This week we came to a passage in Philippians which is very familiar to many of us who grew up with a knowledge of the Bible. Philippians 4:6......"Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." I fear, though, that in some instances, we have become so familiar with this passage that we do not stop to think about what is really meant by these encouraging words. For instance, does Paul mean that if we pray in the way he exhorts us to that we will never or rarely worry, be sad, or doubt God's goodness in the midst of adverse circumstances? Does the peace that surpasses all understanding speak mainly to our interior emotional state or does it have as much if not more to do with the way we relate to suffering in our lives and the lives of others.
In order to get at what Paul means and doesn't mean in this passage we need to think about the peace of which is he is speaking as the peace of Jesus' kingdom, recalling that the Roman Empire celebrated the peace of the empire in quasi-religious language even as it celebrated Caesar as savior and lord. Just as Paul crafts his language in chapter 2 of this letter to remind the Philippians that Jesus is Savior, Lord, and King over against Caesar, here he proclaims Jesus' peace as the true peace of which Rome's peace is an absurd distortion, a parody. So, as we approach Paul's remarks about the peace of Jesus' kingdom let's begin by thinking together about what clues Jesus offers us in these words to his disciples in John 14: "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives."
The world's offers of peace come in all shapes and sizes. Many of Jesus' contemporaries wanted him to draw on the resources of this world's ideas of how to achieve peace by taking up the vocation of a violent Messiah who would rule according to political power and military might. This approach was in the same family of peace ideas that Rome offered its subjects - to those loyal to the Caesar there would be peace. But this peace was propped up by the violence of a tyrant and did not extend to anyone who dissented. But Jesus, it seems, also has in mind how the disciples will perceive and be blessed by the peace he will give - not like the world gives.
Jesus' disciples and the Philippian Christians would undergo fear, confusion, anxiety, and discouragement as they had to wrestle with persecution and threats of persecution. Moreover, they were, in general, regarded with disdain by many, as they were perceived to be threats to the public life of the rest of the world. In the face of this trouble they are to "not let their hearts be troubled" and to trust in Jesus' peace which surpasses all understanding. As we unpack how Jesus' peace affects them (and us) I suggest that it is Jesus' compassionate presence with his people, through the Holy Spirit, that is the "peace of God which surpasses all understanding". This is suggested by the overall context of Jesus' remarks in John's gospel about the ministry of the Holy Spirit, who unites us to the risen Lord Jesus, and by Paul's remarks that God's peace will guard us "in Christ Jesus" (see Philippians 4). "In Christ Jesus" is one of Paul's favorite shorthand phrases which expresses the deep theological truth that we are united to God in Christ through the Holy Spirit, as he is present to us through the same Spirit.
So, how is Jesus' presence with us a comfort? Here, I find Rowan Williams (from his book, the Truce of God) to be of help as he writes: "Christ's peace, then is given us as we are drawn into his world, as we enter his space. When we hear the good news of peace we do not comfortably relax in the confidence that a particularly tricky problem has been solved. On the contrary, we are invited to live in the world of Jesus - which means bearing as he did the tensions of knowing the full force both of hope and of grief.... we are aware of ourselves and the whole world as objects of an infinite compassion which calls us to the same compassion and sustains us as we try to embody it..... having seen how decisively in Jesus this faith can reconstruct the patterns of human relations and the forms of corporate life, we enter on the project of compassion, trusting in its re-creative power."
Jesus mourns well and Jesus hopes well; and, he does so with us, in us, and through us. This is at the heart of what it means to be guarded by God's peace in Christ Jesus. Guarded in a peace that passes understanding is not about being comforted by an idea or an abstract truth; it is about being comforted by Jesus himself as we are drawn more and more into his life. Rather than attempting to escape pain and suffering as we so often do through all manner of sinful and destructive behavior, Jesus weeps with us and for us, inviting us to do the same. Rather than shying away from the pain of others or simply trying to make them feel like everything will be OK, Jesus shares in their suffering and beckons us to do likewise. Instead of offering intellectual answers to the problem of pain, Jesus embraces us in his love and brings us to the hope of the resurrection. Instead of taking on the identity of a victim, Jesus unites us to him as one to whom the future is open to redemption.
1. Can you offer some examples from our cultural setting of bogus offers of peace which tempt you to turn away from the peace of Christ?
2. What role does prayer play in our participation in Jesus' peace? Read Philippians 4:4-7 before you answer this question.
3. What role do you think being vibrantly involved in the community of the local church plays in being affected rightly by Jesus' peace?
4. In the last sentence we refer to the future being open to redemption? How does this keep us from identifying ourselves as victims when we suffer?
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