Over the past few weeks I have been thinking about Christmas and the theme that we often hear: “Peace on Earth”. My guess is that many of us will struggle with this. Oh, we don’t struggle with the desire for peace, rather we struggle with why it seems to be so elusive. Why is it that though so many of us desire peace we can’t seem to attain it?
I have watched the situation in the Middle East over the past months and years; it doesn’t seem to be getting any better. In fact, it would seem that tensions are increasing. Recognizing this, the United Kingdom has just voted in support of air strikes on Syria.
Then consider events on this side of the ocean. In the past week I have been reading news of different shootings: the first one in Colorado Springs where some guy walks into an abortion clinic with a gun, resulting in three dead and at least nine injured. As much as I despise what goes on in that building, the reality is that the people in the building are human beings, and I value life. We all should value life. This man was wrong in taking the law into his own hands and killing these people.
Then just a few days later, I read of the shootings in San Bernadino, California. As of my writing this it was not clear at all what the motivations were. They are still trying to gather all the facts. What they do seem to know is that there were at least two suspects both of whom are now dead.
Now, when I look around, and think of all these events, and reflect on the words “Peace on Earth”, something is wrong. It seems to me that we are living in a world of increasing violence and terror. So what does it mean when the Bible speaks of “peace on earth” and “good will towards men”?
I am strongly convinced that removing guns will not stop the violence. We have already seen this in other parts of the world. Terrorists without guns use bombs and so indiscriminately kill people. A nation refusing to fight so as to avoid war won’t fix the problem. That is sitting back and being complacent. Evil needs to be confronted with justice.
Things weren’t that different in Jesus’ day. When He was born, the world was filled with war and tyrannical leaders. Even on the personal level, so many people were facing conflicts with heartaches and broken relationships. Consider for a moment Mary the mother of Jesus. We don’t know all the details. But I have often wondered how her parents responded when she came home one day and told her parents that she was pregnant? I wonder what that conversation was like? I wonder how much tension was in the room that day?
So what is the solution? This is where Jesus comes in. Jesus’ arrival on Christmas day some 2000 years ago was only the beginning of a new era of peace. The peace that He was ushering in was not instantaneous and global. It was a peace that began with one life at a time. Jesus reached out to individuals. He reached out to the blind, He reached out to the sick. With all of these, He didn’t just reach out and heal the surface illness. What He did was reach deep down into the heart of the person and heal the real problem in their lives which was sin. The only way that this sin could be dealt with was for God Himself to come into this world in the form of His Son, and take the sin on Himself, dying in our place.
Therein lies the solution. We can long for peace. We can talk about peace. We can pass laws that ban guns. We can even set up great fortresses to protect people that work in vulnerable occupations, places we think terrorists might attack; but in the end, until the root problem of sin in a person’s heart is dealt with, there will be no lasting peace. It is my prayer that as we wrestle through the trials of this life, as we mourn and grieve with those who have lost loved ones, as we struggle with the lack of peace in this world, that we would seek to find lasting peace in the only place that it truly can be found – the grace and mercy of Jesus.