In Jesus There Is Peace

𝐌𝐀𝐘 𝟏𝟔, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓: 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐓𝐇 𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊 𝐎𝐅 𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑

𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐀𝐜 𝟏𝟑:𝟐𝟔-𝟑𝟑

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦: 𝐏𝐬𝐚 𝟐:𝟔-𝟏𝟏𝐚𝐛 “𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐒𝐨𝐧, 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮.”

𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋: 𝐉𝐍 𝟏𝟒:𝟏-𝟔

𝑲𝒆𝒚 𝑽𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆: “𝑳𝒆𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒔 𝒃𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒅;” (𝒗.1) 

         To better understand this Gospel passage today, it would help if you take time to go back and read at least the preceding Chapters 12 and 13 because these will provide you with the reason why the disciples of Jesus appeared troubled and bewildered at this point.

         In these two chapters you will see that Jesus not only predicted his suffering and death on the cross that will be precipitated by the betrayal of one of his trusted disciples and highlighted by the surprising denial of Peter who had vowed to lay down his life for Jesus (𝐉𝐧 𝟏𝟑:𝟑𝟕).

         Wouldn’t you too be troubled and confused if the person whom you have been following around for three years will tell you he is going to leave you and you don’t even know where he will be going. What about the ministry that he has established? Will it all be for naught? What now?

         These are probably some of the questions running through the minds of the disciples when Jesus seemed to be bidding them adieu and so he implores them not to be troubled (𝐯.𝟏)  as he assures them: “𝑰𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝑭𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓'𝒔 𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒎𝒔; 𝒊𝒇 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒔𝒐, 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒈𝒐 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒂 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖? 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑰 𝒈𝒐 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒂 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒚𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇, 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒎𝒂𝒚 𝒃𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐.” (𝒗𝒗.2-3)        

         But Jesus also laid down the parameters that we all need to follow if we are to go where he would go and that is to believe in God and believe also in him. This is in fact the underlying message of this Gospel today that in times of trouble and when our world seemed like it is going to collapse, when everything in our life is not progressing as we planned it to be, when our human will can no longer respond to the challenges of the world, the only recourse we have is to believe in God and to believe in Jesus.

         In our lifetime, there is a time and there will be times when we find that we are incapable of meeting the trials that come our way and of understanding the difficult circumstances in our lives and it is in these times when belief and faith in God through Jesus will bring in comfort and peace.

         What we all must bear in mind is that we should not allow our troubles to rob us of God's peace. Inevitably, we will all encounter trouble and difficulties and some of these will be hard to endure. But when we find that there is a purpose for these dark hours and moments in our lives it is then when even the unbearable becomes bearable especially when we know that Jesus will never leave us as orphans (𝐉𝐧 𝟏𝟒:𝟏𝟖).

         There are two choices we can make when trials and tribulations come. We can give in to our human tendencies and lose hope and be discouraged or, we can choose to remain close to God encouraged by his promise: "𝑰𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑳𝑶𝑹𝑫 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒈𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖; 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒍 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒐𝒓 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒔𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖; 𝒅𝒐 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒇𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒐𝒓 𝒃𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒎𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒅" (𝑫𝒆𝒖𝒕 31:8).        

        What we should always keep in our minds and hearts is the fact that God Himself led the Israelites out of the wilderness and into the promised land and in this Gospel today Jesus is also telling us that that he is going ahead to prepare a place for us in God's house and he will return and take us with him so that we may be with him forever (𝐯𝐯.𝟐-𝟑)        

         The beauty of the New Testament Scriptures is the realization that we are not and are never alone to face life’s challenges because Jesus always goes ahead of us and leads us to follow. He opens and shows us the way for us to follow in His footsteps and if we will only grasp the depth and meaning of the Gospel we will come to grips of where and what our final destination will be – a place of refuge, peace, and security, and everlasting happiness.

         “𝑰𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝑭𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓'𝒔 𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒎𝒔;” (𝒗.2) which could only mean that heaven is not and will never be crowded or filled as there will be plenty of room for everyone who will believe in God and in His Son Jesus Christ.

         But like Thomas, who asked: "𝒘𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒏𝒐𝒓 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒘𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒐𝒘𝒏?" (𝒗.5) we at times are unsure of where we are going. The first time I went to the United States was in 1982 and back then I had a map to guide me to where I was going and it was so difficult looking at the map while driving at the same time.

        When I visited the US again in 2010 and rented a car in Los Angeles, I was surprised to find that cars nowadays are already equipped with a GPS (Global Positioning System) gadget that gives you the direction by just keying in the address of the place you are going to.

        Today, Jesus is our GPS and we are blessed that in our journey of faith we have Jesus who leads us and shows us the 𝐖𝐚𝐲 to His Father’s house. We should be grateful that He speaks to us through the Words of the Holy Gospel that illumine our minds and hearts of the 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡 we need to know that we are not swayed to believe in the lies and deception of this world. And we are thoroughly blessed that Jesus came in love to save us from our sins to show us what 𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞 lived out in love really means.

         Let us thus raise our hearts to Our Lord Jesus and thank Him for giving us the joy of His saving presence and the hope of everlasting life with the Father in Heaven. (𝘌𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘺 – 𝘔𝘢𝘺 16, 2025)