26 The Companion, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I told you.
27 “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give you. I give to you not as the world gives. Don’t be troubled or afraid.
Reflection
The snow was coming down fast, and all the trees and houses, the entire landscape looked so magical. What had been the ordinary day, was now transformed into a thing of frozen beauty. My heart has been feeling so heavy for all that is happening in the world, yet here, gazing out my window, I’m reminded that it takes more than a single snowflake to transform the landscape. It takes all the individual snowflakes, covering everything together, to change the landscape. It all starts with one.
Most people hear the second part of today’s scripture at funerals. It is the comforting promise of Peace from Jesus, in the face of our grief, loss and fear. But, it’s the verse before it that caught my attention. Here Jesus reminds us that the Companion, the Holy Spirit will be sent by God to each of us, to sustain us and teach us what we need to know about following Jesus.
“Peace I leave with you.” It’s our reminder that God’s peace, has been left in our care. This isn’t the fragile, conditional, worldly peace but the lasting transformative peace found in God’s Kin-dom. Jesus is sending the Holy Spirit to remind us that we are called to be the bringers of God’s peace on earth. God’s peace is rooted in God’s love, that calls us to love our enemies. God’s peace is nonviolent, stemming from compassion and radical justice where all are treated as God’s children, of sacred worth. Jesus says to us, “My peace I give you. Don’t be troubled or afraid.” I hold onto Jesus’ promise with my whole being, and try not to be troubled, or afraid, or angry. Because the Holy Spirit reminds me of my calling to live in God’s peace and bring
God’s peace to everyone I meet. And with the Holy Spirit’s help, if each one of us does that each day, as the community of Christ, we will transform the landscape of the world into the Kin-dom of God.
by Jeneene Reduker
For Pondering and Prayer
German theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer said: The world is overcome not through destruction, but through reconciliation. Not ideals, or programs, nor conscience, nor duty, nor responsibility, nor virtue, but only God’s perfect love can encounter reality and overcome it. Nor is it some universal idea of love, but rather the love of God in Jesus Christ, a love genuinely lived, that does this. (Meditations on the Cross)
How has the Holy Spirit reminded you to be a peace bringer to live out the love of God through Jesus Christ?
Prayer: Holy Spirit, remind us, when we forget, that we are called to bring peace to every one we meet. Help us to be the love of God in Jesus Christ genuinely lived each day, to transform the world. Amen.
