"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.  I do not give to you as the world gives."

It is important to see that Jesus acknowledges that the world does give.  Each day the world tries to give us meaning, to lift us up, affirm us, to win our hearts, to be there when we are down.  Yet if Jesus does not give to us the way the world does, we know the way the world gives is wrong.  and remember that this world has a prince, and he is the prince of darkness in whom there is no truth.

What the world gives is "the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the pride in riches." (1 John 2.16)  It is all on the level of the senses and serves only to stir up our emotions.  How many there are who feed themselves entirely on the world each day through consumerism, noise, empty shows, fashion, vanity, appearances, empty knowledge, vain pursuits.  And at the end of the day a quiet kind of despair sets in when the soul finds itself emptier than when it set out.  And so it sets itself on consuming ever larger portions of the world the next day.

Jesus offers us deep, abiding, interior peace.  But he warns us that he does not give as the world gives, so do not look for his gift the way you are accustomed to looking for gifts.  His peace does not come with fanfare.  It does not stir up our emotions, like a moving scene in a movie or a favorite song.  If we think our interior life is this constant movement of emotions and sensations then we have to suffer the loss of our accustomed way of receiving before we can detect Christ's peace in us.

It is helpful to remind ourselves that each day we can receive from the world or from Christ.  One comes with much allure and promise, to stir us up quickly yet it leaves emptiness in its wake.  The other comes from sacrifice yet is the very gift of God which he himself enjoys.