May 25, 2025
I speak to you in the name of God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
How many of us have been volunteered by volunteered for something by somebody else – maybe a parent, or a spouse, or a friend? That called being “volun-told.” Maybe we do it because owe the person a favor. Or we just feel like we have to do it for whatever reason. So we put on our best face and go out and do whatever we’ve been volunteered for – whether it’s that tedious project or that leadership position or something else that we be excited to do.
The challenge with “volun-told-ism” is that no one wants to be arm-twisted into doing something. “Volun-told-ism” doesn’t provide lasting solutions to anything, because our hearts aren’t in it. We’ll bail on it at the first possible chance. We stick with things – we grow and learn – when someone comes alongside us and invites us into a partnership.
In many ways, partnership is how the Spirit works in the world. So I want us to be thinking this morning about what it means for the Spirit to bring peace. Does the Spirit act through force, or through invitation?
In our Gospel reading today, Jesus in is the middle of a long goodbye to his disciples. And amidst the difficult message Jesus is giving them about how his death will change their relationship forever, he offers words of renewed hope and assurance. “Do not let your hearts be troubled”, he says, because “peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.”
Peace – shalom – was a typical phrase Jews of the first century would have used when parting. But “peace” was also a loaded term in those days. The Roman Empire proudly asserted the “Pax Romana” – the Peace of Rome. A peace that was based on the Empire’s size, and power, and cultural influence. A peace that came from sitting in magnificent buildings and holding power over others and piling up wealth. A peace that came with being untouchable. But when it came right down to it, the Peace of Rome only gave prosperity and stability for a select few at the top.
Because for others – for the poor and slaves and the conquered peoples of the Empire who weren’t Roman citizens – including the Jews of Judea and Galilee – the Pax Romana meant something very different. For them, the peace that the Empire offered was nothing more than “volun-told-ism” at its worst. You do whatever I say. Because it was a peace imposed at the point of a sword. Not a lasting peace, but one that would endure only as long as the power and force that it depended on.
Jesus assures his disciples that they will experience a different kind of peace than this pale imitation the Empire offers. Theirs will be the peace that he will deliver as the Messiah – the Holy One of God – the true King of Israel. It’s not the sort of peace that the world gives, Jesus says. Instead, it’s a peace that will settle our troubled hearts. The peace that Jesus will give is his own peace – the peace that derives from the very heart of Jesus’ life of love and mercy and grace.
I don’t know about you, but this sounds pretty amazing to me. In a world where peace still seems to be in short supply, my heart yearns for comfort and calm. But how do we know what Jesus’ peace looks like in our lives?
The disciples will see Jesus demonstrate God’s peace on the Cross. Jesus doesn’t conquer as the world conquers. Jesus doesn’t use force or coercion to achieve God’s ends. In fact, it’s the very opposite. In the face of unchecked power and a corrupted elite and military might, Jesus lays down his life for others so that all of us might have eternal life.
And this tracks with our experience of God in the world. We believe in a God who created the universe from nothing – and who therefore can impose God’s power directly on the world. But we also know – often from painful experience – that God doesn’t always choose to act in this way. In fact, more often than not, God chooses to use power through persuasion instead of coercion. To summon creatures to act in certain ways – to lure us in so that we cooperate with God’s purposes for creation.
We see God doing this throughout Scripture. God doesn’t force people into ministry, God calls them into it. God calls Abraham and Sarah to leave everything behind and go wherever God would lead them. God calls Mary to bear Jesus – the Holy Child of God. Stories like these shows us that God chooses not to impose God’s divine will on hapless creatures – but instead to persuade us to enact principles of justice and peace and love, even at the risk that we won’t see it through.
This, my friends, is the peace the Spirit invites us into. God sent the Spirit into the world to continue Jesus’s work. To enact Jesus’s promises of new life. To come alongside us and guide and instruct and comfort us as we navigate difficult territory – so that what we say and do bears witness to the love that is at the very heart of Jesus’ life. And as the Holy Spirit brings that peace into our lives, we find the strength and courage we need to love in the middle of a messy, mixed-up world.
In the journey of faith, all of us need an Advocate who can give us the help we need. The Good News this morning we have that Advocate in the Spirit. And every time we accept that Advocate’s invitation to cooperate in her work of reconciling all people to each other and to God, our actions work toward Jesus’ peace. Not the momentary peace a world mired in corruption, injustice, violence, and poverty offers through force or coercion or bribery. But a lasting peace that witnesses to the power love and grace and mercy have to transform the world. A lasting peace that will soothe our troubled hearts. Amen.