Peace Be With You

The last few months, have been exceptionally difficult to traverse, because of the physical and emotional requirements of my wife’s bout with advanced dementia. For the last six and a half years I was her sole caregiver, and only as of late have I had to relinquish that responsibility, due to my own limitations of being able to fully meet all of her needs. If there is one word that has taken on new meaning in my walk with God, it is the word “trust”.

There are seasons when peace seems increasingly difficult to find. Personal sorrow, illness, uncertainty, strained relationships, financial pressures, political turmoil, wars, violence, and the seemingly relentless flow of troubling news can collectively weigh upon the heart and mind.

Even when our immediate surroundings are relatively quiet, the world can enter our homes through a television screen or computer and leave us carrying burdens from places we have never visited and circumstances over which we have no control.

The more we look around, the more reasons we seem to find for apprehension.

Yet, when I consider the resurrection appearances of Jesus, I am struck by the frequency with which He greeted His disciples with the words, “Peace be with you.”

On the evening of the resurrection, the disciples were gathered behind locked doors. They were afraid. Their Lord had been crucified, their expectations had been shattered, and they did not yet understand what had taken place.

Into that fearful and uncertain gathering came the risen Christ:

“So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were due to fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst, and said to them, ‘Peace be to you.’”
John 20:19 NASB

Jesus did not begin by explaining everything. He did not immediately answer every question, resolve every uncertainty, or tell them what the following days would bring.

He began with peace.

After showing them His hands and His side, and after the disciples rejoiced because they had seen the Lord, Jesus said it again:

“So Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be to you; just as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.’”
John 20:21 NASB

Eight days later, when Thomas was with them, Jesus again stood in their midst:

“Eight days later His disciples were again inside, and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, ‘Peace be to you.’”
John 20:26 NASB

Luke records the same emphasis:

“Now while they were telling these things, Jesus Himself suddenly stood in their midst and said to them, ‘Peace be to you.’”
Luke 24:36 NASB

These were not merely polite words of greeting. They were spoken by the risen Christ, who had defeated sin and death and whose presence changed the meaning of everything the disciples were facing.

Their circumstances had not yet become easy. Opposition had not disappeared. Persecution would come. Most of them would face hardship and suffering because of their faithfulness to Christ. Yet Jesus stood among them and declared peace.

The peace He gave them was not dependent upon the world becoming peaceful.

Peace in the Midst of Trouble
Before His crucifixion, Jesus had already told His disciples that trouble would come:

“These things I have spoken to you so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”
John 16:33 NASB

Jesus did not say that we might have tribulation. He said that we would have it. The Christian faith does not require us to pretend that suffering is not painful, that evil is not real, or that troubling events are unimportant.

But Jesus also identified where peace is found:

“In Me you may have peace.”

Peace is not ultimately found in understanding everything that is happening. It is not found in our ability to control events, anticipate every danger, or successfully arrange life so that nothing painful can reach us.

Peace is found in Christ.

This is one of the great distinctions between the peace of God and the peace offered by the world. The world generally understands peace as the absence of conflict, difficulty, or uncertainty. Jesus gives a peace that can remain present even while those things continue.

He told His disciples:

“Peace I leave you, My peace I give you; not as the world gives, do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, nor fearful.”
John 14:27 NASB

Notice that Jesus called it “My peace.”

This was the peace of the Son who trusted His Father completely. It was the peace of One who knew where He had come from, why He had come, and to whom He was returning. It was not passivity, denial, or emotional detachment. Jesus felt grief, compassion, anguish, and sorrow more deeply than we can comprehend. Yet beneath all of that was an unbroken confidence in His Father.

That is the peace He shares with those who belong to Him.

Abide in Me
Jesus did not teach His disciples to manufacture peace through willpower. He taught them to abide in Him.

“Abide in Me, and I in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself but must remain in the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in Me.”
John 15:4 NASB

A branch does not sustain itself. It receives what it needs from the vine. Its life, strength, and fruitfulness come from remaining connected to the source of its life.

Jesus continued:
“I am the vine, you are the branches; the one who remains in Me, and I in him bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”
John 15:5 NASB

We sometimes treat peace as something we must somehow reach, create, or hold onto. Jesus directs us back to Himself.

Abiding in Christ does not mean withdrawing from reality. It means that Christ, rather than the turmoil surrounding us, becomes the governing reality of our hearts and minds.

The news may tell us what is happening in the world, but it cannot tell us who governs the world. Our circumstances may tell us that we are weak, but they cannot separate us from the strength of Christ. Our emotions may tell us that we are overwhelmed, but they do not have the final word concerning where our help comes from.

Abiding means continually returning to Jesus, remaining in His Word, bringing our concerns to Him in prayer, trusting His character, and refusing to allow fear to occupy the place that belongs to God alone.

Letting His Words Abide in Us
Jesus connected abiding in Him with allowing His words to abide in us:

“If you remain in Me, and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”
John 15:7 NASB

There is a reason why our hearts become unsettled when we spend much of our time absorbing the words of the world while giving comparatively little attention to the Word of God. What repeatedly enters our minds begins to shape our thoughts. What shapes our thoughts eventually influences our emotions, expectations, and responses.

This does not mean that we should ignore what is happening around us. It means that the news must never be permitted to interpret God for us. God’s Word must interpret the times in which we live.

The world says that everything is spinning out of control. Scripture reminds us that Jesus Christ is Lord. The world encourages fear and outrage. Scripture calls us to faithfulness, prayer, love, self-control, and perseverance. The world continually tells us what might happen. God tells us who He is.

Isaiah wrote:
“The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace, because he trusts in You.”
Isaiah 26:3 NASB

The steadfast mind is not a mind that has successfully answered every question. It is a mind that has learned where to rest.

Bringing Everything to God
The Apostle Paul gave practical instruction about what believers should do when anxiety begins pressing upon them:

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and pleading with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:6–7 NASB

Paul did not say that the peace of God would necessarily explain everything. He said that it would guard us.

There are burdens we cannot resolve. There are questions we cannot answer. There are people we cannot change and events we cannot control. But there is nothing we cannot bring before God.

We are invited to bring Him everything.

Prayer acknowledges our dependence upon God. Supplication brings our specific needs before Him. Thanksgiving reminds us of His past faithfulness and present goodness. Together, these turn our attention away from the illusion that everything depends upon us.

The peace that follows “surpasses all comprehension” because it is not produced by favourable circumstances. It comes from God Himself and guards us “in Christ Jesus.”

Peace Is Not Indifference
The peace of Christ should never be confused with indifference toward the suffering of others.

Jesus was never indifferent. He wept with those who grieved. He had compassion on the crowds. He fed the hungry, welcomed the rejected, healed the sick, confronted hypocrisy, and ultimately gave Himself for sinners.

Yet Jesus was never governed by panic. His compassion flowed from communion with His Father, not from fear.

The peace of God enables us to care without being consumed. It enables us to pray without despairing, to act without hatred, and to remain faithful without believing that the future of God’s Kingdom depends upon our ability to control the world.

We are servants of Christ, not saviours of the world. There is only one Saviour, and He has already overcome.

The Presence of the Shepherd
Psalm 23 does not describe a life without valleys. It describes a Shepherd who remains with us while we walk through them:

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.”
Psalm 23:4 NASB

The comfort is not found in the absence of the valley. It is found in the presence of the Shepherd.

That is also what we see behind the locked doors after the resurrection. The disciples were afraid, uncertain, and unable to see what lay ahead. Then Jesus stood in their midst.

“Peace be with you.”

The locked doors could not keep Him out. Their fear did not cause Him to withdraw. Their incomplete understanding did not prevent Him from coming to them. Even Thomas’s doubts did not place him beyond the patient kindness of Christ.

Jesus came and stood among them.

Let the Peace of Christ Rule
Paul wrote:

“Let the peace of Christ, to which you were indeed called in one body, rule in your hearts; and be thankful.”
Colossians 3:15 NASB

To let the peace of Christ rule is to allow it to govern what takes place within us. Fear may speak, but it does not have to rule. Troubling circumstances may demand our attention, but they do not have to become our master. The world may be loud, but it does not possess greater authority than the voice of Christ.

The risen Lord still speaks peace to His people. Not because every danger has disappeared. Not because every prayer has already been answered in the manner we desire.

Not because we understand everything God is doing.

But because Jesus Christ has risen, death has been defeated, our sins can be forgiven, the Holy Spirit has been given, and nothing can separate those who belong to Christ from the love of God.

When our hearts are troubled, we need to return to Him.

When our minds are overwhelmed, we need to return to His Word. When the burdens are too heavy, we need to bring them to the One who never asked us to carry them alone.

Jesus said:
“Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
Matthew 11:28 NASB

The answer to our deepest need for peace is not an idea, a technique, or a temporary escape from reality.

The answer is a Person.

The same Jesus who stood among His frightened disciples still calls us to abide in Him. His peace remains unlike anything the world can give, and nothing in this troubled world can take it from those who continue to rest in Him.

“Peace be with you.”

When we trust in Jesus, He is our sufficiency. He always has been, and always will be.

From one sheep in God’s flock to another,

Respectfully submitted for your consideration.

Worthy is the Lamb!

Blessings!