Peace for the Troubled

On the night he was betrayed, Jesus comforts his disciples, encouraging them, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me” (John 14:1). In a world marked by worry, fear, and anxiety, surely, we need to hear Jesus’s words for those troubled in heart.

Remarkably, these words of comfort come on the heals of our hearing about how Jesus himself is troubled in his heart. In each of the preceding three chapters, John records that Jesus is troubled. At the tomb of Lazarus in John 11, Jesus was “deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled” (11:33). As he considered his coming crucifixion in John 12, Jesus described himself: “Now is my soul troubled” (12:27). Then, as he predicted being betrayed by Judas, “Jesus was troubled in his Spirit” (13:21). As Jesus comes to comfort those who are troubled in heart—both his first followers and us—he comes as one who knows what it is to be troubled.

Over the course of this chapter, he unpacks why the disciples can have peace in the midst of their trouble. Jesus has a plan (14:1-15). He’s going to prepare a place for us—an everlasting home where we can enjoy the life and love of the Father. Also, Jesus sends the Helper, the Holy Spirit so that we are not alone in our troubles (14:16-27).

The greatest comfort Jesus offers is that on the cross he enters into our ultimate trouble, death itself, to bring us peace (14:28-31). By faith in Jesus, we have peace with God, and that peace of Christ overflows from our lives so that we can live at peace with others. By faith, we look forward to that day when Christ returns, making all things new and brining his perfect peace to every corner of creation.

When we’re tempted to despair and feel overwhelmed by our troubled hearts, may we by God’s grace come back to the peace that Christ offers: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid” (14:27).