God’s peace be yours in Christ Jesus our Lord. As I write this, Hurricane Ian is making landfall in Fort Meyers, Florida. As it moves slowly along its course with sustained winds of 150 miles per hour, it’s battering the west coastal region, wreaking havoc, downing power lines, uprooting trees and creating a very dangerous situation for anyone who dares step outside, or who has not heeded or been able to heed the warnings and the order to evacuate the area. As the eye of the hurricane makes landfall, our prayers are for all who might be in harm’s way, for all who find themselves in dangerous and frightening situations. We pray that God would protect them and bring them through safely, and that he would use all circumstances to bring more and more people into his kingdom through faith in our Savior, Jesus Christ.
As I contemplated this Epistle article, I couldn’t help but see the devastation and damage that Ian was bringing to Florida as an image of the devastation and damage that sin brought to God’s perfect world, and especially to the human race. Worship and adoration of God became mistrust and a grasping to be in the place of God. Innocence became knowledge and even love of sin. The joy and bond of family became jealousy and murder when Cain killed his brother in the field. Perfectly made bodies, now sinful, are destined to die. And, thousands of years later, we continue to experience the same devastation and damage and death. Sin has wreaked havoc like a hurricane, destroying and uprooting our relationship with our fellow man, and our relationship with God our Creator.
And into that storm of sin steps Jesus. God’s plan of salvation was for his only Son to endure its devastation in our place. The coming of Jesus doesn’t immediately calm the swirling bands and do away with sin. Rather, the coming of Christ creates its own storm. King Herod seeks to kill Him, even as a baby, and all the boys two years and younger are slain in Bethlehem. The ruler of this world also does his best to derail Jesus from his mission, tempting him to step outside of God’s will and take a safer path. During His ministry Jesus says, “I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” The crowds want to make Him into a king who will give them bread and heal their bodily diseases. His own mother and brothers think he’s off course and come to take him home. And the leadership of the Jews wants him dead.
The “I” of this storm, the God/man in the center, is the “I Am” of John’s Gospel. Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6); “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life (John 8:12); “I am the true vine” (John 15:1); “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst (John 6:35); “I am the door of the sheep… If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.” (John 10:7, 9) and “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me… and I lay down my life for the sheep” (John 10:14, 15); “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die” (John 11:25, 26).
The eye of hurricane Ian is a small area of relative calm. But Christ has come to bring us perfect peace. He laid down his life to redeem us. In Him, we who were dead in our trespasses and sins find forgiveness and life. He is the Good Shepherd who cares for His sheep. The peace that Jesus brings by his death and resurrection is a peace that passes all human understanding. It’s a peace that is ours even as we endure the various storms of this life.
Jesus knows the difficulties that each of us might be going through. He was tempted in every way as we are, Hebrews 4:15 tells us, yet was without sin, so that the writer can say confidently that Jesus sympathizes with our weaknesses. He may not remove the difficulty. He may not end the suffering. But He has promised to be with us in the midst of the storm, and to bring us through it. Knowing that God did not spare His own Son, but gave him up for us all (Romans 8:32), we can have supernatural peace, knowing that the God who loved us enough to send Jesus, also holds our present and our future in His mighty hands.
Though Satan should buffet,
though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ hath regarded
my helpless estate
And hath shed his own blood
for my soul.
It is well with my soul,
It is well, it is well with my soul.
And, Lord, haste the day
when our faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll,
The trumpet shall sound
and the Lord shall descend;
Even so it is well with my soul.
It is well with my soul,
It is well, it is well with my soul.
When Peace Like a River
LSB #763 vv. 2, 4
God’s peace be yours,
Pastor