Advent (day 12)
THE SECOND WEEK OF ADVENT
FOCUS OF RELFECTION: PEACE
Peace is from God. Just as no possession or approval or achievement can usher peace into our lives, neither can any political structure or humanitarian effort set the world right.
“World peace” has become a trite cliché in our culture. It’s the pipe dream of Miss America and hippie musicians. Christians are smarter than that. We know about the nature of man, and why the world is messed up in the first place.
This is why modern Christianity has had minimal interest in world peace, and instead focused on making sure people have a ticket to get out of this world. We pity the disciples for thinking that Jesus came to organize a divine coup, because we know that God is not concerned with such things. He wants to reign in our hearts. Peace from God is an individual, inner peace.
This is true in part, but maybe we have missed something in the other direction.
We haven’t read the nativity stories as subversive stories presenting Jesus as an alternative to the divine Lord Caesar. We haven’t taken to heart that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, employing us as citizens who expand God’s rule and call upon His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. We haven’t read the apocalyptic accounts as the birth pangs of a new heaven and a new earth recreated with justice and peace.
What if getting out of this world is the wrong aim? That certainly was not Isaiah’s vision of peace:
The cry of Advent is not “Take us, Lord Jesus, take us away,” but rather “Come, Lord Jesus, Come.”
SCRIPTURE READING: Revelation 19
FOCUS OF RELFECTION: PEACE
Peace is from God. Just as no possession or approval or achievement can usher peace into our lives, neither can any political structure or humanitarian effort set the world right.
“World peace” has become a trite cliché in our culture. It’s the pipe dream of Miss America and hippie musicians. Christians are smarter than that. We know about the nature of man, and why the world is messed up in the first place.
This is why modern Christianity has had minimal interest in world peace, and instead focused on making sure people have a ticket to get out of this world. We pity the disciples for thinking that Jesus came to organize a divine coup, because we know that God is not concerned with such things. He wants to reign in our hearts. Peace from God is an individual, inner peace.
This is true in part, but maybe we have missed something in the other direction.
We haven’t read the nativity stories as subversive stories presenting Jesus as an alternative to the divine Lord Caesar. We haven’t taken to heart that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, employing us as citizens who expand God’s rule and call upon His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. We haven’t read the apocalyptic accounts as the birth pangs of a new heaven and a new earth recreated with justice and peace.
What if getting out of this world is the wrong aim? That certainly was not Isaiah’s vision of peace:
ISAIAH 2A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit … He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked … The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them … The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper's nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.
The cry of Advent is not “Take us, Lord Jesus, take us away,” but rather “Come, Lord Jesus, Come.”
SCRIPTURE READING: Revelation 19
posted by Bob | 8:59 AM
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