The Peace of God (5)

 

Saturday, August 8: John 14:1, 27; 16:33; 20:19, 21, 26.

 

John chapters 13 – 17 constitute what I’ll call the Upper Room, it is not only the most extended scene in the Gospels, it is, I think, the most extended scene in the Bible with its five chapters. While Jesus’ prayer of John 17 may not have occurred in the Upper Room, since it is the culmination of chapters 13 – 16 it naturally goes with those chapters.

 

The setting is the night that Jesus Christ is betrayed, it is Maundy Thursday and Jesus is with His friends, who are also His brothers. What see here is “family talk” – the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, and the children (getting ready to grow – up) around the Table.

 

Three of today’s verses come from the Upper Room, two from Easter day, and the last verse from eight days after Easter. As you read these verses please look at their immediate context (the verses coming before and after each one) and please keep in mind their larger context – the Upper Room, Easter, and indeed the entire Story – including the Father bringing many sons to glory (Hebrews 2:10).

 

What do you see in these verses? Please ponder them, asking the Holy Spirit to speak to you. After you’ve done that, I’ve made some comments below.

 

14:1:   Did you look at the verses leading up to this verse? Remember, chapter divisions and verse numbers were not in the original manuscripts. While chapter numbers and verse numbers are helpful in finding places in the Bible, they are also a hinderance (I didn’t say they “can be” a hinderance, I said they “are” a hinderance), because the tendency of our minds is to separate the contents of one chapter from another when they are often connected. We wouldn’t watch a movie one frame at a time, or watch one scene from a play one day, come back the next day and watch another scene, come back the next day and watch yet another scene. If we watched movies or plays this way we’d lose the force of the production and we’d lose continuity – yet we read the Bible, and therefore experience the Bible, this way.

 

What is happening prior to 14:1? Jesus is telling a confident Peter that Peter will deny Him three times. But along with Jesus saying to Peter that “a rooster will not crow until you deny Me three times”, Jesus also says, “Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.” Do you see what we miss if we don’t keep reading at the end of chapter 13, or what we miss if we begin reading chapter 14 without reminding ourselves how chapter 13 ends?

 

14:27:  Here is a reinforcement of 14:1, with Jesus also saying, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you.” As we’ve seen in our previous readings, we are not talking about some kind of generic peace, a peace with psychological roots, a peace that can be achieved through some method, or with drugs – we are talking about the very peace of God, the peace of Jesus Christ, the peace that is the very Nature of God the Trinity.

 

Think about Jesus words in 14:1 and 14:27, “Do not let your heart be troubled…nor let it be fearful.” Remember Colossians 3:15? “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts…” Our hearts are not to be passive sponges, absorbing whatever is around us without our consent – we are to exercise our wills, by God’s grace, and to choose to obey Jesus Christ (John 14:21; 15:10).

 

Jesus is about to be betrayed and tortured and crucified, His disciples are about to abandon Him – and He is telling them to not let their hearts be troubled or afraid! Do you think there might be something here for us?

 

16:33:  What do you see in this verse? Why has Jesus been saying all of the things He has in chapters 13 – 16? Where are we to find peace? Once again, we aren’t to find peace in a program, in mental exercises, in drugs, in causing our minds to go blank, in techniques – peace is in found in a Person and in living in that Person and that Person living in us, that Person is Jesus Christ. Jesus says, “…so that in Me you may have peace.” We find peace in an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ – a peace we can share with others.

 

It is also a peace that we can experience in the midst of tribulation. Jesus says in this verse, “In the world you have tribulation…”  (see also John 15:18 – 16:4). Make no mistake about this, tribulation and persecution await the follower of Jesus Christ – if we have never experienced resistance to our lives or our message could it be because we have offered nothing for others to resist?  Note 15:20, “If they have persecuted Me; they will also persecute you.” Let’s keep in mind Paul’s words that, “…all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted (2 Timothy 3:12).

 

Peace does not mean the absence of conflict, either without or within – peace is rooted deeper than conflict and suffering and it sustains us through suffering and conflict and temporal uncertainties. In one sense we don’t know whether we are experiencing the peace of Christ until we experience hardship, trial, suffering, and conflict.

 

Note Jesus’s concluding words, “…but take courage; I have overcome the world.” John writes in his first letter (1 John 4:4), “You are from God, little children, and have overcome them [the spirits of antichrist in the world] because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.”

 

The people of Jesus Christ are here in this world to overcome the world, to preach and teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, to make a difference in the lives of others, to bring others into the light and life and peace and joy of Jesus Christ – and we aren’t going anywhere – just like Daniel Chapter 2 shows us – God’s Rock is destroying the kingdoms of this world and is filling the earth – there is only room for one kingdom on this planet, and that is the Kingdom of Jesus Christ.

 

20:19, 21  When Jesus appears to His disciples on Easter evening, as they are huddled together with the door locked, “for fear of the Jews” (the leaders of the Jewish people), what are Jesus’ first words? “Peace be with you.” These are the very men who abandoned Him to arrest and crucifixion! Does He accuse them? Does He berate them? Does He tell them that they’ll have to do better? Does He make them grovel on the floor?

 

In fact, look at 20:17, how does Jesus speak of these men when He talks with Mary Magdalene? “…go to My brethren and say to them, I ascend to My Father and your Father, and my God and your God.” Isn’t this what we might expect from our Elder Brother?

 

But then we have a second “Peace be with you” and this one comes with a commission, a charge, a calling; “…as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” (See also John 17:18). Jesus is saying in part, “You’ve seen how I lived and died, now it’s your turn. You’ve seen how I’ve loved, you’ve seen my joy, you’ve seen my peace, you’ve seen Me love the unlovable and touch the untouchable – now it’s your turn!” Isn’t it a good thing that Christ showers us with His peace? We sure need it if we are to embrace the calling that, “Now it’s our turn!”

 

20: 26 Our final verse comes eight days after Easter. This time when Jesus appears to His apostles Thomas is with them – Thomas was missing on Easter evening. When Thomas was told by the other apostles about Jesus appearing the first time (20:24 – 25) he didn’t believe them.  Jesus appears again and says, “Peace be with you.” This includes Thomas. Once again, as on Easter evening, Jesus doesn’t look at Thomas and scold him, berate him, make him grovel, or heap guilt on him – He simply says to Thomas, “Reach here…do not be unbelieving but believing.”

 

I imagine we’ve all deserted Jesus when they’ve come to arrest Him. I imagine we’ve all been like Thomas and haven’t believed. I imagine we’ve all been like Peter and denied Jesus before others – well, at least I have. What a wonderful realization that when Jesus appears to us that He says, “Peace be with you”!

 

Let us receive the peace of Jesus Christ today. What’s in your wallet?