Jay’s Blog – Princes of Peace
Advent is one of my favorite times of year. It is a season when we prepare for the Lord’s coming, his incarnation, that amazing moment in history when the Ancient of Days, the Author of all things, the Word by which everything existing came to be, became a helpless baby depending on a teenage girl for survival (“advent” literally means “come”). As Advent comes at the end of the calendar year, it’s also a season of reflecting on God’s blessings on us through his goodness, wrapped in victories and challenges.
As I reflected on Advent over Thanksgiving break, I also meditated on a famous gospel passage, Mark 4:36-41. Jesus has just preached to a large crowd on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, a crowd so large that he had to get in a boat and go out to shore so that the spectators could all stand on the shoreline to see him. Afterward, and probably to escape the crowd, he and his disciples sail across the sea. Jesus is weary from preaching and falls asleep in the bow when a significant storm brews, seemingly out of nowhere:
36 And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. 37 And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. 38 But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” 39 And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40 He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” 41 And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
Several things jump out at me in this passage. First, the crowd’s need must have exhausted Jesus, as evidenced by his passing out in the storm-driven boat. Second, this storm must have been truly awful if it frightened even seasoned fishermen like the disciples.
The most significant aspect of this passage is Jesus’ response to their fear. As soon as he awakens, Jesus immediately calms the storm by rebuking it. However, he also rebukes the disciples, confronting their lack of faith and fear. What’s happening here?
Jesus bears numerous titles: Messiah, King of Kings, Son of Man, Morning Star, Alpha and Omega. In prophesying his coming, the prophet Isaiah reminds us, “His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” As I read about Jesus’ calm during a storm, the title “Prince of Peace” resonates with me.
Jesus slept soundly, confident they would successfully navigate the storm and emerge on the other side. For Jesus, the outcome was always certain. When the disciples awakened him, and he stood up to calm the storm, he didn’t speak stillness into the universe to offer divine protection or to get them to their destination safely. They already had those things. He did it simply to calm their fears and to show those with faith, like children, that he was God.
I think Jesus was frustrated with the disciples and rebuked them, not because they woke him up, but because they didn’t believe he could get them through the storm unless they did. His presence wasn’t enough to guide, protect, and provide for them. He had to do so in ways that met their expectations, protecting them from the storm rather than bringing them through it.
We’re not that different, are we? Two thousand years later, and with the active indwelling of the Holy Spirit in our lives, are we much better? When we face storms in our lives—whether it’s our own illness or those we love, death, job loss, marriage troubles, financial turmoil, or other concerns—we cry out to Jesus. When we do so, however, we often do it expecting a certain outcome: physical healing, a quick new job opportunity, marriage restoration, or a financial windfall. Somehow, we expect God to deliver us from the storm.
God promises to supply all our needs according to his riches in Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:19), which includes peace and security. He provides these things richly through his presence. He gives us what we need through any storm when we press into and abide in him. Last week, I attended the memorial service of one of my students who passed away suddenly. His mother and father spoke at the service about the peace and love they had in Jesus through the most terrible thing a parent can suffer.
Many of my friends and colleagues remarked how tremendously solid and powerful this couple was in the Lord and how inspirational it was to see their faith move mountains in a crisis. It was truly remarkable, yet faith and strength come from the Holy Spirit, available to all of God’s children in their time of need. Any one of us who knows Jesus has access to that strength and peace; it’s ours for the asking when we abide in him.
As author Paul David Tripp has noted, our problem is that we often get our needs and desires confused or mixed up. While we need peace and security, a particular outcome– whether our loved ones are healed, whether we get the new job we’re interviewing for, or whether that relationship is restored–is not a need. It may be a desire, even a good desire, but it may not be God’s desire for us.
When we confuse our desires with needs, they become entitlements. We think God owes us a specific outcome– not just the peace and security we need, but an end to the difficulty, cure, or restoration. When God fails to deliver that specific outcome, we question his goodness for not adhering to our demands. The problem here isn’t God, but us–our expectations. We’re expecting, requiring something from God, something he never promised to give, then accusing him of not being good when he doesn’t give it. That’s dangerous because these delusions can undermine our relationship with God.
The beautiful thing is that God provides supernatural, abundant, inexplicable peace when we are pressed into him amid turmoil and trial. That peace not only undergirds and strengthens us, enabling us to endure the storms of life but actually brings paradoxical joy. We can truly say that God is good, and we can be an overwhelming blessing to others. That mom and dad who spoke at the memorial service of their son last week inspired and edified everyone who was there. The power of the God of Shalom truly overwhelmed people, and I can assure you that those who face future hardships will remember that day, find inspiration in it, and feel empowered to seek peace in Jesus.
Jesus is the Prince of Peace. As the angels proclaimed at his birth, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” (Luke 2:14). When we draw into Jesus, and seek courage, peace, and strength not from what he will do to rescue us, but simply from the fact that he is here, peace radiates from us. Others are drawn to it and grow in it. As sons and daughters of the living God, made in his image, heirs to the Kingdom of Heaven, we are privileged to be princes and princesses of peace, bringing shalom to a hurting world.
Jay Ferguson, Ph.D., Head of School at Grace Community School, writes regularly on his blog, JaysBlog.org.