Kingdoms in Conflict: The Peace-Making Savior 
by Ken Wilson

Backdrop to gospels: kingdoms or realms in conflict.  Jesus is invading a realm that has been occupied by a tyrant. Bringing light into a realm of darkness. Spring thaw into Narnia's long cold winter.

Wherever Jesus went he provoked conflict on way to making peace. Like a high pressure system sweeping in from West, colliding with low pressure parked over us--along that line is where you get storms, followed by good weather. Storms, a necessary precursor to peace

Jesus walks into a synagogue, and a guy quietly haunted by demons, begins to manifest his demons. Light is stirring darkness. Jesus draw massive crowds delighting in his teaching, but with the crowds the critics, embroiling Prince of Peace in constant conflict with his elders. 

Nature itself stirred by his coming. That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, "Let us go over to the other side." Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?" He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?" They were terrified and asked each other, "Who is this? Even the wind & the waves obey him!" Mk 4:35-41

A cacophony of conflict, confusion, controversy, chaos, discord, distress, disorientation, turmoil, turbulence, tumult, terror, and into this witches brew, he strides as peacemaker: "Quiet! Be still! Hush now! I bring peace!"

His is a gospel of peace first to last: The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It is written in Isaiah the prophet: "I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way"—a voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.' " Mk 1:1-3
Israel at the time is enemy infested, sin soaked place.  What does the Savior lead with? COMFORT! Quoting Isaiah:  Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the LORD's hand double for all her sins. A voice of one calling:  "In the desert prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God. Is. 40:1-3

Preaching technique: first scare living daylights out of them, then come in with the gospel and offer peace.  First make 'em feel bad, then make 'em feel glad. Lay down the law, offer the gospel.

Jesus did it differently. He assumes everyone feels bad already. Those with ears to hear already have daylights scared out of 'em…so he leads with peace. Unless he secures a foothold of peace, he can't get a word of good news in edgewise.  Not into our hearts.

Peace at beginning & end of gospels: On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you."  And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of anyone, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven." Jn 20:19-23

We forget what miserable, lousy, disloyal, and unbelieving disciples they were at this stage. Jesus valued, what? Loyalty! But his disciples scatter in his hour of need. Peter publicly disowned him. On Easter morning the same disciples refused to believe reports of his rising because they came from women. Unbelief of bigotry. 

So yes they were afraid of Jewish leaders. But there was one Jewish leader in particular they were afraid of: Jesus of Nazareth back from the dead! Afraid, for good reason, they had disqualified themselves.

If you consider yourself a lousy, disloyal, unbelieving disciple who has disappointed your master by recent pathetic performance, listen up! 

Because the words of Jesus to these disciples,
reveals the heart of Jesus toward you today.

"Peace be with you!" That's what he says to your fearful heart.
As he spoke to wind & waves: "Quiet! Be still!" he speaks to your fearful heart.

"Peace be with you! As the father sent me, so I send you." You may think you've blown such a hole in your tire it's beyond repair. Peace be with you, he says, I'm not finished with you yet.

As if they were holding breath like we do when frightened and hurting So he says, Peace be with you--for starters, relax, exhale.  

It's hard to receive when you're too scared to breathe. And he wants to receive the Holy Spirit. So first, Peace, Relax, Let the stale air out. Then he breathes on them, "Receive the Holy Spirit."  

But not everybody present for this peacemaking session. Thomas missing. Too afraid to be caught dead with them? Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe." A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe." (John 20: 19-28)

Thomas is not into this "Things are looking up" crap. He's not taken in by the hair-brained reports of these flaky women.  No, unless he sees with his own eyes, and touches with his own hands, he won't believe.

Jesus makes his presence known again, and leads again with "Peace be with you." Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe." Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!" Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." (John 20: 27-29)

When we are in process of blowing it, when we are in one of our funks, it's amazing how our vision of Jesus hardens. "Lord I knew you were a hard master who reaps where you do not sow!"

I've noticed when people are blowing it in their own lives, they often get a hard edge to their faith. Their faith gets extra-demanding, paradoxically ultra-orthodox.

Think it would be opposite: deep into sin, we'd focus on the mercy.  But sin hardens us, so it often turns you into a legalist, not a softie.

You imagine the tongues lashings God wants to give you, but it's your own perverse thoughts writing his lines. Your religion becomes too hard to practice, but not too hard to advocate. Welcome to the land of false piety, where everyone is miserable.  

Here's why it's false piety. It's only when we receive PEACE he offers us, that we have ears to hear the correction that truly correct us. 

The correction we imagine will only harden us, as so much that passes for correction does. Have you noticed misbehaving children don't respond well to yelling? The yelled at grant the point that the yeller is making, then recommit themselves to the wrong they are doing, having no desire to get close to whoever is doing the yelling.

PEACE breaks the cycle of false piety. And makes room for a correction that truly corrects…

Think about what has transpired between Jesus & Thomas. None of us have been privileged to see Jesus in the flesh.  Perhaps whispy-glimpse in a dream or vision. Perhaps we have felt his presence, or heard his words speaking to our hearts.  But we haven't seen him in the flesh like Thomas saw him. And we haven't had the privilege of putting our fleshy hands in his fleshy wounds.  So, we envy Thomas.

But what's actually transpiring between Jesus & Thomas? After giving in to demands of Thomas--Go ahead see! Touch!--Jesus turns to Thomas and says, "For all that--the seeing, the touching--you were not blessed. Blessed rather are those who believe without seeing."

Inferred: "Blessed rather are those who hear my words in their hearts. He who has ears, let him hear. Open your ears Thomas so you can have something more intimate than what your eyes can give you or your hands can feel--the sound of my words in your heart, the deepest of intimacies." 

It may be hard for us to believe, but Thomas may have gone away from the incredible encounter envying what's given to us…

That, for all its gentleness, was a potent correction. It was a correction, in other words, that actually recalibrated the aim of his heart, so that his heart was realigned with the heart of his Savior.  His heart wanted-desired-willed what Jesus' heart wanted-desired-willed.

Doubting Thomas, Seeing Thomas, Touching Thomas went away wanting to become Hearing Thomas. Peace made space for that.
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What's the difference between these two statements?

"I'll do whatever I think is the right thing to do, whatever I think is the thing Jesus would want me to do."

                                             and

"I'll do whatever he tells me to do, as long as I know it's him telling me to do it."

The difference is hearing, intimacy, power. 

In first statement, we're simply hearing our own thoughts: "I think this is what I'm supposed to.  I think this is what Jesus would want me to do." 

That's close, but it's one step removed from hearing his voice. Not saying it's useless. It's fine to be guided by your best thoughts. Better to be guided by your good thoughts than by your bad thoughts. But there are times we need to hear his thoughts in his voice where it most matters, in our hearts. 
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He wants to speak to us there. That's where the intimacy is, for him and for us.  That's where the power is, for him and for us.

Intimidated by Arctic. Hanging with high-flyers. Telling myself, you'll be able to hold your own.  But I didn't need to hear from myself.

Led to Psalm 131 (Alter)
[Voice of Psalmist, my voice, but realize as well, voice of Jesus]

God doesn't get into that place within our hearts, without first giving us the one thing we don't have: PEACE.

Over next year, it's my prayer that more and more of those who call A2VC their home away from Home, will discover, stumble into, get e hang of reflecting on, meditating on, soaking in power of Scripture.

Yes, reading Scripture is good. Study is important.  But the mother lode of encounter with God in Scripture happens when we focus on a word, a phrase, a verse, not in isolation but in the context of the whole of Scripture, and the power of the words, carried on the echo of the inspiring voice, makes its way like a stream of clear, refreshing water at the base of the altar in the holy place of our hearts, and we hear the Savior himself speaking to us.

"If anyone is thirsty let him come to me and drink, and as Scripture says, 'Out of his heart will flow streams of living water!'"

For that to happen, Jesus offers, first all PEACE.  He offers peace, not to the peaceful, but to the peaceless, hostile-minded, afflicted with bad attitude, fearful, underperforming disciples….

Let me teach you a little exercise I've learned to calm myself, which I've found lets the peace of Christ make a space in my heart to hear from him when I reflect on Scripture or pray.

 

A way of collecting yourself as you are at any given time, so as to present your embodied self to God: "I urge you, then, in view of God's mercy to present your body as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your act of spiritual worship" (Ro. 12: 1)

Walk through….

For reflection:  He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.

"Peace be with you!"