“Have Courage”
John 14:23-29
Since the beginning of time, humanity has craved peace!
Peace of mind, peace of heart, peace among the nations.
And this is what Jesus is offering as He speaks to His disciples in our Gospel Lesson for this morning.
The odd thing about peace is this: we are always striving after it, yearning for complete peace in our lives—yet peace very rarely reigns in our hearts, minds or lives.
Historians and scientists have come up with some startling information about peace throughout human history.
Since 3,600 B.C. the world has known only 292 years of peace!
During this period there have been 14,351 wars, large and small, in which 3.64 billion people have been killed.
The value of the property destroyed would pay for a golden belt around the world 97.2 miles wide and 33 feet thick.
Since 650 B.C. there have also been 1,656 arms races, only 16 of which ended in war.
The rest ended with the economic collapse of the countries involved.
Sometimes the very thing we are looking for is covered up in our overzealous searching.
Remarkably, or maybe not so, in the last 5,600 years the world may have known peace for only a little over 5% of the time.
And the odds are, most of that 5% was filled with thoughts and plans for disturbing the peace.
Ironically, it could be our misplaced longing for earthly peace that has kept us from really finding true peace.
And that is because the only true peace is found in Jesus Christ.
This is the peace that “transcends all understanding,” the gift of the Holy Spirit, that guards our hearts and minds.
(pause)
Our Gospel Lesson is just a morsel of a much longer discussion between Jesus and His disciples on the night of Jesus’ arrest.
When Jesus explains that He is going away, He says, “I do not give to you as the world gives.”
How, then, does the world give?
The world gives us simple beauties: the full moon in an early morning, the feeling of our child’s hand in ours, a strong cup of coffee before a day of work.
But so often, the world gives trouble.
The world gives disappointment.
The world gives us fleeting relationships with vulnerable people who hurt us or leave us.
We live in a world full of famine and war.
We live in a country racked by racism and white supremacy.
We might live with the sense that however hard we try to heal this hurting world, it will never be enough and we won’t make a difference.
How does the world give?
The world gives us shattering trauma.
The world gives us the slow ache of depression.
The world gives us the grief of seeing those we love slip away into addictions, into violence, and into death which takes each and every one of us, always too soon.
“The Message” paraphrases this verse as Jesus saying: “I don’t leave you the way you’re used to being left—feeling abandoned, bereft.”
This world with all its fragile beauty can leave us feeling like the floor has fallen out from under us, leaving us utterly alone, numb and helpless.
And Jesus knows this when He looks at our lives.
Jesus knows this when He looks at His disciples gathered around Him, and Jesus knows they will be filled with fear as they face the world, and yet, and yet, He tells them, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.”
Jesus tells His huddled followers that He doesn’t give like the world gives.
He doesn’t leave them the way they are used to being left.
Instead, He leaves them with peace.
He leaves them with the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, the Spirit if Truth that God will send on the Day of Pentecost which we will celebrate in two weeks.
And this Spirit will do many things.
The Spirit will “teach the disciples everything” and will “remind them of all that Jesus has said.”
And the Spirit will bring these disciples a peace that will enable them to untrouble their hearts.
This is a gift.
It is a gift of incredible importance.
And like love, peace is a mark of true discipleship—then and now.
And it’s active peace.
It’s not just laying back and enjoying a life of ease.
The Spirit and peace will propel the disciples and later the rest of the Church into active discipleship and mission.
The presence of this peace reminds me of one of my favorite quotes in life: “breathe in peace, breathe out love.”
But, on the night Jesus said these things, peace is definitely not what the disciples were feeling.
They had travelled the highways and byways with Jesus as He healed, taught, and changed the world.
But Judas has betrayed Him.
The Roman soldiers are on their way to arrest Him.
He will be spit upon, mocked, and tortured, and left nailed to a bloody cross to die.
Now in the face of all this He promises to leave them with what they need to continue His work.
And He tells them to keep His Word and “obey His teaching.”
To obey Jesus’ teaching means to wash one another’s feet and to love one another.
Throughout Chapter 14 Jesus makes it clear that we--followers of Him--love Him by serving others.
Love for Jesus is love in action.
And whether the disciples know it or not, in order to live that kind of love, they will need the constant presence of God in their midst.
And that is what Jesus is doing by promising them the Holy Spirit.
Jesus is giving His own peace to those He is about to leave.
It’s interesting that in the Gospel of John there is no mention of peace until Jesus talks about it here, right before His death.
And throughout His upcoming arrest, trial and crucifixion, as well as His Resurrection, Jesus will embody the peace He offers.
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you,” Jesus tells His disciples and all who will believe and seek Jesus’ peace.
Do YOU and I have Jesus’ peace?
Have we accepted His free gift?
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.
I do not give as the world gives.
Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid,” Jesus says this on His way to the Cross.
Having lived a perfect life of love, Jesus will be put to death because struggling for justice is dangerous in a world that resists change.
Teaching and embodying equality threatens a world that seeks to categorize people on the basis of the way they look, dress, act, speak, think and believe.
Forgiving sins scares a world that wants to leave some people out and let only a few in.
Peace.
This is Jesus’ parting gift on the night before His execution.
Later in this long teaching, we are given another glimmer of what this peace is like.
Jesus says, “I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace.
In this world you will have trouble, but take heart!
I have overcome the world.”
Although “take heart” is a beautiful and poetic translation, the Greek would be more accurately rendered as “have courage.”
Because Jesus is overcoming everything that evil can throw our way, we can have courage—in the face of all of it.
There is nothing that cannot be defeated—even death and hell itself!
The Resurrection of Jesus Christ proves this!
And through faith in Him, Jesus gives us His Holy Spirit, which raises us from the dead just as He is raised.
As Paul declares in Ephesians Chapter 2: “because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.
And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.”
What an offer!
What a promise to those who will repent and believe.
(pause)
“In this world you will have trouble, but take heart [or take courage] I have overcome the world.”
What Jesus offers us is a deep peace that, no matter how the world looks, we can be confident that love is stronger than hate, that hope is more resilient than fear and despair, and that light can and will and does break through the darkness.
Brothers and sisters, we are Easter people—we are people of the empty tomb, people of the Resurrection.
Do not be afraid.
Take heart.
Have courage.
The peace Jesus offers us through the Holy Spirit is the only thing through which we can live out His final command to love one another as He has loved us.
The world is ruled by fear, but we are to be ruled by love—the perfect love that drives out fear!
And love is inclusive.
As we are told in 1 Corinthians 13 it is patient and kind.
It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
“Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails.”
No wonder a life lived in Jesus brings us peace!
But it is so easy to forget.
And so, we must be reminded.
We must be reminded by coming to church, by putting our faith into action through serving others, studying the Word and prayer.
We must remember that it is all about love—love for God and love for our neighbors--and this kind of love brings peace.
Courageous love lived out.
This kind of love I have seen in a friend’s mother who donated her kidney to a total stranger.
I have seen this kind of love in grandparents who step up to the exhausting work of raising children when their parents weren’t able.
I have seen schoolteachers and nurses and social workers work every day to ensure that all people have dignity.
I have seen a thousand small acts of courage—courage of people taking heart and choosing to have courage in the face of fear.
You know, we too are the disciples gathered in the Upper Room.
We too are the disciples who live in a difficult world of pain, loss and sadness.
And yet, we too are disciples at the empty tomb!
If we believe, we have the Holy Spirit in us and with us.
We have the very presence of God, as close as our own breath, offering us peace and possibility.
Because of Jesus, even when our hearts are troubled, even when we are afraid, we can be people of courage and peace in this world.
So, what will we do?
As Easter people, what acts of courage and faith will we take?
Will we love those who are difficult to love?
Will we stand up for justice?
Will we pray for those who persecute us?
Will we welcome the stranger?
Will we feed the hungry?
Will we love the persecuted and hated?
Will we listen to the Holy Spirit and dare to follow?
How will we live out the commandment to love one another as Christ has loved us?
Will we have peace in a world that offers fear and hate?
Will you pray with me?
O Holy Spirit, You were with the frightened disciples in the Upper Room.
You were with the traumatized disciples at the foot of the Cross.
You were with the abandoned disciples and the amazed disciples on Easter Sunday.
Be with us now.
Help us to receive the peace that Jesus offers us.
Help us to truly be people of the Empty Tomb in this world.
Give us courage to move beyond ourselves.
Give us courage to walk in this world.
Give us courage to love as Jesus has loved us.
We pray this all through the crucified and risen One.
Amen.
