Advent: Daring Assertions of Peace in a Violent Age
Advent, remember, is designed to provide us space to reflect, to reconsider, to reevaluate. To find peace and quiet to ponder why we celebrate Christmas. Long ago, Isaiah the prophet of Israel, provided hints of a child yet to be born, one whose name shall be Immanuel, which means God with us. He shall be called…
the Prince of Peace
Jesus, this very Prince, in the days before his crucifixion (thirty-three after his birth), and not long before he is captured, kicked, beaten, spat upon, and then nailed to a cross, promises peace.
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).
He utters these words knowing full well the brutal violence that awaits him and the paralyzing terror that would demoralize and divide his band of disciples within hours of this, their Passover meal.
This divine utterance of peace remains suspended in my mind this week as I consider yet another school shooting in the US—in the state of Wisconsin this time, at a Christian school for the second time, involving a fifteen year old girl for the first time. What does the peace of Jesus look like or even mean for her parents and family right now, or the families of the others who were shot and killed by the bullets that she fired from a gun?
Jesus, at the same Passover meal, makes another promise,
I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but take heart, I have overcome the world (John 16:33).
He also knew and knows that following him is not easy, it is not always safe, and sometimes even involves violence. Like his disciples back then, sometimes all we can do is grab hold of this peace that he leaves behind and hang on for dear life.
Outside of the US we witness the brutality of war in Ukraine and Russia, in Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, and in various parts of Africa hundreds of thousands of lives have been lost by violence. What does Jesus’s peace mean for those who have lost more than we could ever imagine?
Jesus, who has overcome the world, promises an indescribable peace in a world that responds with retaliation, retribution, and violence to quell the violence.
As followers of the Word Made Flesh we dare to believe, instead, in this promise of peace … a peace the apostle Paul later describes as a peace that “surpasses all understanding” and “guards our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus.” (Phil 4:6). I have on occasion experienced this indescribable peace in the face of great calamity. It defies logic, it surpasses mortal understanding. Our God is a very present help in times of trouble.
Immanuel, God with us.
Daring assertions of peace in a violent age necessarily involve the faith to believe that the hope and joy and peace that God promises will one day be fully realized, finally settled. We declare, sometimes with wavering faith, that Jesus, the Prince of Peace, really has overcome the world and, no matter how unbelievable it sounds, He is coming back to once-and-for-all make everything new.
Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself with be with them as their God. He will wipe aware every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. ‘Behold I am making all things new (Revelation 21:3–5).