Peace—The fruit of reconciliation

Bible

Matthew 1:18–25 NLT

18 This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. 19 Joseph, to whom she was engaged, was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly. 20 As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. 21 And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet: 23 “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’ ” 24 When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife. 25 But he did not have sexual relations with her until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus.

What is peace?

Now, before we start unpacking this short story of Joseph, I want to play a video from the Bible Project. Our Advent theme this week is “Peace,” and this video explores how the Bible portrays peace.

Let’s watch it now.

Play Bible Project Peace video:

Introduction

The word peace is common in most languages. People can talk about peace treaties or times of peace; it means the absence of war. And in the Bible, the word peace can refer to the absence of conflict, but it also points to the presence of something better in its place.

In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word for peace is shalom, and in the New Testament the Greek word is eirene. The most basic meaning of shalom is complete or whole. The word can refer to a stone that has a perfect whole shape with no cracks. It can also refer to a completed stone wall that has no gaps and no missing bricks. Shalom refers to something that’s complex with lots of pieces that’s in a state of completeness, wholeness.

Shalom in the Hebrew Bible

It’s like Job who says his tents are in a state of shalom because he counted his flock and no animals are missing.1 This is why shalom can refer to a person’s well-being. Like when David visited his brothers on the battlefield, he asked about their shalom.2 The core idea is that life is complex, full of moving parts and relationships and situations, and when any of these is out of alignment or missing, your shalom breaks down. Life is no longer whole. It needs to be restored.

In fact, that’s the basic meaning of shalom when you use it as a verb. To bring shalom literally means to make complete or restore. So Solomon brings shalom to the unfinished temple when he completes it.3 Or if your animal accidentally damages your neighbor’s field, you shalom them by giving them a complete repayment for their loss. You take what’s missing, and you restore it to wholeness.

The same goes for human relationships. In the book of Proverbs, to reconcile and heal a broken relationship is to bring shalom. And when rival kingdoms make shalom in the Bible, it doesn’t just mean they stop fighting. It also means they start working together for each other’s benefit.

This state of shalom is what Israel’s kings were supposed to cultivate, and it rarely happened. So the prophet Isaiah, he looked forward to a future king, a prince of shalom. And his reign would bring shalom with no end—a time when God would make a covenant of shalom with his people and make right all wrongs and heal all that’s been broken.4

Jesus’ Birth Brings Eirene

This is why Jesus’s birth in the New Testament was announced as the arrival of eirene.5 Remember that’s the Greek word for peace. Jesus came to offer his peace to others like when he said to his followers, “My peace I give to you all.”6

The apostles claimed that Jesus made peace between messed up humans and God when he died and rose from the dead. The idea is that he restored to wholeness the broken relationship between humans and their Creator. This is why the apostle Paul can say Jesus himself is our eirene. He was the whole, complete human that I am made to be but have failed to be, and now he gives me his life as a gift. And this means that Jesus’ followers are now called to create peace.

Paul instructed local churches to keep their unity through the bond of peace, which requires humility and patience and bearing with others in love.7 Becoming people of peace means participating in the life of Jesus, who reconciled all things in heaven on earth, restoring peace through his death and resurrection.

So peace takes a lot of work because it’s not just the absence of conflict. True peace requires taking what’s broken and restoring it to wholeness, whether it’s in our lives, our relationships, or in our world. And that’s the rich biblical concept of peace.

Peace is relational

What a great video from the Bible Project, as usual! That gives us a great understanding of the Biblical idea of peace.

Did you notice what was fundamentally broken when we have no peace? That’s right, relationships! You see, human beings were made for relationship.

Genesis 2:18 NLT

18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.”

At the beginning of creation, after God had made the whole universe, all the plants and animals, and a single human man, he looked at what he’d done and observed that “it is not good for the man to be alone.”

Hebrews 10:24–25 NLT

24 Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. 25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

Even today we need to meet together so that we can encourage one another in our faith, as the author to Hebrews explains.

Revelation 21:1–3 NLT

1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them.

Even our eternal future with God is a future in which we are surrounded by other people, in the “holy city” the new Jerusalem. We are built to spend eternity living together in relationship!

The cost of broken relationship

Therefore, when our relationships break down, or when we cannot form relationships, we are left broken and empty, we have no peace. I don’t know about you, but when my wife or daughter are angry or upset with me it tears me apart inside. When I am struggling with people at work I don’t sleep well. When family is fighting, it feels like my world is slowly coming apart.

I believe this is, in large part, responsible for the increased anxiety and stress everyone is experiencing at the moment. Our relationships, which nowadays often extend beyond our state borders have been strained and cut-off. The threat of lock-downs threatens our more immediate relationships. Even social distancing limits our ability to express close relationships in our normal way.

The measure of peace these relationships bring us has been destroyed, and we are feeling it.

The peace of Joseph

But how does this relate to the Bible’s account of Joseph?

Well, think about Joseph’s situation. He was betrothed to Mary. In first century Jewish culture, betrothal was a commitment to marriage, usually organised by the parents of the couple. Both partners were expected to treat their betrothal with as much commitment as marriage, and marriage was not to be violated by outsiders. This was a core relationship. So you can imagine Joseph’s horror when Mary turned up pregnant.

Matthew 1:19 NLT

19 Joseph, to whom she was engaged, was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly.

Matthew tells us that Joseph was a righteous man, and that he put Mary’s reputation before his own offense. If only we had more righteous people on social media, eh?

Nonetheless, because he was serious about doing the right thing, serious about having a wife who did the right thing, yet also serious about caring even for someone who had let him down, Joseph thought he should break the betrothal quietly.

He cannot have felt much peace about this. The relationship that his future family was to be built on had been torn away from him. All the prospects of children and family were suddenly snatched away. Whether he abandoned Mary and her unborn child, or accepted her as an unfaithful wife, he knew that their relationship would never recover. Joseph must have been riven by anguish and distress.

Matthew 1:20 NLT

20 As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit.

Matthew tells us that Joseph was taking time to consider this. The Greek word for “consider” here means to deeply think on something and to ponder it over. Joseph wasn’t taking his decision lightly.

It was while he was doing this, literally sleeping on it, that God interrupted him.

The source of Mary’s baby

An angel appeared to Joseph and explained to him the source of Mary’s baby. This changed everything for Joseph.

Before this, Joseph had been struggling with what to do about a future wife who had betrayed him with another man. After the angel’s revelation, Joseph knew he was betrothed to the woman who would give birth to a child conceived, somehow, by God himself! This transformed their relationship. Joseph could not only trust Mary, he could view her with respect and even awe.

The purpose of Mary’s baby

But the angel didn’t stop there.

Matthew 1:21 NLT

21 And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

He explained to Joseph what the baby’s name was: Yeshua, or Jesus, which means “God saves.” The angel then explained how God would save: this baby boy would grow up to save his people from their sins.

But hang on, why do people need to be saved from their sins?

At the beginning of creation, soon after God made a companion for the first man, we read about how our ancestors rebelled against God, and how that rebellion has infected us all, with 100% infection rate.

Much later, King David, Jesus’ ancestor, wrote a Psalm—a song addressed to God—which said:

Psalm 14:1–3 NLT

1 Only fools say in their hearts, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, and their actions are evil; not one of them does good! 2 The Lord looks down from heaven on the entire human race; he looks to see if anyone is truly wise, if anyone seeks God. 3 But no, all have turned away; all have become corrupt. No one does good, not a single one!

The Jews understood the nature of reality: that we all have rejected God and cannot experience peace, cannot become true human beings, without being restored into relationship with God.

So Jesus would save people from their sins, but how would he restore them into God’s presence?

The nature of Mary’s baby

Matthew 1:22–23 NLT

22 All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet: 23 “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’ ”

Finally, Matthew reveals what all this means: the coming of this baby boy ushers us into God’s presence. In fact, this baby boy is God himself, come as a baby. From now on, God would be with us. As you saw in the Bible Project video, this is the ultimate peace.

At last, Joseph could rest, he could wholeheartedly accept and support Mary, and he could relax in the knowledge that God was with him. You see, Joseph’s relationship with Mary was critical, but his relationship with God—our relationship with God—is a life-and-death matter. Having both those relationships restored brought Joseph true peace. Peace that could survive even in the midst of last-minute birthing disasters, even in the midst of a tyrannical king trying to murder your child.

Our peace

How about us? How can can we find peace?

Jesus died on the cross to make peace between us and God, in order to restore us into relationship with God. And he gave us two simple things to do that bring us back into relationship with God and other people and thus give us peace:

Luke 10:27 NLT

27 The man answered, “ ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”

Love God with all you are, and love your neighbour as you love yourself.

Simple, right?

Of course, when you try to do this, you quickly find that it’s very hard.

John 16:7–8 NLT

7 But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you. 8 And when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment.

Fortunately, Jesus didn’t leave us on our own, he sent the Holy Spirit to help us in every way.

And so, when we give our lives over to love God, and trust Jesus and his Holy Spirit to guide us, our relationship with God is restored. Because we are made right with God, we now have a chance to be made right with one another. And through these restored relationships we find true peace. That’s what the angels were celebrating on that night when Jesus was born,

Luke 2:13–14 NLT

13 Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”

That’s why we celebrate Christmas with such great joy. That’s why we wake on Christmas morning with such a burning hope in our hearts. That’s why love is expressed through feasting with and giving gifts to family and others. That’s why we can begin 2022 with hearts at rest, relationships restored, transformed by the peace of God.

Let’s pray,

Lord, we really do want peace, our hearts are aching with tiredness and our souls are crying out for rest. Help us to love you and to love our neighbour. Thank you for Jesus, who has made a way for us back to you. And thank you for your Holy Spirit, who gives us the grace to love one another. Thank you for the peace that flows from a right relationship with you.

In our saviour Jesus’ holy name,

Amen.