Peace

 by Tom Fairman

For the first time in three years, teachers have been saying goodbye and good luck to their students as they send them off on study leave to face externally set exams. It has been strange having that nervous tension again, knowing that there is nothing more that can be done and that the students are now on their own to face the challenges that await. All you can do is hope that they perform to their true potential and do justice to the ability they have.

When Jesus left His disciples to ascend into heaven back to His Father, He may have had similar feelings. His students whom He had spent so long teaching and preparing for this day were now to be left on their own to face the next challenge of spreading the Good News without His physical presence next to them. He had to trust that they would be be true to the word He had given them and that they would follow the path He had set for them.

Like any good teacher, He had prepared a gift for them. Of all the things to gift students, wisdom would seem a good choice after all this was Solomon’s request when he took up his role as king of Israel and he was widely applauded for it. It would definitely help the students in their exams. Another seemingly attractive choice would have been freedom from obstacles or an easy path. None of those horrible questions you get at the end of the Maths papers or religious authorities questioning your mission and authority. Yet Jesus gave them peace, not as the world gives it, but His own peace.

Peace can be seen as the absence of conflict and difficulties. This would appear to be an excellent gift to receive. No difficulties so you can just get on with the job at hand. No one fighting you or making things tricky. Yet this is not the peace Jesus is offering. His peace surpasses this understanding and speaks of a serenity that exists even in the middle of a storm. It is a peace that comes from the knowledge of who you truly are and also of what is truly important.

To take an Old Testament analogy from the Psalms, David often describes being encircled by an enemy camp. You and your followers are surrounded and outnumbered and you know that your strength is not enough for the battle that will follow. Logic dictates that you will not win and your heart becomes troubled for those in your care. The darkness blinds you and hope seems to desert you. Yet in the middle of that storm, you know that you can cry out to a God who is a rock and a fortress, a sure thing to stand on. You know that He will lead you to green pastures and lay you down to rest by flowing streams. You know that He holds you in the palm of His hand and will never let you go.

This is the peace that Jesus speaks of. It is not a peace that magically makes all the darkness go away, but it is a peace that allows us to see the light through the darkness. It is a calming of troubled hearts when our battles seem overwhelming because He is fighting with us and because He has already won. It is a peace that allows Him to go back to His Father in heaven, knowing that He is preparing a way for us to follow Him. This is a truly amazing gift to give and can only be given when He has gone because when He is here, all the darkness will be stripped away as in the new Jerusalem John describes in his vision in Revelation.

Therefore we can say goodbye to our students and wish them peace in the midst of their exams and we can wake up each day and not let our hearts be troubled by whatever storm is on the horizon or whichever enemy is encamped around us because there is someone who is on our side and He has already won.