My Peace I give to you, My Peace I leave with you

St Mary’s Church, Handsworth

Acts 15: 1-2. 22-29, Psalm 66, Apocalypse 21: 10-23

Gospel: John 14: 23-29

“My peace I give to you, my peace I leave with you”

Peace is something that our world needs. We need peace in Iraq and Afghanistan. Greece needs peace at this time. Zimbabwe, China, Haiti and Chile all need peace. After last week’s elections, I think we all need some peace too. Our MPs all promise to bring peace to our streets and within the wider world. We all want an end to war and strife. We all want some quiet space and time. We understand peace however, differently to how Jesus intended.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells his disciples the very thing they feared. ‘I am going away.’ These things are said on the night that he was betrayed, at the Last Supper. We know the disciples’ reaction was one of disbelief and shock, almost as if they never heard Jesus say that He would be back and that He would send the Holy Spirit as the Comforter. Jesus promised them not only the Holy Spirit, but also peace. ‘My peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you.’ You can imagine the disciples gut feeling when the very person that asked them to give up their livelihoods said He was about to leave and all He was offering was peace!

It is as though Jesus begins to tell His disciples off. He says ‘If you loved me you would have been glad to know that I am going.’ In other words, if you truly trusted me you would know that I keep all my promises, why are you so afraid then? I’ve done all this and yet you still don’t quite believe me.

He knew that this would be their reaction. He knew that His disciples would forget what He had already told them. He also knew that the disciples would badly accept His death. This is why He offered His peace to them; to console them, to give them hope so that their hearts would not be heavy or troubled. The offer of Christ’s peace to them was an offer for them to begin fully trusting in Him. It wasn’t an offer of peace for silence or tranquillity, or the opportunity to change the events leading to His death. It was an invitation to be fully satisfied in His promise that He would return again.

It’s hard to understand a peace that doesn’t give a tranquillity, or isn’t the absence of war, or of strife, or the end of all our troubles. Although this is a form of peace, this is not the sort of peace Jesus is offering here. When Jesus met Thomas after His resurrection, what was one of the first things that Jesus said to Thomas and the other disciples in their fear and doubt? “Peace be with you” (John 20:26) a reminder, again, that that promise made on Maundy Thursday, at the Last Supper, had been fulfilled.

So Christ’s peace comes to us in all of life’s situations, challenges and trials. His peace is an assurance that He will be with us no matter what – that may sound too easy, too simple, and in reality it is simple. However, it means saying that God is with us in the face of cancer, in the face of sickness and health problems, in the face of divorce and family splits, in the face of violence and war, poverty and loneliness. The remarkable stories of the Haiti earthquake survivors trapped under the rubble, one man for an unbelievable 15 days, pulled out declaring that God was laying there with Him and he felt nothing but peace. In Africa, at one stage, I felt so poor having no money and having to share what little food our home had. For the first time, I felt God’s peace, just for a day or so. That waking up not knowing where our food would come from was actually only worth waking up because Jesus was there. The peace that God offers means saying that He is with us, just because Christ has promised that He is. That’s hard. And I believe that this is why St Paul speaks so much about endurance, perseverance and patience. Christ’s peace is about wholeness and our oneness with Him. It’s not just about ending wars and conflict, but His peace is a challenge to confront the things that cause those conflicts – racism, hate, fear, injustice and intolerance. His mission on earth wasn’t to remove the pain we face on earth and in our lives, but to offer His peace to those who are broken. He never promised that life would be easy and without challenge or trial, but rather, quite simply, His love can see us through. His peace comes to us in our confidence that He is there with us. It may simple, but we are only human, and the hard reality is for us to always believe that and remember that promise. The Cross is the reality of that living promise. It is a mark in history declaring that God is always with His people.

The world is in turmoil and there is a storm over us. To live in Christ’s peace is to accept the challenge of Christian life amidst that storm. Peace is found by living in Him, keeping His word, and taking a leap to walk in faith. His peace can heal and mend a broken world and it lasts forever – our world needs it, this community needs it and we need it too. Peace is the satisfaction of trusting fully in God alone. Do you accept His invitation of His offer of peace? Deciding that no matter what we go through, God is with us. That is Christ’s peace, Christ’s seal over us. This is truly something the world cannot give us, but something we so desperately need. Amen.