"PEACE BE WITH YOU"

“Peace be with you!” is the resurrection greeting of Jesus. It is with these words that he met his disciples on Easter Day. They were not just a pleasant greeting; they represented an actual impartation of the peace of God. With these words Jesus re-engaged with his disciples at the point where he had left them at the Last Supper when he said, “My peace I give to you; do not let your hearts be troubled”. It is with these words that he meets us in our own lives now. It is with these words he longs to meet every human person.


The Christian gospel is neither cheap nor shallow. Jesus was not offering “pleasure”, but something very much deeper. Pleasure is what the world offers, what the world craves for; it is the supreme demand of the modern world; and Jesus specifically said “My peace I give you; NOT AS THE WORLD GIVES do I give to you”. Pleasure is a very fickle and short lived boost to life, not offering any real satisfaction beyond the moment. It is no pathway to true happiness. Pleasure fleetingly satisfies the fleshly human desires. On the other hand Jesus’ offer of peace was an offer of deep well-being and a profound and lasting contentment. Its depth is measured by the fact that it is actually the “peace of God” (“MY peace I give to you”). Jesus was talking of a peace that reflected the serenity of the heart of God, something beyond human understanding. His offer was real because his sacrifice at Calvary had been accepted and demonstrated by his resurrection. Now in the fullest measure he was pronouncing what he had died to secure for us, peace with God and peace with ourselves and others.


The peace of God is intimately connected with Calvary, because it is intimately connected with righteousness and godliness. Everywhere in the Scriptures there is a clear link between godly living and peace; “great peace have those who love your law”; “The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit”; “there is no peace, says my God, for the wicked”. So only when sin in confessed and forgiven can the peace of God be felt; only when men and women walk in uprightness and godliness can peace rest upon them. And only Calvary can provide what is needed for forgiveness and godly living.



This truth is precisely what Jesus had in mind on Palm Sunday when he spoke with tears over a doomed Jerusalem and said, “If you, only you, had know the things that belonged to your peace”. He was longing that the people would receive him and his call to righteousness, but he knew that, tragically, they would reject him. They would, therefore, never hear the resurrection pronouncement of peace.



The same human tragedy is written large for us to see in our own day. It is heartbreaking to see the blindness of the modern world. Its desperate need is precisely what Jesus offers – peace. It looks everywhere except to him for some sort of happiness, but neither God, nor his creation can bring that peace nor allow peace when there remains a refusal to seek Him and his righteousness, for that alone permits the resurrection blessing of peace.


That is why we need so much to pray for this world of ours. Intercession is the pressing need of the 21st century



Bob




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