Go in Peace: Hope for AdventSýnishorn

Today’s “Go in peace” is a bit of a curveball.

Here’s the setup: Paul and Silas, apostles, have been unjustly beaten and jailed and are making the most of their time in incarceration by praying and singing songs to God.

And then the earthquake hits. Which opens all the doors to the jail and knocks loose everyone’s chains. Time for a prison break, right? Not exactly. They all stay put!

This wound up being good news for the jailer, who was going to kill himself rather than face the presumably far more dire consequences of letting all of the prisoners escape.

But Paul stops him before he’s able to follow through and lets him know everyone’s still there. Apparently, the combination of the miraculous earthquake and everyone’s condition so moves the jailer that he gives his life to God right then and there.

The next morning, the authorities come visit the jail and slyly tell the jailer to let Paul and Silas go. Which is when the jailer bids them to go in peace.

Except they will not. The jailer has an innocent heart, just glad to have experienced his time with Paul and Silas and then send them on their way. His “go in peace” comes from a place of legitimate desire for them to go in peace.

But they know there are bigger things at stake here, and they refuse to go quietly. The whole city saw them get thrown in jail; they want the whole city to see them get taken out.

The phrase “go in peace” can have two meanings. It can either mean something like “Depart from this place to wherever you call home and take this peace with you” or it can mean something like “Go out into the world and be a bringer of peace wherever you go.”

Take peace or bring peace.

Advent is similarly moving in two directions at once. It’s both the darkest time of the year and the brightest. Dark because, in the northern hemisphere at least, the days are literally getting shorter and the nights longer. But it’s the brightest because everyone’s attention is focused on the day when the Savior will arrive.

We can take peace in the comfort that the Peace-bringer is almost here, and he will bring with him the most joyous noise you’ve ever heard.

Go in peace, but don’t go quietly. Rejoice! The Savior is almost here!