The Last Word

by Terry Newland
Synod Executive

"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." John 14:27(NRSV)

Chances are, these words from the fourteenth chapter of John's Gospel are familiar to you. They're part of our Lord's farewell discourse as he spoke with his disciples on the night of his arrest. It had to have been a very uncomfortable evening for the disciples. Jesus, according to John, washed their feet. The Gospels go on to tell us he spoke of betrayal and denial. He broke bread saying, "This is my body, which is given for you" and shared the cup declaring, "This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood." In John's Gospel he talked a lot about "going to the Father" and the promise of an "Advocate, the Holy Spirit."

I must admit that, if I had been there with the disciples, my anxiety level would be climbing with each word from Jesus' mouth. Just the other day things were really looking up. I mean, "Triumphal" is the only way to describe their welcome into Jerusalem. Now Jesus is talking about death, and talking very strangely about it. Their journey of faith was tumbling out of control and what seemed so promising the other day was evaporating before their eyes.

In the midst of this chaos, Jesus says, "Peace I leave with you.." I'm not sure how comforting the gift of peace sounded to the disciples that night. I do know it sounds awfully appealing to me right now, at this moment. Of course, the disciples didn't have the luxury of perspective as we do today. They didn't know that, what seemed like chaos to them was part of God's amazing plan to bring peace into their daily journey.

Come to think of it, I have leaned more towards anxiety than a sense peace recently. It's not just me either. There's a high level of anxiety in our church today. I see it in your faces as I visit in your presbyteries and hear it in your voices as you struggle with each other. It's not just in the church either. Everywhere I turn there seems to be an abundance of anxiety. What ever happened to all that peace Jesus left with us?

We've traveled deep into the liturgical calendar already this year. We've experienced the advent, birth, epiphany, baptism, ministry, passion, arrest, crucifixion, burial, glorious resurrection and ascension of our Lord. The promised Advocate, the Holy Spirit has come and is working in our midst. We know and celebrate the story. Now we face the ordinary days of living in faith. The promise of scripture is not that these ordinary days will be trouble free, but that they can be days filled with the peace Christ promises to all who believe.

The Peace of Christ be with you.