The High Price of Peace (Luke 10:1-24)

Journey with Jesus to the Cross: Tuesday, March 22 
Read Luke 10:1-24 

"When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem" (Luke 9:51). With these words, we learn that Jesus has turned a critical corner in his ministry.  He knows his time is short. His final showdown with the powers of evil – the power behind Rome and the religious leaders – is near. It is time to go toward Jerusalem; he must face his destiny.

A sense of urgency now characterizes his work. This is likely why he sends out a large group of disciples ahead of him as advance troops to prepare for his later preaching. Their assignment is three-fold: Deliver a message of peace, announce the coming of the kingdom of God, and, as evidence of this, heal the sick. This they did, with great success. 

You wouldn’t think the message of peace would be controversial, would you? But it was, for the truth of the matter is that most of the people wanted God to cast off their Roman oppressors by any means possible. They did not want peace. They wanted judgment.

It’s a sad commentary on human nature. We want peace for ourselves, but not for others. It’s why they ran Jesus out of town when he began his ministry (Luke 4:20-29). It’s why lepers and tax collectors and sinful women were ostracized (Luke 5, 7). It’s why they had such a hard time with Jesus’ beatitudes, woes, and words about love and judgment (Luke 6).

Clearly, Jesus is establishing a brand new world order. He is setting right what’s gone wrong at the heart of the human race. We ignore his message of peace to our own peril (Luke 10:12-15). But if we acknowledge it, the very power of Satan itself (yes, itself; why personalize a depersonalizing power?) comes crashing down (Luke 10:17-19).

Jesus alone knows what the cost of peace will be. No wonder he wept as he entered Jerusalem: “When he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace!” (19:41f).

What was it that would make for peace? We would soon find out. For within a few days, Jesus stood powerless before the religious and political powers of oppression — and before the power behind those powers. He would let them do their worst. It will appear to one and all that, once again, evil would triumph. On Good Friday, death would reign. But fear not! Sunday’s coming!

The self-sacrificing power of Jesus’ love smashed the self-serving power of evil. It is a paradox, utterly contrary to to the apparent way of things in the world. But that is just the point. Jesus was creating a whole new world order: a world of welcome rather than exclusion; of healing rather than suffering; of love instead of hate; and of peace over against division. He was turning right-side-up the upside down ways of the world.

No, it does not make sense. Why should it? It is a wisdom hidden from the wise in the ways of this world. But it is gloriously revealed to those who, like little children, are willing to place their trust in Jesus (Luke 9:21).

“Lord, thank you for paying the ultimate price in order to bring peace on earth. Help me to follow your example by being a peacemaker in the way I relate to people today.”