John 14:23-27
“The peace I give is not like the kind the world gives,”
Jesus said.
There
is a story I once read that just might help us more clearly comprehend the kind of peace Jesus
is talking about: One day an artist was
commissioned by a wealthy man to paint something that would depict peace. After a great deal of thought, the artist
painted a beautiful country scene. There were green fields with cows standing
in them, birds flying in the blue sky and a lovely little village lay in a
distant valley. The artist gave the
picture to the man, but there was a look of disappointment on his face.
The
man said to the artist, "This isn't a picture of true peace. It isn't right. Go back and try again. So the artist went back to his studio,
thought for a long time about peace, then went to his canvas and began to
paint. When finished, on the canvas
was a beautiful picture of a mother holding a sleeping baby in her arms, smiling
lovingly at the child. He thought to
himself, surely this is true peace, and hurried to give the picture to the
wealthy man.
But
again, the wealthy man refused the painting and asked the painter to try again.
So the artist returned again to his studio a little discouraged and
disappointed; feelings of anger and
rejection started to swell inside him.
Again,
he thought about it long and hard, he even prayed for inspiration to paint a
picture of true peace. Then, all of a
sudden, an idea came to mind and he rushed to the canvas and began to paint as
he had never painted before. When finished, he hurried away to the wealthy man
and gave the painting to him. The
wealthy man studied it carefully for several minutes. The artist held his breath. The wealthy man responded, “Now this is a
picture of true peace.” He accepted the
painting, paid the artist, and everyone was happy.
And
just what was this picture of true peace? The picture showed a stormy sea pounding
against a cliff. The artist had captured the furry of the wind as it whipped
the rain clouds laced with streaks of lightening. The sea roared in chaos,
waves smashed and churned, the sky was filled with the furious power of a thunderstorm.
And in the middle of the picture, under a
certain section of the sea cliff, the artist had painted a small bird safe, dry
and resting in a nest snuggled between the rocks under a ledge. The bird was at peace in the midst of the
storm raging all around her.
The
above is a good depiction of the kind of peace Jesus gives. Not an image like the world attempts to give, not a kind of peace where there are no storms or violent waves, but
instead the peace of knowing that in the midst of turmoil and strife there is a ROCK which
can shelter us, a place where we can be spiritually safe and secure, a place
where we can live with peace and certainty on the inside while the world flails
about in falsehood and fear and the outside.
