Sermons
My Peace I Give To You – Jesus’ Parting Words
(By Fr Dexter Brereton)
The peace I give you the world cannot take away . . .
The Gospel reading this weekend is taken from John chapter 14 in that section of John’s gospel called the farewell discourse. These words of Jesus are spoken on the night before he dies and in a real sense are his spiritual testimony, his last will and testament. It is amazing that in this maelstrom of fear, and opposition and hatred which he faced at the hands of those would later put him to death, Jesus takes some time to speak about the gift of peace.
It is thought that the writer of John’s Gospel, the person who wrote these words was really addressing his own floundering, persecuted little community and attempting to answer a simple but important question, “With Jesus crucified and gone to heaven, has the bridge been burned behind him, did Jesus leave us alone to fend for ourselves or can we in some way speak of the ongoing presence of Jesus among us?” John’s answer is to say emphatically that in a very real sense while we know that Jesus will come again one day at the end of time, he has in a real sense already come back again, in the lives of those who live lives of love and of faith. The really important ‘coming’ of the Lord says John is not simply the coming of the Lord at the end of time, but the coming of Jesus to the members of the community in the power of the Holy Spirit.
In John’s community there should be no fearful waiting for Jesus’ future return, because he is already here, to the extent that they are indwelt by God. This indwelling by God, is none other than the presence of the Holy Spirit, a presence which makes itself felt in the gift of peace. It is felt in the gift of a life that refuses to fall apart in the face of life’s difficulties.
Peace I bequeath to you,
My own peace I give you,
A peace the world cannot give, this is my gift to you.
This past week, I officiated at the funeral of a friend of mine, a relatively young woman whose ability to smile and laugh and be cheerful down to the end is but a sign of that peace which the world cannot give, a peace that never deserted her because it was a peace founded not on the shifting sands of emotion, but on the very real presence of God in her life. She had to bear the strain of a deeply broken marriage, one in which she may have suffered very deeply. In spite of it all, I cannot say that I ever met her sad, or despondent or wallowing in self-pity. I pray that all of us may take heart and take courage from her example. As we each bear our share of the cross, may God give us that peace, which the world cannot give.
