There is Peace

A passage from tomorrow's lectionary.

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.

"I do not give to you as the world gives"

What has the world given us? The systems of humankind have been subject to sin and the curse of living in fractured existence. A fracture that separates us from our intended union with our Creator. Systematically, we are losing ourselves. Our grasp of what is true and beautiful is being corrupted by the brokenness of humanity without God.

We make war with a mind for nationalism over the rights of all humans. We ignore the poor and those not in our class - giving no mind to the inequality of the world's systems. We give into the selfishness that drives the sinful nature. We look to fill the emptiness inside with things, with stuff, with a thousand pieces of consumer goods. We abuse ourselves, giving away precious purity for nights not spent facing ourselves in the dark. We fight, we hate, we backbite, we refuse to look at the world from any perspective other than the one that fits our wants.

And the world keeps spinning. And dying.

And Christians gather weekly. And we sing, and we laugh, and we enjoy our buildings with good sound, great video, and comfortable pews. And the world our God created is dying all around us - both the rich power mongers and the poorest children in lands far away.

But from the mouth of a seemingly ordinary carpenter turned teacher/rabbi two thousand years ago, words are spoken that are changing everything. That rabbi was more than a moral teacher. He was the Son of God. The Son of Man. The Messiah.

"I do not give to you as the world gives"

Peace. Love. Mercy. Grace. Healing. Restoration. Unity with the Creator.

Life as it was meant to be.

Jesus is making a new way. The kingdom has come, and is invading the world as we know it. The principalities and powers are being overcome. Creation is being redeemed.

The time has come to stop being comfortable in our churches. It is time to start risking. God has called us to GO into the world, the culture, and love those the comfortable religious establishment has not loved. To be the hands of Christ.

The hands of Christ are scarred. They show the marks of suffering. They are not all dressed up and hiding behind the masks of perfected appearances and religious dogma.

As followers of Jesus, we should not give as the world gives. Let's start being honest and living in the kingdom and not the world as we know it. Then we might just taste heaven.

Don't be afraid. The king is making all things new.


Peace be unto you, brothers and sisters.

~Liles