The Arrival of Peace
We live in an anxious world. Thirty-nine percent of Americans say they are more anxious this year than last year. According to the ADAA, about forty million Americans are now classified as having an anxiety disorder.
The peculiar thing is that, on nearly every metric—health, wealth, world conflict and comfort—our society is living in some of the best times in history. On the outside we should be the most at-peace society in history, and yet many of us are living weighed down by confusion and angst.
The word for peace in the Old Testament is Shalom. Shalom is a word filled with meaning and color. It can mean “the lack of conflict,” but it can also mean “whole” or “complete.” So when countries are without conflict, there is shalom; but also, when Solomon completed the temple, he brought shalom to it.
This sort of peace is illusive to the world around us. And, honestly, it was illusive for the people of Israel. In the history of Israel, there were only small glimpses of shalom in the midst of conflict, rebellion and pain.
That’s why the promise in Isaiah 9 is so powerful: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given… and he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
Seven hundred years later, Jesus arrived.
But Jesus never promised that we would have external shalom—every circumstance in our life going well. What he promised was an internal peace in the midst of a confusing and painful world. He promised a peace that endures during an external breakdown. A peace that can mourn and hurt while retaining an interior stillness and steadfast hope.
Beyond that, Paul, in Ephesians 2, says that Jesus himself is our peace. He is the incarnation of shalom itself. Peace is not the absence of confusion or conflict. It’s the presence of Peace himself. It’s only in the presence of Jesus that we find true peace.
So, though we live in an anxious and chaotic world, we don’t have to allow it to sink into our interior. Jesus is the peace we need and have been looking for. It doesn’t depend on everything going well in our lives. It’s a peace that surpasses all understanding.
Christmas is the beautiful reminder that, when the world ran out of options in its pursuit of peace, Jesus arrived as the only true source of peace we can find.
–Ryan Romeo