You would think that a word like "peace" would have a universal appeal that would rise above all politics and controversy. Who can oppose peace? Even those who advocate war and conflicts generally prefer peace - though it may be peace on terms other than what their opponents propose.
Yet the word "peace" can be tricky. In the 1980s, President Reagan advocated naming a nuclear missile "The Peacekeeper" - so named to call attention to its ability to prevent attacks, and to stifle political opponents who were against the program. United Nations "Peacekeeping Forces" may also seem like a contradiction in terms. They are routinely attacked by those whose "peace" they are supposed to protect.
We call it peace when nations or individuals are not actively engaged in physical conflict. Nations may have warheads pointed at one another and consider themselves at peace. Individuals may harbor anger and resentment and feel that they are peace with their neighbor.
In today's Gospel reading, Jesus announces to his followers, "Peace I leave to you, my peace I give to you." Then Jesus adds perplexing qualification: "Not as the world gives do I give it to you."
Jesus suggests that the peace he offers is different. It is not the peace of Ronald Reagan or the peace of the United Nations. It is not merely the absence of conflict or the successful restraint of hostility. It is not a mere truce where we hate someone but resist inflicting violence upon that person or nation.
The peace Jesus gives to us is not the absence of a negative but the presence of something profoundly positive. It is not the absence of hatred but the presence of love. The peace that Jesus gives us is himself.
The peace Jesus gives does not, it would appear, exempt us from conflict. Jesus himself, after all, was gruesomely murdered. But the peace Jesus gives may give us the freedom from letting our conflicts and our wounds define and control us. It doesn't mean that we won't be hurt by bombshells or by betrayals, but it might mean that these difficulties do not have the final say in our destinies.
C.S. Lewis, when asked by skeptics how a Christian Germany and a Christian England could be at odds in WW II, wrote that German and English soldiers would likely share a drink and joke together when they get to heaven. He did not make light of war. He did not demonize the enemy. He wanted to point out that though war is hell, it doesn't mean that every warrior needs to become a devil. And though we may be deeply wounded by our own private attacks and betrayals, we don't need to become attackers and deceivers in turn.
The peace Jesus gives means our conflicts and disappointments can lead to a deeper, richer, more intimate experience of God. This is not to say that conflict does not hurt, or that conflict should be welcomed in any way. It does mean that what Jesus offers us is more than a truce. The peace of Christ calls us to turn to God for triage rather than to our enemy for revenge.
Bill Peatman writes from Napa.
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