Making peace with Jesus

 

John 14: 23-29
New Ark United Church of Christ, Newark, DE
May 25, 2025

Photo of a little free library painted in vibrant colors of sky blue, light red, and yellow, with a purple flower and green stem painted on the side.  The door is open, there are several books inside, and these two quotes are written on the inside of the little door: "A peaceful heart is reward alone for being a good person." (Anonymous) and "A room without books is like a body without a soul." (Marcus Tullius Cicero)

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Wow. It almost sounds like Jesus is saying, “Love me and I will love you, God will love you, and we will make a home with you. If you don’t, then not.” Which is pretty transactional and conditional, so not Jesus. “If you keep my word, if you do as I say, you will get all the goodies. If not, you’re gonna hear from the One who sent me.” Which, if read that way, sounds like soft-pedaled coercion, a veiled threat. Another word for that is authoritarian. And there’s more than enough of that going around these days.



Our government is using its funding to force one of the most prestigious schools in the country to expel their international students, under the guise of eliminating antisemitism by repressing pro-Palestinian voices. The big, bad ugly bill that was passed by the House earlier this week, along with drastically reducing funding for Medicaid and food assistance, also includes a section that strips courts of judicial review of federal permits and approvals. This administration has also opened up investigations against the attorney general of New York as well as a media watchdog group and major law firms and is threatening to suspend habeas corpus – the right to challenge unlawful detention or imprisonment.



Christians who though they were doing the right thing voted for this. There are also Christians who want to limit the voice and rights of women, who think that Jesus hates queer and transgender people, who say they support Israel unequivocally but only because they are eager for the second coming of Christ who they think will destroy Israel once it is made whole again and Christ will rule the nations. There are Christians who have yet to acknowledge and repair the harm, the trauma that the Church has caused over the centuries and continues to this day. There are Christians who muddle their way through, trying to be as faithful as they can while holding on to what they have. All of these, all of us claiming Jesus as the One we follow.



Some may rightfully ask, why is the Church still here? That would be like asking, why is the human race still here but then some people feel the same way about how our species has evolved. Has humanity gotten this far, has Christianity come this far only to cause each other so much pain and suffering?



Let’s look at that passage again. This is John’s gospel, the last one to be written of the four, about 60-80 years after the life of Jesus. The author of John didn’t just look back and report, he looked back with purpose and meaning. It’s the last time Jesus will be with his disciples before his death. He has washed their feet as a servant would. They have shared a Passover meal together. Jesus is answering a question from one of his disciples, who wants to know, when Jesus returns, how will he reveal himself to them but not to the world. “Those who love me will keep my word”, that word that he will give them in just a few moments, that word being “Love one another as I have loved you”. And it is with people who love one another as Jesus loves us that God will make a home.



If Christians say they love Jesus, we can’t take food assistance away from hungry people or healthcare away from sick people.


If we say we love Jesus, we can’t make it easier for landlords to evict people from their homes.


If we say we love Jesus, we can’t treat unhoused people and their belongings like trash.


If we say we love Jesus, we can’t enforce our faith in schools while taking away free lunches.


If we say we love Jesus, we can’t take away funding that helps the poor and give it to the rich.


If we say we love Jesus, we can’t deport immigrants without due process.


If we say we love Jesus, we can’t hate anyone or support those who hate people we love.


If we say we love Jesus, we can’t support genocide, terrorism, violence, human trafficking, or limiting free speech, or anyone who does.


If we say we love Jesus, we can’t be silent, we can’t turn away, we can’t keep all that we have. We cannot make peace with what does not give peace.



A hospital chaplain that I follow on Twitter, who is Korean American and an author, writes, “If your theology doesn’t work for the suffering, it doesn’t work at all. If it doesn’t matter at the end, it doesn’t matter now. The posturing, hatred, exclusion, semantics, debating, hierarchy: none of that was it. The only theology that matters in the end is not the one you must prove but the one that carries you through.”



The peace that Jesus gives is not one that says with certainty that everything will be alright. There are no guarantees in following Jesus. In his book It’s Really All About God, author Samir Selmanovic wrote, “Jesus offered a single incentive to follow him…to summarize his selling point:

‘Follow me, and you might be happy—or you might not.

Follow me, and you might be empowered—or you might not.

Follow me, and you might have more friends—or you might not.

Follow me, and you might have the answers—or you might not.

Follow me, and you might be better off—or you might not.

If you follow me, you may be worse off in every way you use to measure life. Follow me nevertheless.

Because I have an offer that is worth giving up everything you have:

you will learn to love well.’”



The peace that Jesus gives is not the peace that the world gives. The peace that Jesus gives comes from a love that to the world looks weak, vulnerable, futile.


The peace that Jesus gives comes from a love that is willing to disrupt one’s life for those who cannot repay.


The peace that Jesus gives comes from a love that prays for enemies, does not lift a sword against them, goes willingly to the cross, and leaves vengeance to God.


The peace that Jesus gives comes from a love that is not envious or arrogant or boastful or rude, a love that does not insist on its own way, a love that doesn’t rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth, a love that doesn’t give up but persists through anything.


The peace that Jesus gives comes from a love that is unconditional, unmerited, and unlimited.



If we want to receive the peace that Jesus gives, we must make peace with the love he commands us to share or admit that it scares the hell out of us, as well it should. And so he says, “Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid”, then gives us the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, the Advocate, who will teach us everything and remind us of all Jesus taught and lived.



If we are to join the living Christ in his liberation work, we too must be liberated from our fear, our comfort, our reluctance. We are not solely our past or our tradition. We are the Church, the living, breathing Body of Christ. We are what we do next. Amen.

Benediction – enfleshed.com


Peace I leave with you says the Living Christ - my peace I give you.
We go forth rooting ourselves in peace that the world cannot take away, that we may be courageous enough to devote ourselves to the work of Love.