago, at about three o’clock in the morning, he dressed in his suit and overcoat and left the facility carrying his Bible. He, in his mind, was going to church. Vanished! He was found many hours later in a gully behind the facility covered in mud and nearly frozen. But he was found.

 

          Something, or perhaps someone, told the maintenance man to go and look again for Uncle Irvin and he was found. At the hospital, the doctors said his organs were nearly frozen and they had to be thawed very slowly but he was in the best of care, intensive care. Yesterday he was joking with the nurses and could only remember “falling.” Oh, sweet sigh of relief! Oh, sweet sleep of peace.

 

Dear Lord, give to the distressed your sweet sigh of relief. AMEN