Imagine with me – you have a generous brother who knows you have an old beater of a car which is giving you plenty of headaches. He surprises you with a brand-new car and promises to pay all your insurance premiums. After reflection, you decide to keep his gift ‘in reserve’ for a rainy day. Many breakdowns and serious headaches later, your brother asks how the new car is performing for you. You assure him it is still in mint condition. There’s no time to give him details because your old car is once again in the shop, and you are needing to leave early to walk to work. Several months later, your brother calls again to ask about the ‘gift.’ You again assure him that everything’s fine, leaving unspoken your daily anxiety about having another embarrassing breakdown at a stoplight. Also unsaid is the fact that you’ve not yet tried the new car, fearing it will just require a huge learning curve and, in the end, be a disappointment. Plus, you don’t want to take advantage of your brother’s big heart.
Back to reality – that’s how many of us ‘accept’ Jesus’ gift of peace. It’s somehow reassuring to know what he said. It’s lovely to re-read the Scripture verses. It’s convenient to be able to share your knowledge of it when you encounter someone dealing with fear and anxiety. But it’s another thing altogether to experience, for oneself, Jesus’ imperturbable peace. Where there might be a rush of doom-scenario thinking, only perfectly stilled emotions. Where panic normally would have taken over, joy at an awareness of Jesus’ nearing presence inside. Where headline news would normally guarantee no sleep until 4 AM, enter the sandman, irresistibly alluring the distressed into restorative dreamland (you’re getting slee-e-e-e-py).
Maybe we should re-name Jesus’ peace to something else, something distant from what we know, already, of peace. Something like well of serenity, or lagoon of tranquility, or something more imaginative yet (over to y’all). In any case, we suffer needlessly if we’ve not yet leaned into Jesus’ all-encompassing trustworthiness. And why leave that nice red Ferrari parked in front of your house? PD
