Jesus offers
us peace this world can’t give.
Jesus
invites us to do two things in our gospel reading today.
1.
He
invites us to keep his word. Some translate this instruction to keep his word
as a call to watch over and guard his direction in our lives and
2.
He
invites us to live in peace.
The
thing is Jesus doesn't separate this call to action, this call to live out His
Word from His invitation to live in peace. Jesus is saying that if we will keep
His word, His instructions, we will live in peace.
Jesus
says He's offering his followers a peace the world can’t give John
14:27.
Peace
I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world
gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. The
Holy Bible : New Revised Standard Version. Nashville : Thomas Nelson
Publishers, 1989, S. Jn 14:27
Jesus'
promises to give all who follow him the kind of peace that makes people whole. This is the kind of peace that castes out
fears, and calms troubled hearts.
I heard a
story about a woman who was pulled over after she flipped off another driver in
traffic. When she saw the flashing lights behind her she assumed that the
trooper was pulling over the other driver. But it was her. She was upset with
the officer and let him know. He said, "I just wanted to check that this
wasn't a stolen vehicle. When I saw the gestures you were making. I assumed that this car was stolen after
looking at the What Would Jesus Do and Visualize world peace bumper
stickers."
Sheepishly
the woman apologized to the officer who smiled back and said, "Have a
great morning ma’am."
We talk alot
about peace in our time. War and destruction are very real parts of our world
today. And we pray for peace. And Jesus said he came to bring us peace.
Jesus is
offering a kind of peace that the ancient Hebrews called Shalom שָׁלוֹם shalom.
Martin Luther said “…the Hebrew
word for ‘peace’ means nothing else than well-being.” Martin Luther, vol. 24,
Luther’s Works, Vol. 24 : Sermons on the Gospel of St. John: Chapters 14-16,
ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald and Helmut T. Lehmann, Luther’s
Works, John 14:27 (Saint Louis:
Concordia Publishing House, 1999, c1961).
This word shalom heard in over 200
places in the Hebrew Scriptures.
Prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekial spoke of this peace—this wholeness
that could be found. Jesus is the hope
of all people in a broken world.
Imagine wholeness coming into every
broken part of our world. Imagine hope and
healing coming into every challenging circumstance you might face this week.
That's what Jesus promise of Shalom means for you and for all others who follow
his Word. The promise of Shalom is a
promise that will always bring hope for anyone who follows Jesus in this broken
world.
Corrie ten Boom detailed her experience of this kind of peace in her book Don’t Wrestle, Just Nestle She writes of the peace she knew in God’s presence prison and in concentration camps from walking close to God.
Often we had to
go too early roll call, which started at 3:30 AM. Betsie and I would walk through the camp, and
there were three of us present. Betsie said something, I said something, and
the Lord said something. I can’t tell you how but both Betsie and I understood
clearly what He said. These walks were a bit of heaven in the midst of hell.
Everything around us was black and dark, but in us there was a light that
belonged to eternity.
The ten Boom sisters didn't fear the worst that the
Nazi's could do because they had Christ with them. They had peace because even
in the worst places they were living in Christ's presence.
Jesus works in our lives through the Holy Spirit. He
works in our lives in those difficult moments when the news is to tough to
bear. He works in our lives understanding the prayers that come out as sighs
and that are sometimes lost under tears. Jesus works in our lives to bring us
peace that this world can't. His peace is real--it's life giving. His peace is
real--it's death defying. His peace is real--it doesn't stop because of a bad
diagnosis or a decision that somebody else has made.
Jesus is offering peace and wholeness for those who obey
him. Jesus calls us to obey him as we hope for peace. Jesus calls to us: keep
my word. That means obey his commands.
He wants us not just to hear his Word he wants us to keep it alive in our
lives. Jesus calls you and me and all who will follow him to Serve (John 13:15)
and love (John 14:34-35) as he does. He
says peace will come. The great stories
of peace coming for believers living with peace in the middle of terrible
circumstance are clear. The experience of Shalom is clear when we speak to
those who risked their very being to follow God. They knew the price they might pay for keeping
God's Word and yet they knew deep inside that they had peace.
In Jesus’
day the Romans enforced their own kind of peace on the Mediterranean world. The
Pax Romana was a military peace lasting nearly 200 years. Rome’s peace came
when the Roman Army beat down and defeated all other powers. This veneer of
peace was enforced through fear and swift military intervention. One might
imagine people tired of battle between different Roman factions viewed this
kind of peace as a repreive. But others, on the Empire’s edges, like Judea,
fought hard against Roman occupation and oppression.
Jesus offers a peace to those who follow. He doesn’t force it on you. He offers peace and tells you plainly that
this world can’t give it to you. And
when step in His ways you’ll find it.
Even if it’s been a long time since you were close to him—you can and
should know that in Christ you can find peace today no matter the place or the
troubles you might be facing.
There's a flip side to having a God who is always
present. The God who is always present with me isn't just there in times I seek
God's comfort. The real truth is that when I sin I am chosing to walk away from
His commands. In my rebellion against God I head away from the wholeness/peace שָׁלוֹם
shalom only He can give.
The $64 word
that theologians use to talk about God being present with us is transcendence.
It's a belief that God is always and everywhere present and aware. It's a
belief that no one part of the universe is out of reach to the God who made it
and redeemed it with his own blood and body shed and broken. There's both a law
and promise in God's presence with us in all places. There's law to be experienced
when we're the ones hurting others. There's law to be experienced when we're
the ones who are letting others down. And there's a promise that when we return
to God we will find peace for our souls.
I want God
to be with me--but I’m a sinner—that means I have and sadly will again disobey
God’s commands. I have and will deny God’s transcendent presence with me and
those who my sins hurt. I have and fear I will walk away from God's directions
for my life. And when I walk in the opposite direction I will be walking away
from His peace.
Jesus’
command to keep his word--to obey his instruction sounds harsh. Maybe you don't
like to take orders much either. I’d choose a softer word like follow. But
Jesus didn’t. He said his followers were to keep his Word. He called them to
obey. At many places in my life keeping God's Word means surrendering judgment
God because God's judgment is better. Keeping God's word means following and
trust His commands even if they don’t make sense. Obeying for me, like my dog,
means walking close with God in the path He’s chosen. Once on the path or
restored again to the path we find Christ’s peace and wholeness.
Thanks be to
God that Jesus offers us shalom that this world can’t give. Thanks be to God that so many saints have
testified to the peace they have known from keeping Christ’s Word. Thanks be to God for the Word that we are
blessed to keep. May we draw close to
Jesus and keep command to love and serve as he has first loved and served
us. May everyone here know his joy and
his peace.
