Peace be with you (What is Christian Peace)

Have you ever seen a baby, a few months old, in his mother’s arms at a social event?  Everyone gathers round to take a look and, inevitably, some will ask to hold the baby.  Maybe after just a few seconds, maybe having been passed on to a second or third cooing adult, the baby gets upset, agitated and distressed, and begins to cry loudly.  Finally, the baby is handed back and only then, in the arms of his mother, he calms down.  The baby looks up at his mother and is reassured; he feels safe….he is at peace.

I have often seen this scene played out, and they came to mind several times this Eastertide, which ended last weekend with Evening Prayer on Pentecost Sunday.

The first words that the Risen Jesus said when he appeared to the apostles on Easter Sunday were, “Peace be with you.”

In the original Greek of the New Testament, the word used is εἰρήνη (eiréné), and it has connotations of peace of mind.  In the Hebrew, shalom, there are ideas of health, welfare and wholeness. 

Thomas Aquinas said that peace is the equanimity that comes from being serenely in the presence of God.  If you love God and are in possession of God, then there is a reassurance and a joy that comes from that.  And, as a consequence, whatever life throws at you – good or bad, sickness or health, wealth or poverty, solitude or companionship – you are at peace, and all because you are aware of being in the presence of God, who is the supreme good.

In some English translations of the Bible, the Holy Spirit, the great gift of Pentecost, is called the comforter.

Let us open our hearts to this comfort in all that we do, so that God’s peace may shine out for all to see, so they too may seek the source of our peace.