left with peace

Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you.

So said the Savior. There were few who followed Him at that time. He was a threatening headache to the church leaders. He stirred up public mischief. I am sure the political higher-ups of His day were wearied of constantly hearing of this Man from Galilee who made such a fuss among those Jews. Jesus of Nazareth. A carpenter’s Son. Yet with astounding authority — even audacity — He taught, reprimanded, healed, forgave sins.

…Let not your heart be troubled…

Trouble. Anyone who has walked this earth for a measurable amount of time is acquainted with trouble in at least one of its many forms. He was well acquainted with trouble in all its forms. He even said to His disciples, “In the world you will have [trouble]…”
And yet He says, “Let not your heart be troubled…”

Once in a while, I believe the Holy Spirit brings to my conscious thought the idea of loss. Loss, I mean, in the sense of losing a dearly loved person to the formidable embrace of death.
How would I bear it? Would I continue trusting the One to whom death is subject? Would I lean on Him hopefully in the midst of unimaginable grief? Would I yet praise and adore Him?

Sometimes I romanticize the idea of loss. However, my experiences of it are very limited. And when I do think seriously of the possibility, and, indeed, reality of great loss, I am not eager to be acquainted with the depths of emotional, spiritual and physical grief that I have only heard and read about. The ache I experience in missing family and friends, who I know to be well and safe, occasionally evokes a physical reaction. Loss of appetite, sometimes a weighted feeling in my chest, tears etc. But I have never known the crippling pain of losing one of the persons nearest to my heart.

To then imagine — or attempt to imagine — the intense agony of Jesus as He died; His heart breaking for every soul on earth and every soul yet to be born, as His own blood was streaming on behalf of the ungrateful wretched people who so desperately need(ed) His salvation…
His heartache is incomparable with any other. It far surpasses the experience of any human being before or since. None could bear it as He did.
Bear it? It killed Him. He died with a broken heart over the sin of this world and the lost state of the people He loves so fathomlessly.

And then He arose. And He conquered it.
I praise God. Though my earthly vessel, and those of the sweet people whom I love so much, will see deterioration and death; yet we will be raised up. We will be resurrected in new bodies. Every saint in Christ Jesus, those who are unknown to me and those I love dearly, will have the joy of meeting again in glory. And we will see Him, face to face…

You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.

~ Isaiah 26:3 ~

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John 14:27, John 16:33