Reflection: Peace

A number of years back, I spent some time working at the United Nations. I remember that part of the passage we just heard from Isaiah was inscribed on a giant wall facing the UN building: “They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation. Neither shall they learn war any more”.

“Swords into plowshares”! Food, not war. What a hope of peace Isaiah presents—how captivating and seductive. The Lord’s house is established, and all the nations come—they come to Jerusalem, the capital of the kingdom of Judah, where Isaiah was writing from. They all want to learn the ways of God. And when everyone all starts listening to God, and when God himself starts arbitrating amongst nations—then we should have peace.

Peace. What a hope, that the horrors of genocide and war for power or land, that these horrors could end. But while it’s a very appealing image of peace, we should take two important warnings from it. (it’s not nice to criticize the ancient prophets, I’m going to do it anyway.)

Peace is coming, Isaiah says. It’s coming when God sits down in our capital, Jerusalem. It’s coming when all the other nations come to our capital, and acknowledge our God. Isaiah is hoping for a peace in which everyone else will acknowledge that his country is right. [To be fair, he spends plenty of time criticizing his country too] But still—to really look for peace requires us to be humble enough to admit that we might be the problem

Peace it coming, Isaiah says—It’s coming when God is sitting on the throne, judging disputes. When everyone falls in to line. Peace will come when what is right and good is clear to everyone.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but peace like that ain’t coming anytime soon. There will be disputes because even well-meaning people disagree, and then there will be disputes because a few people can screw it up for the rest of us. We should work toward the dream of peace, but again, need to have the humility to recognize that it might not work out.

So where does that leave us with peace?


In the book of John, Jesus gives a long discourse to his followers just before his death. He tells them that he is leaving them, and then says

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.

I’m not sure what kind of peace this is, but it is different, radically so, from the peace that is present in the vision of Isaiah.

Jesus is offering a kind of peace that available despite having your friend & teacher tortured and murdered, despite having to flee from persecution. “Don’t be afraid,” he says. He telling his followers that there is a kind of peace they can have, even in the presence of war and violence. Even in the presence of economic crisis.

This is a peace that is not given as the world gives. Physical peace & justice (no war, basic living standards) is important, but Jesus is pointing us toward a psychological and spiritual peace. A peace that comes from connecting with God, from “storing up treasures in heaven” that cannot be destroyed by the discord here in earth.

I’m not quite sure how to get that peace, but it has something to do with practice—the practice of prayer, our spiritual formation in community—and it has something to do with the presence of God in our lives.

May that peace be with us, this day and every day forward.

Amen.