Do not let your hearts be troubled for I leave with you my gift of peace. But not as the world gives do I give it to you. This was as plain as it was going to get. We continue reading about the efforts that Jesus was making to ensure that his followers were fully prepared for the tumultuous events that were soon to take place (his arrest and execution). Jesus knew his own, and he was aware that his forceful elimination at the instigation of the religious authorities would leave them disillusioned and confused. The three or so years that he had spent with them were not enough to shield them from what was coming. It was not only what he (Jesus) was to undergo that concerned him, but most importantly what would happen to them. For once the shepherd shall have been struck, the sheep would scatter, making it easy for the wolf to go after and devour them (cf. Mark 14:27). 
Jesus’ “comforting words” to the disciples that we read in today’s Gospel passage seem to have been in response to the disciples’ insistence that he (Jesus) shouldn’t leave them. “ If you really cared for us, then you would stay,” seems to have been the disciples’ plea. But Jesus made it clear to them that he couldn’t stay as they wanted him to: “ I have to go so that the Father can send you the consoler, for unless the consoler comes, the looming events will overwhelm you.” The Spirit that the Father was going to send to the disciples was to be a consoler, not a shield. The Spirit was not going to shield them from what was to come. Rather, the Spirit was to help them cope with, and make sense of the situation into which they would be thrust. This is the gift of peace to which Jesus was referring. It is a peace like none other. The peace that Jesus wished the disciples was not to result from an absence of turmoil and persecutions. It was not to be a peace that resulted from an absence of war, for this is the peace that the world gives. Rather, it was to be a peace that existed amidst turmoil and persecutions. It would be a peace that would arise from their coming to recall the words that Jesus had spoken to them while they were together. It was to be a peace that arises from their recalling the signs that Jesus had worked in front of their very eyes and in their midst. The Spirit was coming to help them understand their identity and mission so that they could remain faithful to it.