Reflection: He Shall Be Their Peace (December 23, 2012)

The Fourth Sunday in Advent
Micah 5:2-5; Hebrews 10:5-10; Luke 1:39-56


It seems like the season leading up to Christmas has less and less peace about it. Meant to be observed in solemn preparation as Advent, our culture has made the weeks preceding Christmas into a frenzied time of shopping, parties, events, and more shopping, parties, and events. Such busyness leaves little room for peace. This year, with the senseless slaying of twenty children and seven adults in Newtown, CT gripping our attention, there seems to be less peace than ever.

Peace is always elusive, especially when we don’t know where to look for it. The tragedy of the shootings in Newtown highlights the even greater tragedy of spiritual blindness and death that enfolds our culture. As people seek to find some comfort and solace in the wake of this tragic event, they turn to all sorts of things that cannot bring them the peace they need. Some are looking for peace in political solutions to the violence that infects our culture. Others seek peace by appealing to science to provide a medical solution that curbs the violent tendencies of those who suffer from mental illnesses. But most of us seem to be basing our peace on false comforts and hopes.

Whenever there is a tragedy that involves the deaths of many victims (especially children), people quickly embrace ideas that help them feel good even though they contradict God’s Word. Finding comfort in thinking that all the children killed in Newtown are with Jesus is a false comfort. Basing our hope in the belief that all victims of violent crimes go to heaven is a false hope. The unpleasant and ugly reality is that those who die apart from faith in Jesus perish for eternity, even if they die violent deaths as victims of someone else’s sins.

Our nation needs the genuine hope and comfort that is found only in Jesus now as much as ever. Those who will look to Him from the busyness and brokenness of our sin-filled world will find that elusive peace that we so desperately need. He comes to us in the midst of our sin, sadness, fears, and despair to “shepherd His flock in the strength of the Lord.” He extends His rule and power over all who cry out to Him “to the ends of the earth” assuring us that no matter what happens in the lives of His people that “He shall be their peace.” And so He is.

Audio file of the sermon "He Shall Be Their Peace."