Peace: The Old Testament

Dear Readers,

I have been thinking lately about three things: peace, unity, and reconciliation. These things must go hand in hand with the Christian, as these are the subjects most important to God. I wish to write to you a series of letters on these things, in hope that you may work towards the goal God has, to create peace, unity, and reconciliation among humanity. The first one that I write to you about will be peace, as it is the central theme to what God works towards.

The Bible as a whole is told as the long history and narrative of God's graceful salvation of mankind. As long as we have been capable of thinking and acting freely we have been at war with God. We onslaught him daily with our defiant acts of turning from him and making ourselves the gods of our minds. It is not his wish for this war to continue or last forever. He took a destructive act to clean the slate the first time through the deluge, but declare peace following it. However, we continued the war.

Given our warring with God, it would not be wrong of God to destroy mankind once and for all, but he didn't. Instead, in the midst of war he declared the universal peace through the birth, life, and death of Jesus. He took the initiative to make peace with humanity, to save us from ourselves. This story begins in the Old Testament which is what I point you to today.

The Old Testament is the interwoven stories of wars, families, parents and children, friends, neighbors, enemies, joy and sorrow, love and hate, and fear and courage. At the center stage is the Kingdom of Israel and it's rise and fall. It can be described as the Tragedy of Israel and the Hope of Men. The amount of sorrow, pain, and brokenness found in this tragedy is one to make the reader sink into depression if we read it only as the history of Israel and it's people. But, behind this sad story is the hope of men.

The temple was leveled, the priesthood disbanded, the kingship fallen, and the kingdom destroyed. Israel was a house of destruction, but God was not destroyed with it. God was not the tribal god of a petty kingdom of the Levant, he is the Universal King. He was not confined to the temple or disappeared when the Hebrews were scattered. He remained, and so did his mercy and love. God promised a future built on the little acts of faith and trust, not kingdoms or powerful monarchs.

The story of the Old Testament is the story of the deep love and mercy that God has for mankind. God's creation of all things is an act of love. God's calling of Israel to be the light of the world was an act of love. Hearing and freeing the Hebrews from servitude was an act of mercy. God not withdrawing from people due to corruption and conquest was an act of mercy. His sending prophets to redirect the Kingdom of Israel back to the right path was an act of mercy. God being in the midst of the exiled and comforting the grief worn people and promising them a new hope was an act of mercy. The sending of Jonah to Gentiles and spreading the message of redemption to all was an act of mercy.

The story of the Old Testament ends with the call of Daniel to find peace through patience and wait with patience the coming of the Kingdom of God. We must live faithfully, mercifully, and patiently trusting God for peace. We also must find little ways to make peace in our lives and refuse to bow before the false idols of warfare and exploitation. These are the continuing acts of God's mercy. Aligning ourselves with God's way is aligning ourselves with the way of peace. We must look behind the curtains of the Old Testament narrative and read behind the lines to find what God is preparing for, the Gospel of Peace and the Way of Life.

Weekly/Sabbath Epistle: True Greatness

Dear Readers,

I have lapsed in my writings to you, and for this I apologize. I write to you today for both the weekly lessons and the Sabbath epistle. Today I wish to present to you Jesus' criteria for position in the Kingdom of God.

We as humans often think of how to get ahead in life. We think of how to overcome our rivals to gain a higher position or better pay, but we do not often think of our position in the Kingdom of God. When we do however, we often bring our humanly baggage along. We think of progressing our status in human terms of forging along to become the first, to be at the head of the line at the gates of Heaven, but is this the right thought?

To help you understand Jesus' criteria for our positions in the Kingdom of God, I point you to Mark, Chapter 9. In this chapter Jesus along with Peter, James, and John are taken up to a mountain where Jesus changes before them, he is transfigured. Peter speaks of building shrines to Jesus, Moses, and Elijah but mainly babbles due to his fear. The voice of God pronounces that Jesus is the Son of God and Jesus swears the disciples to secrecy until he has been resurrected.

As the chapter progresses, Jesus heals a boy plagued by an evil spirit and predicts his handing over to the Sanhedrin and Romans. Then comes the passage that I wish you to focus on:

"After they arrived at Capernaum, Jesus and his disciples settled in the house where they would be staying. Jesus asked them, "What were you discussing out on the road?" But they didn't answer, because they had been arguing about which of them was the greatest. He sat down and called the twelve disciples over to him. Then he said, "Anyone who wants to be the first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else." Mark 9:33-34

It is often expressed this sentence, "Anyone who wants to be first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else." but, it doesn't really take hold. In God's Kingdom His way's are not that of human's political ways. In God's kingdom the poor are made first in line, and the neglected are given primacy over the rich. The first in the Kingdom are those who humble themselves and serves everyone, like their master, Jesus. Mark goes on:

"Then he put a little child among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them,"Anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes my Father who sent me." Mark 9:36-37

It is often portrayed that the child in the passage represents innocence and they must be like a child in order to enter the Kingdom. This may be true, but I believe that the child in this passage represents powerlessness. Jesus tells his disciples to welcome in powerlessness.

In the parallel of Matthew Jesus says: "You know that in this world kings are tyrants, and officials lord it over the people beneath them." Instead of being the tyrant kings of this world who "lord" over the lower status of people, they must become the slaves of all. The child represents this powerlessness in that he has no power of his own at this age. If you welcome the powerlessness like this child is then you will be in the Kingdom of God. In a more literal sense, Jesus tells us to welcome in the powerless and take care of them, as a means of serving all.

What becomes a problem with this is: if one serves all to be first in the Kingdom of God, then you face the same problem as the apostles, you are still seeking power. The underlining message of this lesson to the apostles was: Do not seek greatness or power, humble yourself, serve all honestly and willingly without motives of greatness and in the end you will be the first in the Kingdom of God as your reward.

This message reaches our ears and we too must reply with an answer. Do we seek the Kingdom of God first or do we seek greatness and serve others as a means to get it? It is a humble heart that God asks of us. He asks us to betray our hungry hearts for power and greatness and humbly serve our fellows, for in the end that is true greatness.

So, my brothers and sisters, do as Jesus commands of you and seek first the Kingdom of God, and serve humbly all before you and welcome in the powerlessness of that of a child.

- Iason Theophorus