Peace Of Mind In A World Of Anxieties And Animosities-Part-5 Series

Peace of Mind in a World of Anxieties and Animosities-Part-5

CHRIST -CENTERED LIVING BRINGS PEACE

We continue with the 5th and the last part of our study about “Peace of Mind in a World of Anxieties and Animosities” for this our text is taken from the Gospel of John chapter fourteen. In this part of the Gospel, Jesus is giving His homily to the Apostles after the Last Supper meal, before His Crucifixion.

Jesus said “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” (John 14: 27)

John was very selective in recording the words and works of Jesus Christ, “Peace I leave with you “- This was a common form of benediction among the Jews. It is the invocation of the blessings of peace and happiness. In this place it was, however, much more than a mere form or an empty wish.

It came from Him who had power to make peace and to confer it on all, Jesus, fully aware of the distress and death he is going to face but wanted to encourage his disciples with His farewell word of peace. Jesus has confidence in God's plan and power (13:3) and knows that God is in control. Full of peace in the face of tremendous suffering, He offers His peace to His disciples; a peace that is unlike the world in that it is grounded in God's sovereignty and is genuine, given without ever being retracted, present in the worst of trials. Christ being about to die and leave his disciples, makes his last will and testament, and as the best legacy he could leave them, bestows peace unto them; “my peace I give unto you” he left the Gospel of peace with them, to be preached by them to all the world; which is a declaration and publication of peace made by his blood; is a means of reconciling the minds of men to God and Christ, to the truths, ordinances, and people of Christ; of relieving and giving peace to distressed minds; and which shows the way to eternal peace: and as Christ had kept his disciples in peace one with another, so he left them in peace;

Now question is How is it that Jesus could give His disciples "peace" when He was about to suffer death on Calvary and His disciples would soon go through the worst experience of their lives up to that time?

Look at the words of Jesus before his death Jesus said “The Father loves me because I give my life. I give my life so that I can get it back again. No person takes my life away from me. I give my own life freely. I have the right to give my life. And I have the right to get it back again. This is what the Father told me." (John 10:17-18 ERV)

Jesus didn't just die; he died with power and authority. His life wasn't taken from him; he laid it down willingly to die for our sins. His crucifixion was an apparent defeat for some, but turned into a lasting defeat for the evil one who sought to use his death to win a victory over God. No one could take Jesus' life. He gave it willingly to save us and purchase us from death. The Cross is God's love and power demonstrated in humanity's worst forum. It is our glory!

Jesus said he was choosing to lay down his life for us. Jesus said, "Greater love has no one than this that someone lays down his life for his friends."2Before his crucifixion Jesus was very clear and fully aware of his imminent crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus stated his intent as he talked to his Father: "that the world [may] know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Jesus volunteered to become a human forever, to take our part, to reconcile for us and on the cross, He accepted our guilt. Taking on the role of the offender, He could then reconcile us to God. And that’s the final piece of the puzzle as to where God was when Jesus died.

The Father hid His face, fully aware of the pain it caused, so that Jesus could experience the separation that sin entails and fulfill the wrongdoer’s role. Though unseen by Christ, the Father actively engaged with the suffering Son. For God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ. Both Matthew and Mark record Jesus’ cry, “Why have You forsaken Me?” Both accounts next relate that someone gave Jesus some sour wine. Christ then cried out once more in a loud voice, and breathed His last. John’s account also mentions the sour wine and the loud cry, but John, the only disciple actually on Calvary that day, tells us that when Jesus received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished.”Jesus experienced the agony of separation from the Father. In that anguish, He cried out the words of (Psalm 22) “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Yet He realized that this separation was part of the process of reconciliation.