“God’s Spirit of Peace”

6th Sunday of Easter C 2007

John 14:23-29

            With the Easter season quickly coming to an end, there being only one more Sunday before Pentecost, we continue to hear Jesus’ final words before he leaves his disciples and goes to his Father in heaven.  Last week Jesus gave them a new commandment, “love one another as I have loved you.”  By loving one another, people would know that they were disciples and followers of Jesus.  Today, Jesus goes on to comfort his disciples by promising to send to them the Advocate, his Holy Spirit.  Jesus tells them that he must go away in order for him to be with them in a new way forever.  God would never leave them alone or desolate as God’s Spirit of peace will be with them forever.  “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.”  Jesus was telling them this now, so that when the time came, they wouldn’t be afraid, but filled with faith and hope.

            Of all the promises that God gives to us, this promise of peace is perhaps the most precious.  We long for peace, don’t we, for peace in our hearts, for peace in our lives, for peace in our world.  And yet, we know how fleeting peace can be.  I often hear people say, “If only I could have a little peace in my life.”  Circumstances in our lives can make it seem like the world is crashing down on us and our lives are falling apart at the seams.  Inwardly, we struggle, “If only I could find a little peace.”

            Our world is anything but peaceful.  Many peoples and nations long for peace, to be freed from violence and oppression, from war and conflict, from poverty and hunger.  From Sudan to Iraq, from Palestine to Afghanistan, from the streets of Minneapolis to the campus at Virginia Tech, peace is far from being a reality.  But it is to such a world that the promise of peace is given by Jesus himself.  “I have said these things to you while I am still with you.  But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.  Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.  I do not give as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”

            As people who long for peace, we must understand that peace is not some conjured-up feeling, or state of being that we can create, even though we work for peace through out the world.  Rather, it comes from outside of ourselves from the source of peace, Jesus Christ.  The peace of Christ comes purely as a gift of the Spirit.  Peace has to do with the new person we are called be in Christ as we give ourselves over to his love and care and live in faith.  It has to do with the cross and resurrection, where Jesus suffered and died and was raised from the dead so that we might live.  Peace comes to us when we realized and experience God’s presence even when it seems like everything is falling apart.  God’s Spirit of peace is available to us all as the risen Lord Jesus shares his presence and love with us.  I have witnessed and experienced this peace.

            Some years ago, I traveled behind the Iron Curtain in what was East Germany.  One of the places we visited was the death camp of Buchenwald, near the city of Weimar.  The cold, rainy day impressed upon us all the more the terror and brutality of that place as thousands of people were killed.  As we walked among the oven and past the remaining wall and barbed wire fence, no one said a word.  There wasn’t anything that anyone could say.  The artifacts of terror reminded us of the sinfulness and evil of the world.

            We then walked down the street to the memorial bell tower and stood inside as the bells sounded their deep tones.  It was after they sounded that someone began humming the hymn “O Sacred Head Now Wounded.”  We all stood in a circle and joined hands.  In that moment, I felt the presence of God’s Spirit of peace.  In that small fellowship of people, the Spirit remnded me, and all the others, I’m sure, of how Jesus suffered and died for just such a place.  The Bible says, “He was wounded for our transgressions; he was despised for our iniquity.  Upon him was the chastisement that made us whole.”  We came together in that moment of worship and fellowship and experienced the presence of the risen Christ, receiving healing, wholeness, forgiveness, and, yes, peace.

            Paul was a 34 year old man and the father of three.  He was told that he had cancer and needed surgery.  The night before his surgery, Paul was sitting in his hospital bed, wearing his cowboy hat and snakeskin boots.  His wife was there with him.  They were nervous and tense about the upcoming surgery and what the outcome would be.  I read this passage for Paul, the passage of peace.  After the reading, Paul let out with a heave sigh and said, “thanks, I know that God will be with me and my family.”  In that Word, God’s Spirit of peace was given to Paul.

            Mr. Johnson was an elderly man confined to his bed at home.  His wife took care of him the best she could, but she knew, and I knew, that it wouldn’t be long before his death.  On one of my visits, I brought to him the Lord’s Supper after which he said, “Now I am at peace with God.  I know that he will take care of me.”  Through the body and blood of Jesus, God’s Spirit of peace was with Mr. Johnson.

            The promise of the risen Lord Jesus is that of peace, peace in our world, peace in our lives, peace in our hearts.  It comes as a gift.  It is given to us every time we come for worship.  Through the Word, Jesus says, “Peace be with you.”  In the sharing of the Sacraments, peace is given with water, bread and wine.  With word, handshake, or hug, the passing of the peace is shared among us.  Before we leave our worship, the blessing of peace is announced from the Lord Jesus so that we can go out from this place renewed, refreshed, and restored to be his servants in the world, working to bring about peace and justice, reconciliation and hope to this hurting world.

            In a poem written by composer Ben Allaway, he writes: My soul is a river windin’ through the weary land.  Let justice roll down like waters, righteousness like a mighty stream, washin’ o’er a thirsty land.  My soul is a river, your soul is a river, join up down the river, fill a mighty ocean with peace.

            Dear friends, peace be with you from our risen and living Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.