Have you any unclaimed legacies?

OUR LEGACY OF PEACE

Jn. 14:23-29.

Supposing you had been left a sizable sum of money in a rich person's will.  It would be exciting news, but probably it is not going to happen to most of us.  But let us not lose heart and think that we are forgotten.  Today's Gospel tells us that a rich legacy has been left to each one of us.  Material wealth is only one form of inheritance and is by no means the best. 

In today's Gospel Jesus made His last will and testament.  It was the eve of His death and He knew it.  So, He said to His disciples, "Peace I bequeath to you, my own peace I give you."  That is our legacy.  It had nothing to do with material possessions.  Jesus had very little of that.  It would appear that all He had was one seamless robe, and the soldiers gambled for that while He died.  But material wealth pales into insignificance when we pause to appreciate the value of what He did leave us - His peace.

Jesus was no pauper when it came to peace.  He had His share of difficulties and troubles.  He was born in a stable, a refugee in Egypt, and in His adult life He had no secure home.  He once said of Himself, “Foxes have holes and the birds of the air their nests but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”  He was tempted by Satan and hounded by the Pharisees and rejected by His own townsfolk who even attempted to murder Him.  Yet throughout all these difficulties and dangers there was a calmness and peace about Him which gave Him strength. 

Think of some of the problems of modern life which affect our peace of mind.  Many people would include financial worries.   Peace does not come easily to the person who is out of work, and who is desperately trying to pay bills and make ends meet at home. We would be foolish to minimise the importance of the economic aspect of life.  But we would be equally foolish to allow it to become life's dominant concern.  Our inner peace must never depend upon anything as unreliable as the size of our weekly wage packet.

One of the most important and difficult things in life is living with other people.  This can bring a lot of pleasure, but it can also bring a lot of pain.  In this regard we are not different from Jesus.  People were even more important in His life than they are in ours.  He cared more genuinely, loved more deeply, gave more freely than we ever could.  Yet He knew what it was to be misunderstood, rejected, persecuted, betrayed, denied, forsaken and finally crucified by people He loved.  Nevertheless, somehow, all of this did not destroy His sense of inner peace.

There were other things that could have shattered Jesus' serenity - pressure of time.  He had approximately three years in which to finish His work.  He had to live with a deadline; and yet He always seemed to have time to enjoy the fellowship of friends and the beauty of nature.  The point is that Jesus was subject to all of the pressures that we experience, still at the centre of His being, He maintained what He called "My peace."

Where did He get this strength and peace?  First and foremost was His unswerving trust in God.  He knew that His Father was in control and could be trusted to help Him through anything, even the agony of the cross.  He was in constant touch with His Father through prayer, and this gave Him reserves of peace from which He drew courage.  We can have His peace, if we put ourselves in the hands of our Heavenly Father.

Jesus was never over-anxious about money and material possessions.  His advice to His Apostles was, “Be not anxious about food and clothing, but seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these other things will be given to you.”  If we can learn to live like that, we will have taken the first step towards inner peace.

Jesus led a disciplined life; laziness and self-indulgence had no place in it.  He knew what ought to be done, and He did it.  This is something we must all learn, if we would ever be at peace with ourselves.  How true it is that when we do something good and useful with our lives, we come to the end of the day tired but at peace.

We can be sure that Jesus always went to bed with a clear conscience.  He was never kept awake by the uneasy knowledge that He had used, abused, or cheated, or taken advantage of someone.  This is an essential ingredient for inner peace.  We cannot go through life breaking God's laws and hurting people, and still be at peace with ourselves.

Scattered across our nation is a considerable amount of wealth that has never been claimed, simply because some heirs have never shown up to collect their inheritance.  We must not let that happen to us. 

Lord Jesus, in Your last will and testament is written your name and mine.  There is no need for us to go through life troubled and afraid. If we follow the way You have shown us, that legacy of peace You left us can be ours.  

MY WEBSITE IS HERE