The Gift of Peace

As Christians we are charged to pray for peace. It isn’t really a choice or an option; it is an integral part of our faith, our identity as Christians. We are always supposed to pray for peace. A former priest of mine told me years ago that the word that Jesus uses more frequently in the Gospels than any other is peace. I’ve never checked whether or not that is strictly true, but it certainly could be. We have examples in this morning’s Gospel. "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you."

Surely as we look around the world today, all of us must yearn for peace and pray that peace would come to the many, many hearts and lands shredded by enmity and violence. This is so obviously not a peaceful time. Or is it obvious? How would you define peace? When we pray for peace, what is it we seek? We tend to pray for peace in times of conflict. We certainly pray for peace more frequently and more fervently when violence and tumult seem to be prevailing. And implicit in those prayers is the assumption that peace can be defined simply as the absence of violence. In the midst of war, we pray for peace. We pray for the absence of war. In the midst of family conflict, we pray for peace. We are praying for the absence of tension or conflict. When our hearts are troubled and we pray for peace, we pray that the uncertainty or confusion or fear that troubles us will go away. We equate peace with the absence of war or conflict or tension.

Is that really what peace is? Just the absence of conflict?

No. What Jesus offers his disciples over and over again, especially in John’s Gospel, is not an absence; it is a presence. God’s peace is not just the absence of something bad; it is the presence of something very, very good. For Christians, peace is not defined negatively. It is defined positively. Peace (so says the Westminster Dictionary of Theology) is life lived, individually or communally, in the power of God. Peace is life lived in the power of God.

Remember that definition and then listen to these passages from Holy Scripture. Peace is life lived in the power of God.

Luke 2:8-14. In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors."

Mark 5:24-34. A large crowd followed Jesus and pressed in on him. Now there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years. She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak. Immediately her hemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, "Who touched my clothes?" The woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease."

Matthew 10:1-13. Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority. These twelve Jesus sent out, [saying] "As you go, proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Whatever town or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy (i.e. who is open to your message) and stay there until you leave. As you enter the house, greet it. If the house is [open to you] let your peace come upon it."

And finally from John, including a portion of this morning’s Gospel reading (John 14:18-27). Jesus said, "I will not leave you orphaned. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you."

Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Peace. Life lived in the power of God.

This sort of peace can only come to us as a gift from God. Only God has God’s power to give. The most skilled diplomat, the most powerful army cannot bring or ensure God’s peace. The richest sort of personal meditation, the most perceptive therapist cannot offer us God’s peace. No matter how secure, how prosperous, how well ordered our lives may be, only God can give us God’s peace, the peace that passes human understanding.

Yet the wondrous thing is God does give us that peace. There is no way we can earn or acquire it. Nonetheless, God offers us peace. Life lived in the power of God. Offered to us as a gift. Remember the stories from Scripture. The angels announced the birth of Jesus as God’s gift of peace to the world. Jesus brings God’s gift of peace to us. Again and again in the Gospel stories, Jesus gives God’s power to people, bringing them healing and hope. God’s peace is given. And the disciples are commissioned and empowered to carry the gift of God’s peace to others. Almost like some sort of rechargeable tool, the disciples are "powered up" by Jesus with God’s power so that they may go out along the roads, into the villages, and convey that power… bring God’s peace into the lives of others. And then in John’s Gospel, Jesus assures, promises his followers that—even when he is gone—the gift of God’s peace will still be with them. "Peace I leave with you. My own peace I give to you."

Peace. Life lived in the power of God.

The other crucially important thing to remember about God’s peace is that it is given to us even in the midst of war. We need not have an absence of conflict before we can have God’s peace. We may know God’s peace even if battle, tumult, conflict, uncertainty, tension boil around us. The unassailable gift of God’s power is offered to us in all times. Even in this time, Jesus brings to us the peace of God.

In his poem Ash Wednesday, T. S. Elliot describes life as that time of tension between dying and birth. Interesting phrase… the time of tension between dying and birth. And he presents the image of a rugged, rocky shore where the savor of salt and sand, sea and shore swirl and tug us one way and another, where wind and wave buffet us and tear us in two.

Teach us to sit still
Even among these rocks,
Our peace in His will
And even among these rocks
Suffer me not to be separated
And let my cry come unto Thee.

Even among these rocks,
Our peace in His will.

Peace. Life lived in the power of God. Even among these rocks, Jesus brings us God’s peace.

As Christians, let us pray for the absence of violence, that wars and all human hatred may cease. Yet let us also pray for peace. For God’s peace, that the peace of God that surpasses all human understanding may rule in our hearts and minds. Jesus gives us that peace. It is ours. Today. To bring us hope and healing. To carry in our hearts. To offer to a world in need. Peace. Life lived in the power of God. Peace I give to you. My peace I leave with you, Jesus says.

As we are dismissed from this time of Eucharist, we will hear the words, "Go in peace to love and serve the Lord." Go. Go in the power of God… Go with the power of God, to love and serve the Lord.

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