Peace, Good Will! And Yet . . .

The angels sang of peace. 
And yet I struggle 
to remember 
what seems 
so elementary: 
peace has its source 
in you, the Prince of Peace. 

Peace seems to be 
the theme song of
a mocking bird,
just borrowed
and played back,
called out in bland
irrelevance, mere words.

Where is good will
when wars devour
the planet? Even
in your Body
cruel manipulations
of the truth score wounds.
Ill will is out to banish peace.

There is no peace.
At least not in 
the daily scratch
and dig of
selfish, cancered
brokenness.  Bells and tinsel
are meaningless if this is all there is.

If not for you, our hope
would lie abandoned
in the darkness.
But your Light
still shines, and in that
Light we see beyond the now
to the not yet, made perfect with your peace.

Peace is my hope, my
solid confidence 
beyond myself in you:
that you will come 
and call us each by name
to lead us like a flock 
to peace that never ends, shalom,

to living undisturbed
by tranquil streams
where canine teeth 
no longer tear
our hearts apart,
where we are safe and
loved, your Kingdom come.

So now I take this truth
to be my own, my
present living out
of future grace.
Your Kingdom
is alive inside my heart.
Your will be done, dear Prince of Peace!

I wrote this poem 23 years ago! Rumors of war were swirling there in Côte d’Ivoire, but we did not know that nine months later we would find ourselves in lock-down while rebels and government troops fired at each other in the city were we were. Peace did seem elusive. Our hearts raced, prayers rose frantically. The only source of any kind of peace was knowing the Prince of Peace and the truth that he promises Real Peace that cannot be understood.

Why can we not understand it? Because it makes no sense to rest in quiet confidence when you are living in a boiling pot. Doesn’t it seem like the world is in chaos now, too?  Wars are raging around the glbobe, dissension and violence make headlines.

But 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. (Jn. 14:27 NIV)

He said this just before he would be arrested and crucified! The world was not peaceful! But Jesus’ disciple John remembered that Jesus had said it right then, and when he wrote his book about Jesus he included it. He knew it was true: Jesus’ peace was inner peace, not peace founded on circumstances. He was giving peace that was based on a secure relationship with a loving God. Then, no matter what would happen, their inner well-being would carry his people through the crises.

The note on that verse in the NET Bible explains it will:  “[Peace] is here a reflection of the Hebrew shalom as a farewell. But Jesus says he leaves peace with his disciples. This should probably be understood ultimately in terms of the indwelling of the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, who has been the topic of the preceding verses. It is his presence, after Jesus has left the disciples and finally returned to the Father, which will remain with them and comfort them.”

So yes, this is peace that we cannot manufacture. But if we belong to God through the sacrifice that Jesus made, then he lives in us—not in bodily form but through his Spirit.

Then we have true shalom, the Hebrew word for peace. I appreciate this deep explanation of it:

“Basically the OT word for peace, šālôm, means ‘completeness’, ‘soundness’, ‘well-being’. (See BDB.) It is used when one asks of or prays for the welfare of another (Gn. 43:27; Ex. 4:18; Jdg. 19:20), when one is in harmony or concord with another (Jos. 9:15; 1 Ki. 5:12), when one seeks the good of a city or country (Ps. 122:6; Je. 29:7). It may mean material prosperity (Ps. 73:3) or physical safety (Ps. 4:8). But also it may mean spiritual well-being. Such peace is the associate of righteousness and truth, but not of wickedness (Ps. 85:10; Is. 48:18, 22; 57:19–21).^[1]

The Nyarafolo word for peace, yanyige, means “coolness.” In that hot tropical climate where the sun beats mercilessly down on you, “coolness” is the beloved opposite of heat. It is the shade that you seek, the cool water that you splash over you and the breeze that brings relief. That has spoken peace to me. When Jesus promises peace, he is promising shelter and relief. The kind that lasts forever is only found in him.

Someday the Prince of Peace will return to make the world whole again, a new creation. Then we will have no more war or dissensions or violence, that world peace we long for!

“Isaiah predicted that when the Messiah arrived, He would be called the “Prince of Peace”—presumably because He would achieve lasting peace over His enemies (Isa 9:6; compare Mic 5:5). At this point, God would destroy weapons in the world as the people ‘beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks’ (Isa 2:4 ESV; Mic 4:3 ESV).”^[2]

When that final victory is won, there will be complete peace on earth all around us as well as in us. All will be well! So during this second week of Advent, we contemplate peace and celebrate the Prince of Peace!

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^[1] F. Foulkes, “Peace,” ed. D. R. W. Wood et al., New Bible Dictionary (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996), 891.

^[2] Joshua M. Greever, “Peace,” ed. John D. Barry et al., The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).