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He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. (Ephesians 2:17-18)

Jesus is our peace. \\xa0He has done it. \\xa0He has destroyed the barriers and dividing walls of hostility, putting them to death in his cross. \\xa0And not only the barriers that stand between us people who are often harboring hostile feelings toward one another\\u2014but also the barriers between us and God. \\xa0In his flesh he set aside the law with its commands and regulations, forged all of us into one single, new humanity, and reconciled us to God through the cross. \\xa0

Through this work of our Prince of Peace, we have been brought near both to God and to one another\\u2014no matter the diversity or hostility that might still separate us. \\xa0Progressives and conservatives, foreigners and citizens, Catholics and Protestants, estranged family members\\u2014no matter: all who are in Christ have been made one and the most significant word about our relationships is spoken by him\\u2014\\u201cPeace.\\u201d \\xa0There is peace. \\xa0This too is a grace God has worked into us that we must ever be working out. \\xa0

Interestingly though\\u2014Jesus does not force us into this peace that he has made. \\xa0He just comes and preaches it. \\xa0Offers it. \\xa0And like a Sunday sermon\\u2014no one is obligated to take it, agree, or do anything with it. \\xa0Jesus will not coerce us into working out what he has worked in by his grace. \\xa0Otherwise it wouldn\\u2019t be grace, just another form of slavery. \\xa0

Remember that Jesus did not create peace in Jerusalem by overthrowing the Roman occupiers and taking control of the city, enforcing his kingdom and its peace on the population. \\xa0Jesus created peace by taking all their violence and hostilities upon himself as they cursed, condemned, whipped, and crucified him. \\xa0In Luke\\u2019s telling, Jesus weeps over Jerusalem, saying \\u201cIf you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace\\u2014but now it is hidden from your eyes\\u201d (Lk 19:42). \\xa0

But note what Jesus did do: he came to Jerusalem and preached his kingdom of peace. \\xa0They rejected it and killed him. \\xa0But peace was made all the same\\u2014it happened through the cross, through the putting to death of these hostilities. \\xa0And on the other side\\u2014a possibility for a new, peace-laden resurrection life arose with this same Jesus who again came and preached his kingdom of peace, even to those who had betrayed and abandoned him. \\xa0Paul declares that nothing has changed. \\xa0Jesus came and continues to come to preach peace to all those both far away and near. \\xa0

The peace of Christ is on offer. \\xa0Will you accept it? \\xa0If we receive and believe that Jesus really has accomplished a peace between God and us and everyone else\\u2014then by the Spirit, the working out of this peace that has been worked in cannot but transform us and all our relationships. \\xa0

And, because the source of this peace is in Christ, it is an inexhaustible gift. \\xa0It can continually flow from his life into our lives through the power of the Spirit, and from there into the lives of others\\u2014enough of it always, to cover every new hostility and division. \\xa0As Isaiah puts it in some of our favourite Advent verses: \\u201cOf the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end\\u201d (Isaiah 9:7). \\xa0

Won\\u2019t you accept this good sermon of good news preached by our Lord? \\xa0May his peace transform you by the Spirit. \\xa0And through you, the world.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21)