Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Jesus' call: obey and find peace


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 presen
ce 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.