Mercy within mercy within mercy
Scripture lessons: Psalm 46
Colossians 1.11-20
“God makes wars cease to the ends of the earth…”
Psalm 46.9
New Revised Standard Version
Peace is a word that I associate automatically with Jesus, though sometimes I wonder why. On one occasion he said: “I came not to bring peace but a sword.” Furthermore, if peace involves the absence of conflict, then Jesus did not live a particularly peaceful life, nor did he die a peaceful death. How then is this Mediterranean Jewish peasant the “Prince of Peace”?
Jesus practiced and taught a way of peace because he seems to have believed with every fiber of his being that life is to be lived without recourse to violence and retaliation. The ‘sword’ which he brought to bear was not a weapon of destruction, but a desire to dismantle the forces of cruel power with compassion. For Jesus, the way to God lay not through coercion, but through acts of kindness, designed especially to include the unmerciful. When asked to describe the God of this nonviolent Jesus, a Roman Catholic writer, Thomas Merton, replied with these words: “Mercy within mercy within mercy.”
The Psalmist declares, “God makes wars cease to the end of the earth.” By choosing forgiveness over revenge, gentleness instead of judgment, and love rather than bitterness, we cooperate with God in the formation of a world where there shall be no further use for weapons of any kind.
Prayer: O God, show us how to become ambassadors of your mercy through our decisions and relationships, so that your peace, which passes all understanding, may be revealed through our lives, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
I agree with you.
I think the problem with trying to establish peace on earth is that it requires a lot more courage than any of us seem to have.–even though it is within our power. To live in peace is to say “no” to everything we believe we have a right to have: possessions — from what we own to what we want to own; honor; even from defining the world based on our values. Jesus owned nothing, refused to be bullied into proving who he was, and did not condemn any based on who they were or weren’t. There is a lot more I could say about this but, this is your blog Ed, not mine.