A Story of Two Farmers

Two neighbors, James and John, were plowing in adjacent fields. The ground was hard and stony, and a hot sun beat down on them. James was in a black mood. He lashed out at the horse with his whip. However, the beatings only had the effect of making the horse more stubborn and uncooperative. James was convinced that his neighbor’s wheat would grow taller than his. And every time James looked across at John, he got the impression that John was laughing at him.

John, on the other hand, was in a calm mood. He worked quietly and well, in spite of pains and aches. Every now and then he stopped to give his horse a rest. He looked across at this neighbor and saw that James was in a very agitated state.

Different Hearts

Both James and John had to deal with the same life circumstances. But they both dealt with those circumstances in an entirely different way. The difference came about because each of them looked at life from an entirely different point of view. They had different hearts.

James saw the world as a place to be conquered. He wanted to control everything in his environment and when he didn't get his way, reacted with anger and even with violence. He saw his neighbor, not as a friend, but as a threat. Jealousy was eating away at him.

John, on the other hand, knew that the world wasn't always the way he wanted it to be. The ground was difficult to work on because it was so hard and stony, yet it was the only land he had and so he did what he had to do. He hoped that his patience and steady work would eventually bring some new life to the land, and so he worked quietly and faithfully.

Reaction to Life

Most of us have heard the saying that our life is ten percent of what happens to us and ninety percent in how we react to what happens to us. Most of our life is out of our control. Sickness, accidents, death, and so many other things will come to us no matter what we do. But how we react to life is totally in our control.

In today's gospel we hear Jesus giving one of his greatest promises to us: peace. I'm convinced that every one of us would love to have total peace in our hearts. If someone, whom we trusted with our lives, offered us the way to achieve peace of heart, we'd be quick to take up the offer.

False and True Peace

In our Gospel, Jesus tells us that he is giving us the gift of peace. The peace that Jesus gives is not like the peace the world offers to us. Worldly peace is simply an absence of conflict. Sometimes people think they are at peace just because they don't have any enemies. Or at times, people think they are at peace because they have deliberately cut themselves off from the sufferings and problems of others, and are living in some kind of fantasy world. The peace that comes from burying our heads in the sand is no peace at all.

On the other hand, the peace that Jesus offers is not peace founded on illusion. It is founded on the reality of God's love and care for us.

Receiving Such a Gift

Is there something we can do in order to prepare ourselves to receive the gift of peace? The most important thing that we can do is to remove any obstacles or roadblocks, which we have placed between God and ourselves. When you give a gift to someone, you normally hold that gift in your hands and as you offer it to the other person, that other person reaches out with arms opened wide and receives your gift. If the other person kept his or her arms folded over their chest, you would not be able to give your present to them.

In a very real sense, God is always offering us this gift of peace. And we are either opening our hearts to receive it or are putting up obstacles to such a precious gift. Our selfishness, lack of forgiveness, envy, greed, lust, and so many other things can serve as effective blocks to receiving the peace that only Jesus can give. But our trust, forgiveness, sharing, compassion opens our hearts to being hearts filled with peace.

All Shall Be Well

This peace will not take away our troubles or our suffering. It will not put us into a constant state of tranquility or deaden our emotions. We will still be a people who are saddened when a love one dies, or who get angry when an innocent person is hurt or violated in some way. But beneath all of that, we will live with the assurance that God still loves us and the whole world along with us, and that in the end, all shall be well.