What a marvelous greeting. If being loved is what humans crave most, peace has to be a close second. Sure, you can’t leave out that everyone needs the basic necessities – food, shelter, good health – but those things alone won’t bestow peace. We seem to be so good at finding things to worry about. Maybe its just part of our survival instincts – always being on the lookout for threats and dangers. I get it. But a life that only affords moments of fight or flight is just a cruel torment, and certainly not something God intended for his creation.
“Peace be with you” is the greeting Jesus extended to his friends repeatedly following the events surrounding Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Given what they had just experienced, you can understand why. But I think God still extends that greeting to us everyday. He knows the troubles we face, and just like any good father, we wants us not to be troubled, but safe and secure.
Peace. Since you’re offering, God, we’ll take a heaping helping of it!