“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace…” Luke 19:38-42
Jesus, the appetite and ache within our hearts for peace is unrelenting. Though we already rest in you-plus-nothing for our forgiveness and righteousness, we still get sucker-punched by the illusion that more peace can be found in something or someone else.
Some days we’re like Esau. Our peace-pangs take over and, in the moment, we’ll gladly settle for a bowl of hot portage over the hope of a future banquet. The anesthetic of instant gratification blinds our eyes, deafens our ears and dulls our taste buds to the sumptuous fare of the Wedding Feast of the Lamb. Restlessness gives rise to foolishness and we binge on things that cannot possibly satisfy the deep hunger and thirst of our souls.
O, for that Day when our longing and demanding hearts will be finally and fully set free to delight only in you. “Maranatha!” Even so, Lord Jesus, come… hasten that Day.
Some days, Jesus, we get lost and stuck in the world of “if only.” If only there weren’t tensions in any of our relationships, we’d be a happy. If only we lived somewhere else, worked with different people, had a different body, had more sex, had more money, had fewer hassles, had a different spouse, had never been deeply wounded, were twenty years younger… the list is as long as our empty, vain hearts can reach.
But, Jesus right now in this Scripture, you’re saying to us, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace…” Indeed, Jesus, you alone, this day and every day, are the Prince of Peace and the satisfaction for which we long. In our most sane moments we are quick to affirm, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but you are the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Psalm 73:25-26).
Until the Day of consummate peace, continue to free us from the ever-lurking delusion that peace can be found anywhere else but in you. Keep us sane by the gospel. So very Amen, we pray, in your faithful and loving name.
