The Promise of Peace
“Peace on earth to those on whom his favour rests” (Luke 2:14).
The angels aren’t offering a warm sentiment. They are announcing a decisive act of God. At the centre of Christmas is peace with God — reconciliation made possible through the child who will grow up to deal with sin, absorb judgement, and open the way home for all who trust him. That is the foundation stone and must be affirmed clearly.
But is that all the angels mean?
René Girard helps us see the wider landscape. He argues that fallen human beings slide into animosity, rivalry, and scapegoating. We assume we are right and the other is wrong. Peace, on our terms, usually means more of our values, less of their lunacy. It’s a self-righteous posture that appears in every culture. Herod is the obvious version — grasping, fearful, clinging to power with violence.
But Girard says there is a subtler form too. A kind that even looks altruistic: if only we could suppress this evil now, things would unfold as they should for everyone’s good. It’s the logic of empire, the logic of control. Rome called this the Pax Romana — order secured through dominion. As Tacitus observed, “They make a desert and call it peace.”
In contrast, Jesus’ peace is larger, deeper, and utterly different in texture.
It begins not with coercion but with humility. Not with force, but with self-sacrifice. Not always insisting that the other must yield, but at times seeing the good in the other, even those outside the story.
This is why the wise men matter. They come from the East — outsiders, seekers guided by starlight and dark arts rather than Scripture. They may not arrive fully aligned. They search, they find, they kneel. Jesus brings a peace expansive enough to gather strangers, soften boundaries, and turn curiosity into worship.
Jesus continues to bring layers of peace. Peace with God — the deepest reconciliation. Peace within — a quieter heart shaped by grace, forgiving others, and not endless rivalry. Peace between people — the possibility of humility, listening, seeing the insight of others, and respecting the image-bearing nature of all humanity.
Where might Jesus bring peace into your life this Christmas?