Scripture Daily

Context No. 2273 of 4322 · John

Context · Reflection

John 14:22-31: in context

22Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, what has happened that you are about to reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23Jesus answered him, “If a man loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24He who doesn’t love me doesn’t keep my words. The word which you hear isn’t mine, but the Father’s who sent me. 25“I have said these things to you while still living with you. 26But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things, and will remind you of all that I said to you. 27Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, I give to you. Don’t let your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful. 28You heard how I told you, ‘I am going away, and I will come back to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced because I said ‘I am going to my Father;’ for the Father is greater than I. 29Now I have told you before it happens so that when it happens, you may believe. 30I will no more speak much with you, for the prince of the world comes, and he has nothing in me. 31But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father commanded me, even so I do. Arise, let’s go from here.

On the night before his death, as his disciples face the fear and grief of his leaving, Jesus gives them a gift. Peace I leave with you, he says; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. He gives them his own peace, a peace unlike the world's, and on the strength of it commands them not to let their hearts be troubled or fearful, even in the face of all that is coming.

The peace Jesus gives is distinguished from the world's peace: not as the world gives do I give to you. The world's peace depends on circumstances, on things going well, on the absence of trouble; it is fragile, fleeting, gone as soon as trouble comes. The peace Christ gives is different: it rests not on circumstances but on him, and so it can hold even when circumstances are hard, even in the face of grief and fear and danger. It is his own peace, given to his disciples, a peace the world cannot give and cannot take away. And on the strength of this peace, he commands, do not let your heart be troubled or afraid. This is a gift and a comfort for troubled and fearful hearts. We live in a world full of reasons for our hearts to be troubled and afraid, and the world's peace, dependent on things going well, fails us when trouble comes. But Christ gives a different peace, his own, resting on him rather than on our circumstances, so that it can hold even in the midst of trouble. The peace of God, Paul says, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. It is a peace that does not depend on the absence of trouble but keeps the heart even in trouble, because it rests on Christ, who has overcome the world. This calls us to receive Christ's peace and to let it keep our hearts from being troubled and afraid. Jesus gives his peace, not as the world gives, resting on him rather than on our circumstances; and on the strength of it he says, do not let your heart be troubled or afraid. When our hearts are tempted to be troubled and fearful, we may receive the peace Christ gives, resting on him rather than on things going well, and let it guard our hearts even in trouble. In the world you have tribulation, Jesus says; but take heart, I have overcome the world. His peace holds because he has overcome. This is the peace we are given: not the world's fragile peace that fails when trouble comes, but Christ's own peace, resting on him, able to keep our hearts untroubled even in a troubled world. Let us receive it, and, on its strength, not let our hearts be troubled or afraid, but be kept in the peace of Christ, which the world cannot give and cannot take away.

When my heart is tempted to be troubled and afraid amid the troubles of life, do I rely on the world's fragile peace that depends on things going well and fails when trouble comes, or can I receive the peace Christ gives, not as the world gives, resting on him rather than on my circumstances, and let his command, do not let your heart be troubled or afraid, keep my heart in a peace that holds even in trouble because it rests on the Christ who has overcome the world?

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