Like a Bull in a Flower Field…
03/13/22.
“Peace I leave you, my peace I give you; not as the world gives, do I give you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, nor fearful.” John 14:27
The Story of Ferdinand (1936) is the best-known work written by American author Munro Leaf. In the story, Young Ferdinand does not enjoy butting heads with other young bulls, preferring instead to sit under a cork tree smelling the flowers. All the other bulls dream of being chosen to compete in the bullfights in Madrid, but Ferdinand still prefers smelling the flowers instead. One day, five men come to the pasture to choose a bull for the bullfights. Ferdinand is again on his own, sniffing flowers, when he accidentally sits on a bumblebee. Upon getting stung as a result, he runs wildly across the field, snorting and stamping. Mistaking Ferdinand for a mad and aggressive bull, the men rename him “Ferdinand the Fierce” and take him away to Madrid. However, he is more delighted by the flowers that the ladies throw in the ring and sits down in the middle of the ring to enjoy them, upsetting and disappointing everyone and making the matador and other fighters throw tantrums. Ferdinand is then taken back to his pasture, where to this day he is still sitting under the cork tree happily smelling flowers.
In the animated adaptation of the story is a great illustration for children of the anger and “persecution” directed toward peacemakers. Ferdinand is devoted to a way of peace, but the other bulls mock him, saying their choices in life are either the bullfighting ring or the chop house. Ferdinand asks, “what if those aren’t the only two choices?”
When we face conflicts, trials, and pain, the patterns of the world often tell us we have two choices, to fight until victory, or end up… well… dead meat. We live in a culture that is obsessed with competition and “winning”, so it is often hard to even fathom what it looks like to be a peacemaker in a “dog-eat-dog” world. Peace is not something that can be forced upon a person or situation through violence or forced submission. Peace is not necessarily the absence of conflict. Peace is also not promised simply by being right, or “winning”.
The peace that Jesus offers here in John’s Gospel is not a formula or strategy to win our way to peace. This peace that Jesus is revealing to us is an invitation to step out of the mindset of a conqueror, battling their way to victory, and into a posture of a peacemaker, who can rest and be confident in their hope found in Jesus. Living in the peace of Christ means that our motivations are not fueled by fear or hatred. The motivation is love.
We are called to be peacemakers in a world that revels in conflict. We are called to live a different way. Not the way of the conqueror. Not the way of the conquered. The way of Jesus Christ.