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Is Peace Always Peaceful?

I love seeing the Gospel message framed as peace and reconciliation. And that’s natural, right? Jesus, the Prophets, and the NT writers all saw the same thing. But occasionally things pop up and challenge your assumptions…

This morning I received an email asking about my thoughts on Luke 12:49-53. Read it and you’ll see why:

“I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed!Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

My friend was essentially saying “this doesn’t sound like peace! That doesn’t sound consistent with the message I believe Jesus brought.” Admittedly, it made me a little uneasy at first. I hadn’t given the passage much thought. So I spent some time this morning unpacking it. Here’s my response:

First, it’s important to realize that the passage is in a context of passages that are talking about urgency v. complacency. The Jewish idea of peace is shalom. It indicates a lot of things, but primarily a sense of wholeness and well-being. Unfortunately, the ideal of “rest” can lead to just settling back in with your family and going about life as usual.. (after they had dedicated years to follow Jesus)

This is perhaps one of the biggest “sins” of the Old Testament Israelites — complacency. In the writings of Scripture, we mainly get the stories about how the big guys failed—Kings, leaders, etc.. But the common people were just as complicit in hardening their hearts and living in a sort of sublime ignorance, resting on God’s past work and not progressively seeking the justice God was calling for on earth. 

So I think Jesus is not contradicting his message of peace and reconciliation, but rather challenging the Jewish notion of shalom that had led them to finding “personal peace” and becoming numb to the world around them. 

If I could paraphrase Jesus, “Don’t think that I came to get the Jewish leaders and sinners (most of Jesus’ followers had been ostracized by the Jewish religious establishment) off your back by declaring your personally holy, so that you can rest in a glorified status among your peers. And don’t think I came to get the Roman Empire off your back, just so that you could go home to your families and live a life of peace, comfort, and prosperity.”

Real peace, the peace that’s valuable to the whole earth, will be very messy. .