“Peace be with you!” These words, spoken by Jesus not long before His life on earth would seemingly come to an end, are recorded in the Gospel of John (14:23-29). With Jesus’ death, the relatively peaceful lives of those who heard those words, His closest followers, were thrown into turmoil. Rightfully, they must have wondered what Jesus could have meant by “peace” when they experienced the opposite. Peace is usually associated with absence of fear, suffering or need, with general safety, tranquility and well-being. When we look at the lives of Jesus’ followers, those who became the foundation stones of what was to become the Church, we can say that they never experienced peace in this sense. For, from the moment they dedicated themselves to following and proclaiming the risen Christ, their lives became unpredictable and fraught with danger. Amazingly, though, from the Acts of the Apostles and the letters of the New Testament writers, we can see that the early Christians really did have a deep-rooted peace in their hearts, a peace that surpassed the sufferings that they endured. They experienced the presence of the Holy Spirit, and were enabled to do amazing things.
“Peace be with you!” Jesus followed these words by saying, “Do not be afraid!” As time went on, the followers of Jesus found themselves in often unbelievably frightening situations. They didn’t know what was going to happen to them. They were constantly challenged to remember Jesus’ words, and to take them to heart. In doing so the true peace of heart promised by Jesus became theirs.
When Jesus spoke about peace and exhorted His friends not to succumb to fear, He did so, it seems, not just so that they as individuals might receive encouragement, but rather so that they in turn might share this same message with others. Because so many of them said, “yes”, to this call, people down the centuries have been blessed by the assuring words of Jesus. They have been able to face the difficulties of life in peace, without being overcome by fear.
The Founding Generation of the Arnoldus Family, our foremothers and forefathers, were ordinary people, just like us. When they began in Steyl, the task of creating vital communities of men and women missionaries was a daunting one. Fortunately for us there were enough “brave-hearts” among them who were prepared to go out on many limbs, to take risks in faith. They weren’t afraid. From their writings, and from what others said and wrote about them, they experienced deep-down peace as they carried on the missionary tradition that goes right back to the days of the Apostles and the Christians of the early Church.
A good way of honouring those who have gone before us in faith, is to allow the Holy Spirit to be our guide. 2013 is different from 1875, and certainly different from the time of the Apostles. It would be futile to slavishly imitate the actions of those who lived in bygone eras in different cultural settings to us. We can, however, be inspired as they were and committed as they were. We can accept the peace offered by Jesus, as we try to work-out what this acceptance means. The wonderful thing is that we have Jesus’ personal assurance that we do not need to be afraid.