Peace - John 14:27

 


(The following was what I wrote to my congregation today - 9 August 2023)

Yesterday in my morning Bible reading, I was in John 14. I ended up spending some time pondering v.27. Our Lord was giving final words to his disciples not too many hours before he was arrested, tried, and crucified. He had just promised that they would receive the paraklete, the helper/counselor/comforter (v.25-26), and then said:

 

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”

 

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.” Normally we hear the word “peace” and think that means the absence of conflict. But as is clear in John 13-17, and the fact our Lord is about to be arrested, tried and slaughtered, that can’t be the case. Conflict will continue all around God’s people, and sometimes it will be aimed at God’s people. That’s what makes our Lord’s words here so important. He leaves us with peace, and it is his own peace. Peace that is from the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us. It’s a divinely originated peace that will hold us steady in the storms and squalls, the conflicts and conflagrations. In fact, after our Lord was raised from the dead and before he ascended, he said to the disciples, “Peace be with you” (20:19-20). And you can bank on this peace because we have been given the paraklete, the comforter, the Holy Spirit.

 

“Not as the world gives do I give to you.” With a bit of reflection it is fairly easy to see that the world gives “peace” on bargain terms, contractual terms. My ‘this’ for your ‘that’. It’s a tenuous peace because it is easily lost or taken back. This election, that legal decision, those activists, these doctors can rescind any peace the world gives. And our Lord’s point is that his peace is not tenuous, fragile, shaky, or vague. It’s his peace. He gives it. He secured it. It’s peace with God and peace with one another as his rescued people. It’s peace we may not always feel, but it is peace that is, nevertheless, really real. “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). A peace that nothing in all creation – even in all fallen creation (catastrophes or crises, broken health or broken wealth, dementia or cancer, etc.) – can take from us (Romans 8:31-39).

 

“Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” The greater Joshua, the greater Son of David, places us in a new situation. These are the words God said to Joshua (Joshua 1:8-9) and David said to Solomon (1 Chronicles 28:20). Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or dismayed. And the greater Joshua, the greater Son of David, says to us: “Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” And so, as we embark in the days ahead with unforeseen conditions and crises, “Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”

 

Recently I picked up the book “The Once and Future King” by T.H. White. I read it in High School and remember nothing from it. So, here I am reading it again, and it’s a captivating retelling of the story of King Arthur. So, I decided to look into the author and find out his background. There was much to his life, some promising, some sad. But what caught my attention was what one of his biographers wrote. You see, White was an agnostic and a heavy drinker, and the biographer stated, "Notably free from fearing God, he was basically afraid of the human race." Free from the fear of God, he became afraid of humanity. Not a happy place to be.

 

But our Lord frees us from the fear of humankind, or activists, or movements, or judicial decisions, or social changes, or geopolitical troubles, or dying and death, or whatever else makes people’s hearts tremble. He frees us from the fear of humankind by drawing us into the peace of God and giving us that peace. “Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” This is not some positive mental attitude pep pill, but the very promise and gift of Jesus that we all need to take to heart.

 

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope” (Romans 15:13).

 

Pastor Mike


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