The heavenly hosts made a bold statement that silent night of Jesus’ birth:
Luke 2:14 (ESV)
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
I’ve been parked for the past few weeks on the phrase “and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased,” actually viewing it with a bit of a critical take. Ever since that silent night, there has not been peace on earth. In fact, within a short period of time of those hosts making that proclamation, life became even more turbulent for the Jewish people, and eventually for Christians—those who devoted their lives to following the One for whom this declaration of peace was intended (“those with whom he is pleased,” you might add).
So, what were those heavenly hosts actually proclaiming? Were they over-promising? Was it a throw-off line?
In understanding this peace proclamation at the start of Jesus’ earthly ministry, we find help in a subtle proclamation of peace that Jesus made at the end of His earthly ministry. In the gospel of John, after Jesus’ resurrection, we see a very intentional noting of Jesus’ first words out of His resurrected mouth to His disciples: Peace be with you. Jesus said it first to the group of disciples in John 20, then He repeated those exact words to Thomas when He saw him a week later: Peace be with you. In seeing His disciples for the first time after His resurrection, Jesus could have greeted them many different ways, especially given the fact that the last time He saw them they were not having their finest hour. And while this was a common greeting at that time, we have no record of Jesus using this greeting in the three years He was with His disciples.
So, there must have been something to the fact that Jesus was very intentional with His first resurrected words to His closest followers. There must have been something behind the proclamation of those heavenly hosts.
There was. And still is.
During Jesus’ ministry with His disciples, He had frontloaded His work on the cross by telling them that He will be giving them His peace (John 14), which is a peace far different than anything the world can give. Because of this peace He assured them they did not need to be afraid nor let their hearts be troubled.
Yet when Jesus saw them after His resurrection, the disciples were afraid and troubled, having locked themselves in a room for fear of the Jewish leadership. It’s here that Jesus said to them, “Peace…”
The apostle Paul later explained this peace, giving us a clue as to why “peace” was such an appropriate lead-in word for Jesus when seeing the disciples, and an appropriate proclamation from the heavenly hosts:
Colossians 1:19-20 (ESV)
For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
No matter how disjointed and chaotic our lives might be, we can rest in the knowledge that Jesus accomplished something for us that nothing else can: He closed the gap between us and God, thus eliminating the turmoil caused by that gap. He gave us an opportunity to connect our lives to God.
The peace of the gospel is the peace that comes from unconditional love and forgiveness. It’s the peace that comes from being reconciled to God, being able to enjoy a relationship with God. It’s the peace that comes from having our mistakes and our selfish decisions, bathed with mercy. It’s the peace that comes from having the dark spots of our lives, spots that we never wanted to touch, be redeemed for good. It’s the peace that comes from being released from a personal past that has been oppressive. It’s the peace that comes from enjoying nearness with God.
It’s the peace the apostle Paul wrote of in Philippians 4:5-7.
Philippians 4:5-7 (NIV)
The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
The peace of the gospel is the peace that protects our hearts and minds when life circumstances are anything but peaceful. It’s the peace that calms our hearts and our minds when the world, in our neighborhoods and on the earth, is in chaos.
In my own journey of loss, I had many instances when I felt that I should be curled up in a fetal position…but I did not curl up…I stayed upright…I kept functioning…I was eventually able to love more. It was only because of the nearness and the peace of God that that could happen.
Life is not easy. The longer we journey, the more we collect disappointments, losses, hurts. We suffer consequences of roads taken or not taken, all the things related to living in a fallen world. And this is what those heavenly hosts were proclaiming—a peace that is not an absence of war and chaos around us, but a peace that is a calming presence in our lives, a presence that says, no matter what happens, we have a peace that is not of this world.
Thanks be to God.
And thank you for reading and engaging,
Barry