John 14:27
A Peace Not of this World
27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
John 19:17-27
Jesus Suffers on the Cross
17 Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). 18 Here they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle.
19 Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: jesus of nazareth, the king of the jews. 20 Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. 21 The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.”
22 Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”
23 When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.
24 “Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let’s decide by lot who will get it.”
This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled which said,
“They divided my garments among them
and cast lots for my clothing.”
So this is what the soldiers did.
25 Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Dear woman, here is your son,” 27 and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.
Job 19:25
My Redeemer Lives
25 I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.
2 Corinthians 12:7-10
Paul's Thorn
7 To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Timothy 4:7
Keeping the Faith
7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
We can find peace in different things and strange things...Maybe even in suffering...Jesus suffered on the cross for us...And if there is such a thing as Righteous Suffering, Jesus did it...And He did it for us, so that we may find peace with Him (in this world), and have eternal life in His world...Jesus comes from Another World...So when He says He gives us a type of peace that is not of this world, His peace is a little different from what one might normally expect...Being from Another World makes His words a little different from ours...
In viewing the hours Jesus spent suffering on the cross, we learn some things...While suffering or having some type of suffering does not necessarily mean one is defeated or being defeated...St. Paul writes about suffering with a thorn...I can understand and relate to this thorn in his flesh...This author suffers from anxiety...Doctors call it generalized anxiety disorder or GAD...I have had this for over thirty eight years, which means I have had anxiety longer than I haven't had it...Maybe there are some victories and peace in suffering...Jesus was meant to suffer and He suffered for us...Paul suffered and He has wrote some of the greatest books, ever written -as well as some of the greatest Scripture ever spoken or written...Jesus and St. Paul teach us that suffering and some pain in life, does not necessarily mean loss and disappointment...St. Paul had such a strong faith, that he was able to believe and say that when I am weak, then I am strong...St. Paul over time learned that he found some victory or small victory in his suffering...It never defeated him...Some of our past things that look like defeats can give us and bring us hope...And in reading about Job and his sufferings and St. Paul and his trials in jail and prison, and then to know he had a thorn in the flesh he persevered through this with the peace that Jesus and God had brought him...
St. Paul is a great example of a pillar of hope for us in our lives...St. Paul, like Job knew his Redeemer lives...With a thorn in his flesh and often in jail, you would never know by reading what St. Paul wrote in his letters, that he was even suffering or in jail...In fact, the first time I read the epistles of St. Paul I did not give it much, if any thought about Paul writing his letters in prison and how he faced his physical problem...And in the end he writes to Timothy, that he fought the good fight, he finished the race, and he had kept the faith...What an example of hope he, Job, and our Messiah bring us and give us...It is a peace of Another World, and not of this one...