Are you like this all the time? Say one thing? Doing something else? How are we supposed to understand you, let alone believe you, when you move like that? We need a steady vibe to be able to trust you. Otherwise, following you is just as chaotic and wild as any other option out there. We’re hunting for peace, not more problems.     

A Stubborn Mindset

Go ahead. Shake your head if you want. Sometimes, well, more than just sometimes, Jesus’ actions didn’t make sense. He told his own brothers he wasn’t going to the festival even though the Levitical law said every man had to show up. But honestly, what else could you expect from somebody who never played by the “perfect obedience” rulebook? Saying the world hated him, he hit them with that “my time has not yet come” line. They’d heard that excuse before, echoes of a moment they didn’t understand. (John 2:4)

Changeable

But then he slid out anyway, quiet as a shadow. Going solo, Jesus stayed off the radar moving through crowds like smoke. Good call because Jewish leaders were hunting him. Just stay low and safe. Do your religious duty, check that box, and get out of there. But he didn’t do that either. Jesus never was the “safe route” type.

Inviting Risk

And being incognito, low-key, wasn’t his style either. By day three, he was front and center, teaching in the Temple, voice ringing off stone walls like he built the place. Jesus also couldn’t just stick to the script about God’s blessing and provision. No sugarcoating. Before long, he said people were trying to kill him. Actually, he almost got grabbed then.

A Daring Comparison

But that last day? Jesus cracked the sky and blew things wide open. He loudly and boldly stopped the whole ceremony cold, telling people to come to him. “If you are thirsty,” he called out, “come to me. If you believe in me, come and drink. For the Scriptures declare that rivers of living water will flow out from within.”

Now he did it. Everybody there knew what he was doing. The whole festival had been about water: offering thanksgiving for rain, prayers for future rains, and a remembrance of how God provided the ancient Israelites water from a rock while they were in the wilderness. (Exodus 17:1-6)

Jesus took it even further; he declared he was the source of a “living water.” Those gathered there knew he based his claim from the prophets who said the promised one would make an appeal as he did now. He’s saying, I’m the real source now.

Thirsty? Need a soothing, hydrating healing from the chaos, the hurt, the tension and divisive wounds this world keeps reopening? Come and drink from this overflowing healing stream. It won’t run dry, switch up. It’s mercy and love on tap forever.

Jesus offered a stream which would flow from the very Temple in which they stood, and a promise of an everlasting covenant of mercy and unfailing love. He echoed the very words of ancient prophets such as Isaiah, claiming words of promise as his own. It wasn’t a story.

It was a pulse inside him.

A Hard-Fought Peace

Let’s just say that day proved to be another nail in the coffin he was walking toward, rather in his own flesh. Jesus taught the people and tangled with authorities as he brought a message of hope and healed the sick so their spiritual understanding could be enlightened. But popularity with the populace didn’t save him. However, in the end his execution would make for the wildest comeback story history ever saw.

Google “peace” and you’ll find it. For the most part, your search will reveal how people want it, need it, chase it in so many ways. Peace is that deep soul‑level anchor that tells you your life isn’t random. It’s central to a life of significance and meaning, an assurance the path we live out will find purpose fulfilled as meant to be. It’s craving that quiet center where life finally makes sense. Peace in the soul is difficult to define yet otherwise essential to one’s being. Jesus lived and died to bring this peace.

And then, alive and whole, Jesus stood among his petrified followers/friends who had been in hiding from those same Jewish authorities who’d threatened him. And the first thing out his mouth? “Peace be with you.” He spoke peace right into their worst fears. Peace in knowing their souls were right with him as with God. Peace because whatever the world might do, they would know a divine contentment. “Peace be with you.” He said it again.

Quieting anxiety wasn’t Jesus’ aim though with these words. He was making space in their hearts and souls for what was next, a new purpose as he commissioned them to continue his ministry and message. Even as he would be apart from them in human form, they wouldn’t be alone. They needed God in a deeper way than could be known by an earthly expression of flesh and blood.

One prophet to whom he had alluded described it like that water necessary for which the soul thirsts: “For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.” (Isaiah 44:3)

Then Jesus breathed on them:

“Receive the Holy Spirit.”

Spirit, known as powerful and substantial as the wind. Spirit, breathed into them with the same life-giving breath produced at creation. Spirit, flowing like living water from a source more permanent than mountainside rock in the wilderness. Spirit, water that becomes a stream poured into all who accept Jesus’ time on earth, reversals of life, and eternal presence by the Holy Spirit. Spirit, not to be contained but a persistent river that finds a path to quench the thirst of those who need God’s love.

Peace be with you.

John 7:1-39   

John 20:19-23 

Named 2024 Notable Book Award by Southern Christian Writers Conference!

The Trouble with Jesus: Considerations Before You Walk Away by Constance Hastings

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