You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Isaiah 26:3
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. John 14:27
Long standing tradition designates this second Sunday of Advent as the peace Sunday. Last week we were invited to look at how the world is shrouded in spiritual and moral darkness. Yet there remains a sense among many that life offers more.
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Matthew 10:34-39
I’ve meditated on these seemingly conflicting passages, and I extend the invitation to do the same. Is Jesus a troublemaker, a tyrant? What is His peace anyway? Pray with that. What is he doing/declaring? His advent on earth upset the self satisfied, the religious leaders who were managing society. His advent held out hope to the wounded, both physically and spiritually. As then, so now we see that he brought division. But that was not his intent it’s just that for all who don’t or won’t recognize His kingship, His pastoral authority, the division already exists. We cannot have it both ways. Whatever we prioritize over Him establishes the de facto division.
At the same time Jesus offers true peace, it may not look peaceful on the outside, because conflict exists in the world, in families and within our own hearts. But when we daily surrender to Him, seeking to align our hearts with his we begin to understand the peace He is talking about. And that is precisely the message of the prophetic passage above from Isaiah.
Jesus does bring into focus conflict with worldly priorities, He offers internal peace to those seeking to learn of and serve Him, then equips us to be messengers of this peace.
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