Series: Flowers in the Desert
John 14:27 ESV
Often when we are younger men/wo-men we seek things we can see.
We seek fast cars and quick answers.
We seek success but we want success today.h
We seek results.
Being young is unlike anything else in life. Because we tend to learn quickly, it tends to be a time of discovery. We not only learn facts and concepts and how all the pieces fit together, we learn about ourselves.
We become acquainted with our inner self, especially with relationships.
Now…relationships can be with people, but relationships can also be related to objects and parts. It’s like putting the pieces of a puzzle together.
As we learn and make connections, our knowledge base grows and makes more connections.
When we are young it doesn’t seem like we think about growing older and utilizing those connections. Perhaps that’s because we don’t know what we don’t know.
In many instances when we are young, we test the waters to find out what we can do and what we like to do.
It’s funny, but even though many of us remember “peace, love, and war” discussions during the 1960’s and 1970’s those terms were action words in our culture.
It wasn’t just “talk”.
Peace marches were a call to action.
Marching was done with the intent of demanding that peace will come.
We marched because we wanted to see results in our world. Peace was not a feeling…it was a verb. We wanted action.
In John 14:27 Jesus spoke of peace. When John wrote the Gospel of John he remembered and wrote about words Jesus told them. Peace would not have been a common word used in the First Century where they lived. That’s because the Roman Government was not interested in peace. I’m not really sure that word was part of a Roman Soldiers’ vocabulary.
The Roman Empire didn’t come to power because they understood or sought peace. They fought for the territory they occupied and the intended to keep it. They saw anyone who challenged their authority as an enemy of the Roman Empire. So, even though Jesus didn’t carry a spear and wear armor, he had gathered a following. That following had continued to grow and as it grew that made Jesus a target. They saw Jesus as an enemy of the mighty Roman Empire.
When Jesus became an influencer he became a target.
So in the First Century when Jesus spoke of peace, more than likely the perception would have been centered on a lack of war or as a simple greeting. The word ‘Shalom’ was commonly used as a greeting in religious circles to say hello.
Roman soldiers would have rolled their eyes when they heard the greeting, Shalom.
It’s important to note that when the disciples and the crowds who came to sit with Jesus heard the term ‘Shalom’ they might have remembered a time (if they were old enough) when Roman soldiers didn’t challenge their every move. They might have remembered being able to walk through Galilee and greet each the without fear of what Rome would do next.
But, more that likely they would have remembered hearing the word Shalom when they went to Temple as a child.
It’s important to understand all of that when we read what Jesus told them about peace.
When they heard Jesus’ words they might have thought about a lack of conflict, or the Hebrew greeting, or the word Shalom they heard in Temple as a child, but with all of that they were ‘way off base’ as we say.
In John 14:27, Jesus said, “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.”
Imagine if you will sitting with Jesus as hearing Him speak those words, “peace I give.”
The disciples and the crowds loved listening to Jesus and they knew there was something different about Him, but they didn’t yet know just how different…
After Jesus was arrested and crucified and their whole world fell apart they might have remembered His words about peace and wondered why Jesus gave them peace.
Now, let’s add another layer. After the crucifixion and resurrection, when the disciples were all together and Jesus was preparing them for His Ascension to heaven (which would have been another shock as well) he promised in Acts 1:5, “you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
Then right after that promise we find the disciples were absolutely NOT getting the point because they asked in Acts 1:6, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”
So Jesus basically told them “that’s not for you to know” and He pointed them back again to receiving the power of the Spirit. At this point the disciples were not thinking about all of the promises Jesus made to them leading up to the crucifixion…namely in this case, the promise of peace.
And, yes…Jesus did have a specific connection He wanted them to “get”.
While the disciples were wondering if Israel was going to be set free from Roman rule, Jesus promised peace from the coming of the Spirit within. The disciples were absolutely not “getting it”.
Even today (thousands of years later) we still don’t totally “get it”. When we pray (we includes me) we still often want God to change the situation. We are often not thinking about God changing “us” from within. In many cases we aren’t asking God to reveal the workings of the Spirit in the situation. We often miss the point of the importance of peace the Spirit gives us (even today) that is life changing.
The truth is that the Spirit IN us is the greatest gift God gives.
I don’t know about you, but I wonder am I continuously aware of the gift IN me?
Are we using it? Jesus went to great lengths to tell us peace was offered. God sent the Spirit into the world so we would HAVE peace that we can’t get from the world.
We need to embrace the Spirit in this instant, on this and every day, and through this year.
The Pink Haiku desert flower is called ‘eyes wide open’. We have been given the answer…with eyes wide open, so today, receive the peace of God through the Spirit.
Spiritual Practice: Ask and Wait
Sit with God for as long as it takes to receive the peace of God from the Spirit.
In God, Deborah
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