John 14:27Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

"Peace I leave with you." He speaks as though saying: What harm will the tumults of the world do you, when you have peace with Me?

This peace is not like ordinary peace. External peace is often harmful, fruitless, and useless for those who have it. But I give such peace that you will live in peace among yourselves, and this will make you especially strong.

Since He again said, "I leave," which pointed to His departure and could trouble them, He again says, "Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." Do you see that they were troubled partly by love and partly by fear?

"Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you." May it preserve you. This very peace surpasses every human understanding. If you ask how, then listen.

The apostles again felt sorrow when they heard the Lord’s words: I am departing, and the Spirit will come. Therefore, seeing their heart troubled, especially because of the sorrows and afflictions awaiting them, He says, "Peace I leave with you."

It is as though He said to them: What harm can the world’s tumults do you, so long as you are at peace with Me? My peace is not like the peace that belongs to the world.

That peace is often harmful and useless. But I give such peace that you will be at peace with one another and will form one body. This will make you stronger than all.

Though many rise against you, yet with one mind and mutual peace you will suffer no harm.

Having reminded the holy apostles of His ascent into heaven, and having given them to understand, by the words “These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you,” that in this sense they would be left alone, He, being God by nature, immediately understands clearly that these words have cast them into very great terror.

They have frightened them deeply and, burdening them with heavy sorrow, have troubled the spirit of each one. Indeed, what can be more unbearable than sorrow? What is so grievous as the removal of what is pleasant and the unexpected deprivation of things especially beloved?

"My peace I give to you." This is peace pleasing to Me, joined with the soul’s profit, not the peace pleasing to the world and joined with harm to the soul.

"Not as the world gives do I give to you," because the world, or men concerned only with worldly things, give peace for evil, while I give you peace for good.

Or otherwise: the world gives money and possessions to its own, but I give you, as My own, peace.

Since by the words, "Peace I leave with you," which pointed to separation, Jesus Christ brought the disciples into still greater confusion, He then says, "Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."

Do you see that the disciples suffered not so much from love for the Savior as from fear that His enemies would tear them apart?

My much-beloved and like-minded brother, may the peace which the Lord bestowed upon His disciples be with you. Before all else He gave them peace, driving out from them all carnal thoughts and every diabolical understanding, so that their hearts might become pure and receive purely the teachings and commandments of their Master.

Here I leave; from there I give. I leave it to the former; I give it to those who are to come.

The Lord, having said to the apostles, "My peace I give to you," added, "not as the world gives" (Jn 14:27). That is, not simply as people living in that land say to one another when they greet each other, "Peace to you."

So also the Shunammite said, "Peace to you," and Elisha said to Gehazi, "You shall say, Peace to you," that is, to her herself, "Is it peace with your husband? Is it peace with the child?" (4 Kgs 4:23, 26).

Rather, He gives the peace that surpasses every mind, which God gives to those who love Him with all their soul, for the sake of the battles and afflictions that preceded it.

Therefore the Lord again said, "In Me you have peace," and added, "In the world you will have tribulation; but take courage, I have overcome the world" (Jn 16:33).

Do not seek rest and consolation in this temporal world, for you will never find it. Even if you use every effort, you will not enjoy quiet and sure consolation in this age.

Can this temporal and tumultuous life give peace and rest to the soul? The Lord alone, by His grace, can give rest to the soul and grant it peace, as He Himself said: "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you" (Jn 14:27).

Have peace and rest in Me, and in nothing else. Consider where you can find peace and rest. Where will you receive quiet and sure consolation?

In the glory of the world? In temporal wealth? In food and drink? In fleshly pleasures and lusts? In sleep or idleness? In beauty and carnal love? Or in anything else?

None of these things can give peace and rest. They all produce only continual torment and unrest of soul.

Where the passions are, blessed peace flees from there. It settles where dispassion is. People seized by passions never have peace, because they are continually shaken and tossed by the storm of their passions.

The one most dispassionate and all-holy God has most perfect peace. He is peace itself, because He is dispassion itself. He is 'the Prince of Peace' (Is 9:6), as Isaiah said, that is, the beginning, root, and source of peace.

Since 'of His peace there is no end' (Is 9:7), and He is unlimited and boundless, His peace is poured out and extends also to the human race. His Only-begotten Son, coming into the world, poured out peace. By offering Himself as a sacrifice on the Cross, He made peace for those afar and those near, that is, for the two opposing peoples, Gentile and Jewish. He reconciled and made the whole human race friends with God.

That Christ is our peace was shown very clearly by the wise Paul in the Epistle read today, where he set it forth as the theme of his discourse (Eph 2:14). Truly Christ is our peace, for He is the giver of true peace. He alone both gave and still pours into our hearts the great gift of true peace.

The world also promises peace, but worldly peace is one thing, and the peace of God is another. The God-man taught this plainly when He gave His peace to His disciples. He then said to them: 'Not as the world gives do I give to you' (Jn 14:27).

The peace of the world is not peace, but rebellion and disturbance. It is not peace, but harm and destruction. Listen with what precision the all-good God proved this.

Poverty, says the world, has constraints, needs, and sorrows. This troubles the heart and steals calm from man. But if you are rich, then you will do whatever you wish and whatever you desire. From this your heart will be peaceful and your soul at rest.

This instruction of the world is sweet. Therefore, when we hear it, we become convinced that in wealth we shall find the peace and rest we seek. But the all-generous God, to show how deceptive this worldly teaching is, presented to us in His Gospel the condition of a certain rich man.

'The land of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully,' He said (Lk 12:16). That man was rich, and when his land produced fruit, he became richer. What did his great wealth give him? Did it bring him stillness? No. It produced many thoughts in him. 'He thought within himself,' it says (Lk 12:17).

Did it bring rest? No. It brought great perplexity. 'What shall I do,' he said, 'for I have nowhere to gather my fruits?' He says, What shall I do, just as the poor man does. He is constrained, and says, I do not have, just as the needy man does.

He is perplexed by abundance, as the poor man is by lack. He is perplexed because wealth has increased, as the poor man is perplexed because poverty has increased. Yet he found a solution to his perplexity: 'I will do this. I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will gather all my grain and my goods' (Lk 12:18).

But the pulling down and building of barns, and the gathering and placing of grain and other goods in them, is not rest but care. It is not stillness of heart, but disturbance.

At last he finds rest and peace. Where? Not in things, but in his fantasy. He finds repose not in the present time, which is in his power, but in a future that is unknown and not at all in his power.

'I will say to my soul,' he says, 'Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your rest, eat, drink, and be merry' (Lk 12:19). But when will this repose and merriment be? When he has pulled down the barns and built larger ones. When he has gathered all his grain and goods there.

Did the time he expected ever come? 'Fool,' the Lord said to him, 'this night your soul will be required of you. Then whose will those things be which you have prepared?' (Lk 12:20). That wretched man never enjoyed the rest and peace expected from wealth. Having spent his whole life in cares, labors, disturbances, and confusions, he died suddenly.

So it is, the Lord declared, with one who seeks wealth for his own repose and is not rich toward God, that is, in virtue. 'So is he who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God' (Lk 12:21).

The divine Apostle Paul, listing the misfortunes into which those fall who obey the counsel of the world and wish to be rich in order to enjoy calm and rest, assures his readers that the teaching of the world is deceptive. 'Those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge men into ruin and destruction' (1 Tim 6:9).

Every day before our eyes we see the truth of the words of Jesus Christ and Paul. We see lovers of wealth growing rich and never being satisfied. Day and night they think how they might gather wealth and multiply their treasures.

We see them tearing down their barns and their houses, and building more spacious ones. We hear them saying, When I have done this, built that, and finished the other thing, then I shall be at ease and rest.

We hear them speak of calm and repose, yet never obtain it. From day to day they postpone the time, until death comes and seizes them amid the very cares, anxieties, and disturbances that come from love of wealth.

How many do we see falling into the temptation of disputes, quarrels with one another, and enmities for the sake of acquiring wealth. They are caught in the snares of cunning, lies, deceit, injustice, and perjury. They irrationally desire harmful things that plunge them into spiritual disorder and destruction.

These are the fruits of the world’s teachings. Such is the repose and peace that wealth gives to those who seek it there.

While you restrain yourself, says the world, and hinder the fulfillment of your desire, that desire grows stronger and burns more fiercely. Therefore it disturbs your stillness and destroys your rest. Enjoy the sweetness of your desire, so that you may have stillness, rest, and peace.

This teaching is most sweet to the flesh, and therefore many listen to it with joy. This bait is exceedingly sweet and alluring, and therefore many are attracted and caught by it.

But the greatly compassionate God has presented to us what happened to such a man, who broke the bonds of continence and threw the bridle from his desires. This is the prodigal son. His story is known to all.

Having received his share of the father’s estate, he went 'into a far country' (Lk 15:13), so that, as one unknown, he might fulfill every desire of his flesh with complete freedom. Much eating, much drinking, dancing, singers, musicians, harlots, and whatever else his fleshly desire required, all this was his every day. This is what the words mean: 'He squandered his estate, living prodigally.'

What rest did he find from this? What stillness, or what peace? When he lived in his father’s house with continence and chastity, he was a master. When he became incontinent and dissolute, he became a slave and a swineherd. His master 'sent him into his fields to feed swine.'

When he conquered his passions, he had enough of everything needed. But when he practiced the works of dissipation, 'he desired to fill his belly with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.' Therefore he groaned and said: 'How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, while I perish with hunger?' (Lk 15:15-17).

Hear his condition. Hear his stillness. Hear his peace. We all see many such examples every day. Such is the rest and peace that the world gives.

Brethren, whoever seeks peace from the world is like a man who wishes 'to gather figs from thorns and grapes from a bramble bush' (Lk 6:44). The whole world lies in evil (1 Jn 5:19). Evil is disturbance, storm, and rebellion. Therefore worldly things bring neither rest nor peace.

God alone, the author of peace, sends it down into the hearts of men according to His love for mankind. But how does such a sending down take place? Is it through angels, as He proclaimed peace to all the earth when His Only-begotten Son was born? (Lk 2:17). Or through a word, as Christ gave it to the sinful woman and likewise to the woman with the issue of blood, saying: 'Go in peace' (Lk 7:50; Lk 8:48)?

Did He give it to His holy disciples when, before His Passion, He said: 'Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you' (Jn 14:27), and also after the Resurrection, saying: 'Peace be to you' (Jn 20:19)? Or does He give it through His disciples, according to the promise He gave them when He said: 'Whatever house you enter, first say, Peace to this house' (Lk 10:5)? Or through the mouths of their successors, when they say, Peace be to all?

Truly, through these also God grants men the great gift of peace. Yet there is another way, more general and more effective, which He declared by the mouth of the holy king and prophet David. 'Great peace have those who love Your law,' he said, 'and there is no stumbling for them' (Ps 118:165).

It is known that whoever loves the law of God loves God. He loves God who keeps His commandments. 'He who has My commandments and keeps them,' said the Lord, 'it is he who loves Me' (Jn 14:21).

Thus the words of the holy Prophet mean this: great peace belongs not to those who sin, but to those who keep God’s laws. 'There is no stumbling for them,' that is, nothing in the world can disturb or shake the peaceful and quiet state of their soul.

Truly, as long as we withdraw from the uncleanness of sins and remain firm in the purity of virtue, the peace of God dwells in our hearts. But when sin defiles the soul, peace immediately flees from us and confusion enters. The calm of conscience departs, and sinful rebellion enters our heart.

To be assured of this, ascend in thought to heaven and look at those holy lights, second after the primordial light of the Godhead, I mean the angelic orders. There you will see a kingdom of peace.

All those immaterial spirits are undisturbed, peaceful, and at rest. Consecrated to the service of the supersubstantial, single, and tri-hypostatic Godhead, with one soul, one thought, one will, and one voice, they ever sing, cry, and say: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Sabaoth. The whole earth is full of His glory (Is 6:3).

There, truly, the peace of God reigns. But for how long? As long as sinlessness reigns. But alas. The sin of pride enters there, no one knows how. The Morning Star becomes proud and says in his mind: 'I will ascend above the clouds. I will be like the Most High' (Is 14:14).

This sin drove out peace and brought disturbance and rebellion. At once the angelic ranks were torn into two parts. One rank remained unshaken in virtue, and therefore firm in peace. The other was shaken and followed the proud thoughts of the Morning Star. Therefore it was disturbed and fell from heaven to earth.

'How have you fallen from heaven, O Morning Star, rising at dawn? You are crushed upon the earth, you who sent to all nations' (Is 14:12). He fell at once like lightning: 'I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven' (Lk 10:18).

Now bring your thought down from heaven into Paradise, and behold our Forefather. He has peace there, peace far from the disturbance of passions, perfect peace with his own conscience and with God. But he inclines to the counsel of the Foremother, deceived by the serpent, eats the forbidden fruit, and, transgressing the divine commandment, falls into the sin of disobedience.

As soon as he and the Foremother committed this sin, behold, the warfare of the passions at once rose against them. Shame embraced them. 'The eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings' (Gen 3:7).

Fear and the most grievous accusation of conscience took possession of them. 'They heard the voice of the Lord God walking in Paradise in the afternoon, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the face of the Lord God among the trees of Paradise' (Gen 3:8).

"My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you" (Jn 14:27). That is: My disciples, I give you My sacred and holy peace, not such as worldly peace, which often has evil as its aim.

By abiding in this sacred peace, we shall be counted worthy to receive in our heart the pledge of the Spirit. So also the apostles, remaining in Jerusalem according to the Lord’s command, received the perfection and grace of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost.

For peace is the gift that includes all the other divine gifts, and the Lord dwells in peace. As the prophet Elijah says, God was not in the great and strong wind, not in the earthquake, not in the fire, but in the breath of a gentle and peaceful wind. There was the Lord (cf. 3 Kgs 19:11-12).

To live in peace with all is so necessary that the Lord considered it needful to repeat more than once to His holy disciples and Apostles: "Peace be to you; peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you." And where the peace of Christ is, there Christ Himself is also. But if there is no peace in the soul, then Christ is not there either.

The gracious peace of Christ, by which the ascetic is led into pure prayer, is wholly distinct from the ordinary calm and pleasant disposition of men. When it has settled in the heart, it binds the rebellious movements of the passions. It takes away fear, not by removing what is fearful, but by a blessed and valiant state in Christ, in which what is fearful is no longer fearful.

The Lord said: 'Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.'

Such spiritual power is hidden in the peace of Christ that through it He tramples every earthly sorrow and assault. This power is drawn from Christ Himself: 'In Me you have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take courage, for I have overcome the world' (Jn 16:33).

When Christ is invoked by prayer of the heart, He sends down into the heart a spiritual power called the peace of Christ. It is incomprehensible to the mind and inexpressible in words. It is incomprehensibly comprehended by blessed experience alone.

'The peace of God,' says the Apostle to Christians, 'which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Jesus Christ' (Phil 4:7). Such is the power of the peace of Christ. It 'surpasses all understanding.' This means that it is above every created mind, above the human mind, the mind of the angels of light, and the mind of fallen angels.

As an action of God, it rules thoughts and the feelings of the heart with sovereign and divine authority. When it appears, all demonic thoughts and the sensations that depend on them flee away. Human thoughts, together with the heart, come under its all-holy governance and guidance.

From that time it becomes their king and guards them, that is, keeps them untouched by sin, in Christ Jesus. This means that it holds the thoughts continually within the Gospel teaching. It enlightens the mind with the mystical interpretation of that teaching. It nourishes the heart with the daily bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to all who partake of it (Jn 6:33).

When holy peace acts abundantly, it brings silence upon the mind and draws both soul and body to the blessed tasting of itself. Then every movement of the blood ceases, and every influence of the blood upon the state of the soul. There is a great stillness.

A certain delicate coolness breathes through the whole man, and a mystical teaching is heard. The Christian who is held and guarded by holy peace becomes unapproachable to his adversaries. He is joined to the enjoyment of Christ’s peace, and, becoming intoxicated with it, forgets not only sinful pleasures, but every earthly pleasure, bodily and psychic alike.

What a healing drink. What a divine medicine. What a blessed intoxication. Indeed, what other beginning of man’s renewal can there be than the gracious sensation of peace, by which the parts of man, divided by sin, are again united into one?

Without this preliminary gift, without this union with himself, can a man be capable of any spiritual and divine state formed by the all-good Holy Spirit? Can a shattered vessel contain anything before it is repaired?

The sensation of peace in Christ, like all gracious gifts in general, first begins to manifest itself during prayer. Prayer is the work in which the ascetic is most prepared, by reverence and attention, to receive divine impressions.

Afterward, having become as it were a property of the Christian, it constantly accompanies him. It constantly and everywhere moves him to prayer performed in the inner chamber of the soul. It points out from afar the noetic enemies and plotters, and repels and strikes them with its all-powerful right hand.

The greatness of the spiritual gift, the peace of Christ, has been described by the holy prophet Isaiah. He describes its manifestation in the chosen people of God, the new Israel, the Christians. He describes its power to heal souls, its power to preserve the health of souls, its origin from the God-man, and its bestowal by the God-man.

'Mighty God,' says the Prophet concerning the incarnate Lord, 'Ruler, Prince of Peace, Father of the age to come. For I will bring peace upon the princes,' upon advanced Christians, who conquer the passions and therefore deserve the name princes, 'peace and health to Him. Great shall be His dominion, and of His peace there shall be no end upon the throne of David and upon His kingdom, to establish it and uphold it in judgment and righteousness, from now and unto the age. The zeal of the Lord of Sabaoth will do this' (Is 9:6-7).

'In His days righteousness shall shine forth, and an abundance of peace' (Ps 71:7). 'The Lord will bless His people,' Christians, 'with peace' (Ps 28:11). 'The meek shall inherit the land and delight in an abundance of peace' (Ps 36:11).

As the Holy Spirit proclaims the Son (Jn 16:14), so the action of the Holy Spirit in man, the peace of Christ, proclaims that the thoughts of man have entered the all-holy realm of divine Righteousness and Truth. It proclaims that the Gospel has been received by his heart: 'Mercy and truth have met together. Righteousness and peace have kissed each other' (Ps 84:11).

The action of Christ’s peace in man is a sign that he abides in Christ’s commandments, outside delusion and self-deception. Conversely, disturbance, even the subtlest, whatever justifications may cover it, serves as a sure sign of deviation from the narrow path of Christ to the broad path that leads to destruction.

Do not condemn either the impious man or the manifest evildoer: 'Before his own Lord he stands or falls' (Rom 14:4). Do not hate your slanderer, your reviler, your robber, or your murderer. They crucify you on the right hand of the Lord, according to the incomprehensible ordering of God’s judgments, so that from heartfelt knowledge and conviction you may say to the Lord in prayer: 'I receive what is due for my deeds. Remember me, O Lord, in Your Kingdom.'

From the sorrows permitted to you, understand your unspeakable good fortune and your election by God. Pray with the warmest prayer for those benefactors through whom this good fortune is delivered to you. By their hands you are torn away from the world and put to death to it. By their hands you are raised up to God.

Feel mercy toward them in the likeness of the mercy that God feels toward wretched humanity drowning in sins. He gave His Son as a redeeming sacrifice for a creation hostile to its Creator, knowing that this creation, in large part, would mock even this Sacrifice and despise it.

Such mercy, extending to love for enemies and pouring itself out in tearful prayers for them, leads to experiential knowledge of the Truth. The Truth is the Word of God, the Gospel. The Truth is Christ.

Knowledge of the Truth brings divine righteousness into the soul, driving out from the soul fallen human righteousness defiled by sin. Divine righteousness bears witness to its entrance into the soul by the peace of Christ.

The peace of Christ makes man both a temple and a priest of the living God: 'His place is in peace,' God’s place, 'and His dwelling in Zion. There He broke the powers of bows, shield and sword and battle' (Ps 75:3-4).

The greatest teachers of monasticism bear witness to the blessed union of man with himself through the action of Christ’s peace. Saint John Climacus says: 'I cried with my whole heart,' that is, with body, soul, and spirit. 'Where these last two are gathered, there God is in their midst' (Ps 118:145; Mt 18:20).

Venerable Isaiah the Solitary says: 'If, like the wise virgins, you know that your vessel is filled with oil, and you can enter the bridal chamber and need not remain outside. If you have felt that your spirit, soul, and body have been united blamelessly and have risen undefiled on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. If your conscience does not accuse or condemn you. If you have become a child according to the word of the Savior, who said, Let the children come, and do not forbid them to come to Me, for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven (Mt 19:14). Then truly you have become the bride of Christ. The Holy Spirit has rested upon you, though you are still in the body.'

Saint Isaac the Syrian says: 'Do not compare those who perform signs, wonders, and powers in the midst of the world with those who practice stillness with understanding. Love the idleness of stillness more than feeding the hungry in the world and converting many pagans to the worship of God. It is better for you to loose yourself from the bonds of sin than to free slaves from servitude. It is better for you to be at peace with your soul, in the concord of the trinity within you, I mean body, soul, and spirit, than to bring peace by your teaching to those who differ in mind.'

Holy peace is that unmoving state of the mind born from the fulfillment of the Gospel commandments. Saint Isaac the Syrian mentions it in Homily 55. Saint Gregory the Theologian and Saint Basil the Great felt it, and, having felt it, withdrew into the desert.

There, occupying themselves with their inner man and finally forming him by the Gospel, they became beholders of the mystical visions of the Spirit. It is evident that the unmoving state of the mind, or freedom from wandering, the destruction of distraction, is acquired by the mind after its union with the soul. Without this, it cannot restrain itself from floating and wandering everywhere.

When the mind, by the action of divine grace, is united with the heart, it receives the power of prayer, of which Venerable Gregory of Sinai says: 'If Moses had not received from God the rod of power, he would not have struck Pharaoh and Egypt with it. So also the mind, if you do not have the power of prayer in your hand, will be unable to crush sin and the hostile powers.'

The teaching on the peace of Christ is portrayed with extraordinary clarity and simplicity in the spiritual instructions of Hieromonk Seraphim of Sarov. There the height and importance of this gift are shown, and everything is taken directly from holy experience of the heart.

'When the mind and heart are united in prayer, and the thoughts of the soul are not dispersed, then the heart is warmed by spiritual warmth. In it the light of Christ shines forth, filling the whole inner man with peace and joy.'

There is nothing better than peace in Christ, in which every warfare of aerial and earthly spirits is destroyed. It is a sign of a rational soul when a man plunges the mind within himself and has activity in his heart.

Then the grace of God overshadows him, and he is in a peaceful condition, and through this also in a condition beyond peace. He is peaceful, that is, with a good conscience. He is beyond peace, because the mind contemplates within itself the grace of the Holy Spirit, according to the word of God: 'His place is in peace' (Ps 75:3).

When one walks in a peaceful condition, he draws spiritual gifts as though with a spoon. When a man comes into a peaceful condition, then from himself he can send forth the light of understanding upon others.

Our Lord Jesus Christ left this peace, like a priceless treasure, to His disciples before His death, saying: 'Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you' (Jn 14:27). We must concentrate all our powers, desires, and actions on receiving the peace of God, and with the Church always cry: O Lord our God, give us peace (Is 26:12).

One must strive by every means to preserve peace of soul and not be troubled by insults from others. For this, one must make every effort to restrain anger and, through attention, keep the mind and heart from improper movements.

Insults from others must be borne with indifference. One must accustom oneself to such a disposition of spirit as though their insults were directed not at us, but at persons foreign to us. Such training can give stillness to the human heart and make it the dwelling of God Himself.

"Peace I leave with you." At the end of the supper, the head of the household would say, "Peace," and then the Passover supper would conclude with the singing of psalms. This same greeting was ordinarily spoken when meeting someone, entering a house, and leaving a house.

The Lord, having finished the supper and intending to leave the Paschal upper room, also has in view that He will soon depart from His disciples. He likewise gives them peace, but a higher peace than the world ordinarily gives: "My peace I give to you," and so forth.

Peace is understood here as the inner pacification of a disturbed, troubled, and restless spirit: "Let not your heart be troubled." The Lord desired, at His departure, to leave His disciples entirely calmed and at peace.

The loving heavenly Teacher offered His sorrowful disciples now the consolations of faith, now the consolations of love. But the disciples were still weak, and love is inexhaustible in consolations.

After declaring that everything necessary had already been said to the disciples (v. 26), the loving Lord again consoles them: “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you.”

The Jewish world, the world of malice and impiety, raises a storm of calamities against the incomparably innocent Son of Man. Christ Jesus, Himself filled with divine rest, leaves peace to His friends. And what peace? “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you,” He says.