But we look at the world and, though there is so much that is marvellous, majestic, intriguing, fascinating, wonderful…, we are inclined to disagree with God's view of things. Life itself can be burdensome. Time and again we seem to have to battle against the vagaries of nature. The human body is just marvellous - until we are confronted by the major health issues that face the human race.
Then there is human nature itself - the sin that afflicts even the best among us, the anger, greed, meanness…
The Genesis account speaks of a Paradise, but for us it is a Paradise Lost as Genesis goes on to describe in chapter 3. We are no longer living in the perfect world God created. We bear the curse on the disobedient pair who ate the forbidden fruit - "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return" (3.17-19). As well as harvest, our farms face floods and drought, pests and diseases - as well as plenty of hard work!
Somewhere in our race consciousness there is a yearning for the lost Paradise. We really believe the situation should be different from the way it is, that life should be easier, more comfortable, that happiness should come to us more readily.
But now we face the grim reality of war. None of us wanted war. I doubt any of the world leaders have wanted war, except the fanatical extremists. Some have wanted more diplomacy and weapons inspections. Others have believed that twelve years of negotiations have failed and that only the threat of war has led to limited co-operation.
But now war has begun. Though we live far from poverty, starvation and squalor, let there be no illusions - we don't live in Paradise!
As Jesus approached the city of Jerusalem, he wept over it and said, "If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring peace - but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in from every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognise the time of God's coming to you" ((Lk 19. 42-44).
"If you had only known what would bring peace…" The Jews had been yearning for independence. Under the rule of the Greek Antiochus Epiphanes, major persecution had begun. Antiochus has been described as "mad, bad and dangerous, [he] sold the high-priesthood to the highest bidder, one Menelaus, who was not at all entitled to it, and when, in 168 BC, his nominee was ejected, Antiochus sent his officer to sack Jerusalem and kill its inhabitants." Jews were under intense pressure to forsake their religion or die. Many succumbed to the pressure, but others were willing to die rather than renounce their faith. This led to a resistance movement under leadership of a family nicknamed the Maccabees ("hammerers"). For a brief period there was self-rule.
But now they were under the yoke of Rome. Roman taxes and the ever-present Roman legion were constant reminders that they weren't a free people. A new resistance movement began under Judas the Galilean, who led a revolt against Rome in 6AD. He founded the party of the Zealots who opposed the payment of tribute by Israel to a pagan emperor on the ground that this was treason to God, Israel's true King. While the revolt of 6AD was crushed, the movement persisted for a further sixty years. Zealots were active throughout the war of 66-73AD; the last Zealot stronghold, Masada, fell in the May of 74AD.
We recognise the legitimate aspiration of people to live under their own government. But would that be the desired peace? Shalom is more than self-fulfilment and freedom from outside interference and threat. It is a wholeness and well-being that is never complete without a right relationship with God. And shalom is possible even when outside circumstances are adverse.
So Jesus is telling them, You have forgotten! You can't be the people of God without responding to God. "If only you had known what would bring you peace…" Disaster would come as the Roman forces besieged and ransacked Jerusalem - "because you did not recognise the time of God's coming to you." That is to say, because you have not received and welcomed the promised Messiah.
Many factors make for war. Like the rest of the community, Christians are divided on whether we are called to adopt a pure pacifist position or whether war, with all its attendant evils, is sometimes justified.
Jesus is saying that, in the final count, there is only one way that could bring peace. Peace lies in our relationship with him.
Now, talking privately with his disciples in the upper room, Jesus says to them, "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" (Jn 14.27).
He doesn't mean a personal private peace that isn't offered to anybody else. In a real sense this is the peace the people of Jerusalem could have known. But, for those who were responding to him in faith and trust, Jesus' peace would sustain them, even when the disasters would befall the Jewish people and persecution would follow Jesus' followers.
The world cannot give the kind of peace that Jesus offers, because it can never bring people back to God - it cannot offer forgiveness of sins. The world may adjudicate between rival claims and set up protocols to keep enemies at bay. The world may physically restrain criminals and legislate to curb selfish ambition in the rest of the population. The world may have to place all kinds of restrictions on all of us which we can accept or resent. The world can stop war - usually with a lot of violent effort - but it cannot give peace.
Jesus says to us, "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."
We receive Jesus' peace when we receive him - when we welcome him as our Lord and Saviour. In him you have the promised peace, so don't be troubled and afraid!
That's personal and comforting. Many times and in a variety of situations I have heard people say, "I don't know how people cope who don't have the Lord."
That's wonderful. But we note that Jesus also said, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God" (Mt. 5.9).
I have sympathy for the "human shield" people - they want to prevent armed conflict - but I sense that they are simply "useful fools" to a brutal dictator. I have sympathy for those who have marched and waved their anti-war placards - though I am left with the question of what should be done about Iraq's hidden weapons cache.
We are called to receive Christ's promised peace - and to be peacemakers. That's the hard one! It can't be reduced to a simple formula. In practice the specifics of peacemaking may be different for each one of us. Hebrews 12.14 says that we are to "make every effort to live in peace with all people and to be holy" - which suggests, by the way, that we aren't to be "peace-at-any-price" people. Jesus said that we are to be "the salt of the earth" and "the light of the world" (Mt. 5.13-14) - all of which suggests that our presence in the life of the world is to be transformational. We aren't meant to withdraw and live in protective seclusion from the rest of the world. But none of that can happen unless we live in vital relationship with the Lord and are actively engaged with the society in which we live.
Look at the world! Remember that "God so loved the world…" Weep with Jesus that the world has so often not known what makes for peace. Know that, when Jesus, the Peacemaker, was crucified, he made peace possible for all who would believe in him. Receive the peace he offers you. Keep close to the Lord. Be a peacemaker within your own circle of influence. Pray specifically that the Christian gospel will reach out effectively to all the peoples of the world.
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