The peace of Christmas Day (Luke 19:40-44) December 25, 2016

Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – 3 John

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Luke 19:40-44
Jesus: Listen—if they were silent, the very rocks would start to shout!
When Jerusalem came into view, He looked intently at the city and began to weep.
Jesus: How I wish you knew today what would bring peace! But you can’t see. Days will come when your enemies will build up a siege ramp, and you will be surrounded and contained on every side. Your enemies will smash you into rubble and not leave one stone standing on another, and they will cut your children down too, because you did not recognize the day when God’s Anointed One visited you.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Fitting words from Jesus for a podcast prepared for Christmas Day. “How I wish you knew today what would bring peace!” That’s why Jesus came, to bring love and joy and peace to each individual heart, but He also knew His name would cause division and hatred and war. Jesus looked forty years into the future and saw the Roman seige against Jerusalem. He saw the soldiers marching through the city streets killing and mutilating the men, women, and children they saw trying to escape them. He saw the temple being torn apart stone by stone and every house being burned to the ground. And part of that destruction was because He came to earth to bring peace. His presence caused an uproar in the streets the Romans felt they needed to quell in a way the whole empire would never forget.

“How I wish you knew today what would bring peace!” It wasn’t the presence of the Roman guard keeping order. That didn’t work in Jesus’ day. It only served to stir the people and cause the more violent to rise up against the empire.

“How I wish you knew today what would bring peace!” It wasn’t wealth. Herod had that. Many of the Pharisees were wealthy as they collected the offerings and the temple taxes from those who came to the temple to worship. But the Pharisees certainly didn’t seem to be at peace with themselves or the people around them. The crowds were continually burdened by their rules and rose up against their 612 traditions. Factions grew up railing against their rules. And when the rich young man encountered Jesus, he went away sad, unable to find the peace that Jesus offered.

“How I wish you knew today what would bring peace!” It wasn’t health. Jesus touched a lot of people. He healed the blind and the lame and the deaf, but I expect many of those succumbed to the pressures of every day life like the seeds sown on the path or among the thorns and never found peace, only the physical healing they sought.

“How I wish you knew today what would bring peace!” It wasn’t membership in the right church or temple or synagogue. The Pharisees, Sadducees, Zealots, Essenes, and others thought they had that wrapped up. There were dozens of preachers and teachers like John who baptized disciples into their form of worship and following after God. But none could give the kind of long-lasting peace that Jesus promised. That wasn’t the answer.

“How I wish you knew today what would bring peace!” It wasn’t even doing good things for others. The disciples went out and did that when Jesus sent them out into the towns and villages. They drove out demons and healed the sick and proclaimed the message Jesus told them to proclaim. They had good results, too. But the good deeds they performed didn’t bring them peace. They still felt the confusion, fear, and despair the day Jesus died on the cross.

“How I wish you knew today what would bring peace!” There is only one thing that brings peace to each individual heart of humankind. We must each understand we are sinners, far from the holy state in which God wants us to live and our sins hurt both our fellowman and God. Then we must be truly sorry for our sins. Not just sorry we got caught, but sorry for the commission of those sins. Sorry we brought pain and suffering to God and others. Sorry we failed to obey God’s commands to live the way He instructed. Sorry we failed to please God.

Then we must humble ourselves and ask forgiveness in true repentance. True repentance means asking with the full intent of living differently. Working diligently with God’s help to avoid the sins we committed in the past and stay obedient to His commands and His spirit’s promptings, we intend to follow His footsteps wherever they might lead.

Finally, we let Him be the Lord of our life. It’s easy to say those words and we think we understand that word, Lord. But we borrow it from medieval days to describe the relationship God wants with us. The Lord is owner of everything, we are just managers. The Lord directs and guides our actions, we obediently carry them out. The Lord teaches and corrects us, we listen and learn from that instruction and correction. The Lord sometimes gives us projects to complete expecting us to use the assets He entrusted to us, we invest all our energy to do the best we can to carry out those projects to completion. The Lord expects complete and total loyalty from all His subjects, we give it because He has the power of life and death in His hands.

On this Christmas Day, Jesus still cries out, “How I wish you knew today what would bring peace!” Do you have His peace? You can. He gives it to all who ask.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
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