Dan Joseph

Peace isn’t always what we think it is.

We all crave peace in our lives from time to time, life can be so manic, with so many things to do, so many tasks to fit in, that we are looking for peace; but what we are really looking for is rest.

If you’ve ever lived in terraced housing or in a flat, you may have had problems with your neighbours, I know I have, with loud music or sounds coming through the walls or the floor, and all you crave in the middle of the night is some peace, but what we are really looking for is silence.

So peace isn’t always what we think it is.

Today’s reading, with Jesus making his wonderful declaration as the bringer of peace, is set against a backdrop that was anything but peaceful. Ever since the arrival in Jerusalem he’d been disturbing the peace, upsetting the money lenders in the temple, drawing attention to himself by challenging the religious leaders in the city, and now they were out for blood. At the table sat the man who would betray him; Jesus’ message comes at a time when the disciples would have been feeling quite fearful.

They were meeting in secret, in upstairs rooms, looking out for familiar faces in the crowd, to know who was friend and who was not. Against this back drop, Jesus makes his promise to bring them peace.

With all the plans being made to silence this noisy prophet, Jesus knew what was going to happen, he knew that as they sat at the table together it would be the last meal they would share before he would be taken. We know from his comments in the garden of Gethsemane that he must have felt fear or nervous at the prospect of what was about to happen. And despite his own concerns or worries, typically for him, he chooses to reassure his friends not to worry.

The Hebrew word ‘shalom’ means peace, but it means more than just rest, more than just silence. It conveys a sense of universal completeness; of being at one with the world. If we possess peace then we are in communion with God.

We experience closeness or communion with God in many different ways, we feel it at different levels. The peace that Jesus brings us isn’t something tangible that we can label and say ‘that’s peace’; it’s not just a sense of well being or prosperity.

Feelings can be quite difficult things to describe; often words fail us, especially when you think about very intense feelings, the words we choose often come a very poor second when trying to convey what’s going on inside.

Think about the times in your life when you’ve felt especially close to God, for me it’s tended to be times when I know I’ve done the right thing even though it was more tempting to pick another option.

When I’ve approached God in confession and had something I really did need to get off my chest, when I’ve come to God feeling as low as I’ve ever felt, and then known that God has heard me, known that God has answered my prayers....those are the times I’ve felt true peace with God. Peace is internal, inside us and that’s the peace that God brings.

Without righteousness, there can be no peace. Jesus spent much of his last days ‘disturbing the peace’, but we know that the systems he challenged were corrupt and self serving; God’s true values were not at the heart of it.

Peace is one of the greatest gifts we can give to one another.  But we can’t give it to someone who doesn’t want it or who is unable to receive it.  We can create the conditions where peace is able to take root, but we can’t impose peace.   Jesus was able to offer peace to his apostles because he had it himself.  “My own peace I give you.” Peace is communion with God.  Since Jesus is in perfect communion with God, he can give us the gift of peace.  What other peace can we give but our own?  

As Christians we have a vocation to peace.  But often, alas, instead of giving peace to others, we inflict on them our own unrest and unhappiness.

When Jesus appeared to the apostles after the resurrection he didn’t blame them or scold them for failing him.  Instead, he broke through the closed doors of fear and doubt and spoke the words they desperately needed to hear.  His gift of peace turned their despair into hope, their sadness into joy.  Peace is God’s gift to us but is also our gift to each other.

To feel that sense of deep communion with God, we like Jesus have to make sacrifices. Instead of leading lives that focus on our own wants and needs, instead of being driven by selfish motivations we need to be able to rise above them. Jesus reminded us that those who lay down their lives for others will be the ones who rise again.

Our challenge is to set aside our own fears and concerns and like the disciples, to welcome in the peace that Jesus brings. Once we leave aside the rubbish that so often separates us from God, we can finally leave space for the Lord to enter in.

Once we know that feeling inside us, when we have felt that communion with our creator and our saviour, it’s an experience and a feeling that never leaves us, we may lose the absolute sensation of the moment, but we remember what it felt like.

Whatever the world throws at us, whatever the storm or trouble that comes along to distract us, we have to remember to turn to God for solutions instead of solely relying on the advice the world offers, when we do that – we can experience the peace that the world can never give.

Shalom.