The Peace of Christ (John 14:27)

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you" (John 14:27).


If you ask me, John's version of Jesus is much more cryptic than Matthew, Mark, and Luke's! If one were to read all four gospels one after the other in rapid succession, one would very definitely come to the conclusion that John's Jesus is very different. He talks more, he shares more about his relationship with the Father and his disciples, and he is far more cryptic in his speech. So, what might Jesus have up his sleeve in saying, "not as the world gives [peace] do I give it to you"? First off it may be tempting to think that Jesus is setting his peace in total opposition to the peace that the world offers. This may be true in one sense but not necessarily in another. On the one hand, John's version of Jesus is in opposition to the "world" that is purely focused on the bottom line of getting ahead at whatever cost and at whomever's expense. On the other hand, John's Jesus tells us that, "God so loved the world that he sent his only son to save it." (John 3:13). 


The point being made here is that the world is not totally anachronistic to God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit. The peace that the world offers also is not totally evil and corrupt; it is, however, often misguided. The peace the world offers usually has to do with getting rid of tension and settling into a steady-state of relative "ease." Many conflicts and problems with relationships very often have to do with the fundamental unwillingness or inability to deal with tension or dis-ease. Think about how many persons in our world are taught to deal with conflict: stuffing, running, drugging, fighting, escaping, etc, etc. All of these responses have to do with fleeing from tension and succumbing to a "lowest common denominator"approach to peace as an absence of tension. But is that what true peace is really about? 


The peace that God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit give as a gift is quite different. It comes rushing upon us and takes hold of our lives when we, ironically, face the tension of our lives, relationships, and world as matter-of-factly and head-on as possible. The peace of God isn't about resolving tension or trying to do away with it in an artificial and temporary way. The peace of God is the gift of comfort, consolation, and the awareness of the abiding support of a God who will strengthen and bear us up - especially when we make choices not to take the path of ease but to travel along the path of dis-ease in order to be stretched to live and love in ways we never imagined. Pat