Peace on Earth | Luke 2

Welcome to Real Life. Got peace?

And in despair I bowed my head:

“There is no peace on earth,” I said,

“For hate is strong, and mocks the song

Of peace on earth, good will to men.”[1]

It is Christmastime, a season of hope and happiness and...peace. Except this week, our peace was shattered when a school shooting left three dead and six more injured in Wisconsin. The perpetrator was a fifteen-year-old student who took her own life. This happened in a Christian school. A place where the true meaning of Christmas is known and celebrated. A place where faith, hope, and love are taught alongside reading, writing, and arithmetic. How could this happen?

When our Savior Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem, a heavenly host of angels filled the skies and declared,

Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace,
good will toward men.[2]

Jesus Christ is the Prince of Peace. He came to bring us peace. Of all places, a Christian school should be a refuge of safety and peace. But the reality is each one of us brings our pain and brokenness through the doors of Christian schools and churches. Some of the most messed up individuals sit in church pews on Sunday mornings. Because we are the ones who know we need a Savior!

Christ came to bring peace to messy lives. He sees our struggles with selfishness and anger and pain and anxiety. He knows we live in a world of turmoil and hatred and violence. We live in a world that celebrates when a rich executive is gunned down on the street. We live in a world where wars rage on in Ukraine and Israel with Hamas.

Into this tumultuous world, Jesus came to bring us peace. I don’t know about you, but I need his peace today. I need his comfort as I grieve this tragedy in Wisconsin. I need to believe there are still safe spaces in our world. But I also need to experience his peace as I navigate my own brokenness—selfishness and anger and pain and anxiety.

We need a Savior! That's why Jesus was born in Bethlehem. When we come to Christ in faith, and ask him to forgive us, and help us, and save us, he does. The first peace Jesus brings us is a soul at peace with God. 

But not only that, his presence brings us peace. For when we place our faith in Christ, he comes and makes his home in our hearts. He invites us to come to him with all our cares and worries and messes. He hears and answers us. He is our safe place. Jesus Christ himself is our peace!

Jesus also desires to bring peace on earth through us, his people. Although we don't always get it right, Christians do strive to be peacemakers, to minister with mercy and compassion, and to love unconditionally. The presence of Christ in us in our homes and schools and communities brings peace on earth. You and I can be safe spaces for others in this tumultuous world.

Dear friend, I promise you. Because of Christmas, one day there will never be another school shooting. For our Prince of Peace resides over a kingdom of peace. Some day soon, he will return and make all things right. In his kingdom, every child will be safe. No one will be murdered on the street. Wars will cease. Hatred will be so far removed, we will forget what hatred is. Love will reign supreme. Peace will never end. All because our Savior was born in Bethlehem!

“I have told you these things,

so that in me you may have peace.

In this world you will have trouble.

But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

(John 16:33 emphasis mine)

Dear Lord Jesus,
You are our Prince of Peace!
Please comfort the students and staff and parents at
Abundant Life Christian School as they grieve.
Heal their hearts and souls and give them peace.
I pray for the one reading this who doesn't know you.
May they come to you and find rest for their souls.

I pray for all of us. That this Christmas, we may know you more and
experience your amazing peace that is beyond our comprehension.
Thank you for coming to save us!
We love you, Lord Jesus. Amen. 

“I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day”

(by Henry W. Longfellow 1864)

I heard the bells on Christmas day

Their old familiar carols play,

And wild and sweet the words repeat

Of peace of earth, good will to men.

I thought how, as the day had come,

The belfries of all Christendom

Had rolled along th'unbroken song

Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And in despair I bowed my head:

"There is no peace on earth," I said,

"For hate is strong, and mocks the song

Of peace on earth, good will to men."

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:

"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;

The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,

With peace on earth, good will to men."

Till, ringing, singing on its way,

The world revolved from night to day

A voice, a chime, a chant sublime,

Of peace on earth, good will to men.

[1] “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” Christmas Carol by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

[2] Luke 2:14