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| JESUS APPEARED AND SAID, "PEACE BE WITH YOU". Image from bestofjesus.com via google.com |
'While they were speaking about this,
Jesus stood in their midst and said to them,
"Peace be with you!'''
- Luke 24:36
In one of His discourses, the Lord declared,
"Do you think that I came to bring peace on earth?
No, I tell you, but division."
Luke 12:51, see also Matthew 10:34.
We might ask, how can the Lord say that He came to bring division when He prayed for unity before His passion and death? [see John 17:21]. We might also ask, how can division be consistent with peace, especially when He is supposed to be the Prince of Peace? [see Isaiah 9:6].
We have here an example of a Biblical passage which is open to possible misinterpretations unless we look at the context of what the Lord said and study the passage's proper interpretation in accordance with the intent and purpose of the writer as inspired by the Holy Spirit. There are some who say that this passage supports the idea that the Lord advocated violence. But if He really was for violence, then why did He not call legions of angels to fight the people who came to arrest Him while He was praying at Gethsemane? [see Matthew 26:53].
We might also refer to what took place during the Lord's presentation as a child in the Temple. During that event, Simeon told Mary that the child will grow up to be a sign of contradiction [see Luke 2:34]. But what kind of contradiction? One commentary stated that the Lord was a sign of contradiction because
"Jesus came to bring salvation to all men,
yet he will be sign of contradiction
because some people will obstinately reject him
-- for this reason he will be their ruin.
But for those who accept him with faith
Jesus will be their salvation,
freeing them from sin in this life
and raising them up to eternal life."
Part of our Lord Jesus Christ's fulfillment of His mission is being a contradiction, one manner of which it is exemplified is by His opposition to the human traditions which are given more emphasis by the Pharisees and teachers of the law above the spirit of the Law which God has handed down to Moses [see Mark 7:8]. While the Pharisees and the Jewish leaders thought they were teaching and exacting compliance to the Law perfectly, Jesus our Lord called them hypocrites [see Matthew 23]. Naturally, as a contradiction, He became a source of division. For there were those who believed in Him and followed Him; while there were those who did not believe and decided that He must die.
But His being a contradiction and a source of division is not in order to cause trouble or tribulation. In fact, He became a sign of contradiction in order to clarify the things that God really wills and expose the erroneous interpretation of the Law of God [see Matthew 5] which can be considered as the fulfillment of what Simeon told Mary, "so that the secret thoughts of many may be revealed." [Luke 2:35]. He caused division not so much to promote disunity but in order to lead all men into one sheepfold under one Shepherd [see John 10, especially v16].
"Peace be with you," the Lord greets the disciples. It was not an admonition to become conformists, that is, to be swept by the current of the world without considering whether the tide is for or against the Lord as long as there is quiet and absence of conflict. Rather, the peace which the Lord speaks about is that peace which the world cannot give [see John 14:27]. Remember what the angels sung when the Lord was born? "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace for those he favors" [Luke 2:14].
This peace which the Lord spoke of is connected to His resurrection. Since He has already conquered the world [see John 16:33] and the prince of the world does not have power over Him anymore [see John 14:30b] His followers and friends have nothing to be afraid of already. Now is the most appropriate time to say, "Do not worry!" [see Matthew 6:34] and to rely on the power of the One who can destroy both body and soul rather than those who can only destroy the body and nothing more [see Matthew 10:28; Luke 12:5; see also Hebrews 10:31; James 4:12]. Hence this peace gave the martyrs the courage to face persecutions and death - very contradictory to the peace being proposed and spoken of by men.
Of course, it is not impossible to have peace on earth but only when man already accepts the terms of the Prince of Peace: deny one's self, carry one's cross and follow Him [see Matthew 10:38; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23]. We can have a separate discussion about this but for now let it suffice that the peace which the Risen Lord brings is a peace which is in accordance with the Father's will and design, not on merely human understanding. And we can say that it is a valid proposition for it was presented by someone who rose from the dead; not someone who wants to exact revenge for even while still hanging on the cross, He had that peace to ask the Father to forgive those who have crucified Him upon the cross and in their hearts.
May the Lord's peace be with us all!
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