My Bible reading this week has me in the Gospel of Luke. Today, specifically, I’ve walked alongside Jesus as He healed the centurion’s servant and marveled at the centurion’s faith. I watched in awe as Jesus raised a beloved son in Nain, restoring a young man to his widowed mother. Then I scratched my head in confusion as John the Baptist’s messengers asked Jesus if He was the Coming One or if they should be looking for another…to which Jesus replied, “Go and tell John the things you have seen and heard: that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me” (Luke 7:22-23). From there, I followed Jesus into the home of a Pharisee named Simon….slipping in quietly alongside “a woman in the city who was a sinner”….a woman with “an alabaster flask of oil” (Luke 7:37).
Can you picture the scene? There’s Jesus, sitting at the table, ready to enjoy a meal, when a woman slips quietly and surreptitiously through the door. I can see her hesitantly approaching Jesus from behind, glancing furtively to the right and left, hoping to escape detection, But then she starts weeping. For her sake, I would like to imagine that her tears were elegant and ladylike as they delicately slid down her face. I would like to imagine that her weeping was quiet and subdued. I would like to imagine all of that….but, based on my own experiences in the presence of Jesus, I’m sure these were messy tears. Sloppy tears. Tears flooding her eyes, mixing with snot and drool, dripping from her chin, dropping into messy little puddles on the floor at Jesus’ feet. Actually even dropping on Jesus’ feet. And this was noisy weeping. Soul-rending, gut-wrenching sobbing (at least that’s what I hear). And then….well then she pulls out a flask, “an alabaster flask of fragrant oil”….and then she, too, drops to the floor at Jesus’ feet. And then…well, as if she has not already drawn enough attention to herself, she uses her own hair to wipe the tears and the drool and the snot off of Jesus’ feet, before kissing those same feet and then pouring that very costly and very fragrant oil all over them. What a beautiful, messy scene!
At this point in the narrative, the Pharisee decides to act like the typical Pharisee, saying to himself something along the lines of “You (Jesus) should know what kind of woman this is who is touching You. She’s a sinner, for God’s sake!” Jesus, perceiving the Pharisee’s thoughts, points out to the Pharisee that he who is forgiven much loves much (Luke 7:47). And then He turns to this sinful woman and declares, to her and to everyone else in the room, that her sins are forgiven (Luke 7:48). And then He tells her, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace” (Luke 7:50).
Go in peace….That’s what Jesus told her, this sinful woman who just exposed herself, first to a room full of people, many of them Pharisees, and then ultimately to all the world, by metaphorically removing her own heart and placing it at Jesus’ feet. Go in peace. And that’s where my mind lingered this morning. It’s so like Jesus to say something like that in this situation. Think about it…..I’m sure that poor woman was an emotional basket case. I’m sure she looked like a complete hot mess. And I’m equally sure that she was surrounded by a room full of judgmental people, people who were judging everything about her, from her clothes, to her (decidedly messy) hair, to her smell, to her past….everything…..and Jesus says, “Go in peace.” That beautifully simple statement allowed her to walk out of that room, out of that chaos, out of that emotional, judgmental turmoil…..right into a place of rest.
Here’s the thing though…..the peace required the going. Let me show you. Jesus said, “Go in peace.” He didn’t say, “Stay here at My side in peace.” He didn’t say, “Follow Me in peace.” He didn’t even say, “Rest in peace.” Nope. He said “Go in peace.” Go out of this room….go out of this house….go out of your comfort zone….go into that scary, chaotic, judgmental world….just go in peace. Trust me- I am 100 percent right about this! The proof is in the armor! One piece of our armor that Paul describes in Ephesians is peace. Can you guess where it is? On our feet!! The Bible says that our feet are shod with shoes of peace (Ephesians 6:15)! So we can GO in peace! And the beautiful thing here, maybe even the most beautiful thing of all, is that, not only does He tell us to go, but He also gives us the peace to go. Jesus says in the Gospel of John, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you” (John 14:27). And it’s not just any old cheap and shoddy peace. This is the real deal…this is the “peace of God, which surpasses all understanding” (Philippians 4:7). That’s the kind of peace I want! The kind that “will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7). The kind that keeps me from being troubled and from being afraid (John 14:27). The kind that allows me to “walk through the valley of the shadow of death” and yet “fear no evil; for You are with me” (Psalm 23:4).
Face it, my friends…..we are always going somewhere in this life…and many of those journeys are frightening…many are chaotic….many are just plain hard. Many of those journeys are capable of sucking every drop of peace right out of our souls. Maybe your journey is taking you to the doctor or the hospital today…maybe to a difficult job….maybe to your mission field…and maybe it feels as though there is not a single drop of peace to be found. I’m here to tell you that it doesn’t have to be that way. The Lord certainly doesn’t intend for it to be that way. Because He gave us His peace. We don’t have to try to manufacture our own peace….because we have His. And His peace is perfect. Just as Isaiah says, “[The Lord] will keep [me] in perfect peace,” as long as my mind is stayed on Him….because I trust in Him (Isaiah 26:3). So slip on that integral piece of your armor today, your shoes of peace…..and GO! Go where He leads you….and don’t be afraid!