“If only you knew on this of all days the things that lead to peace. But now they are hidden from your eyes. The time will come when your enemies will build fortifications around you, encircle you, and attack you from all sides. They will crush you completely, you and the people within you. They won’t leave one stone on top of another within you, because you didn’t recognize the time of your gracious visit from God” (Luke 19:42-44).
Upon entering the city of Jerusalem for the last time Jesus predicts its destruction which came to past in the year C.E. 70. The year that the Roman general Titus led his troops into Jerusalem, ended the siege, and razed the city to the ground.
The Second Temple was also destroyed (Jesus also predicted its destruction earlier) except for a portion of what is known today as the Western Wall.
For all practical purposes Biblical Israel (distinct from the modern State of Israel) ceased to exist. The Jews became known as the diaspora or the dispersed ones from that time forward. Their lives became disordered for centuries to come.
They were the victims of national disorder and disintegration as the result of brutal violence.
We are also living in a time of great disorder and incredible instability.
The accelerated pace of change that is occurring in our world is creating tremendous amounts of disorder and instability. Technology is advancing at a pace that is beyond our natural ability to keep up; Mother Nature is screaming warnings of impending doom to the degree the world has yet to experience. Economic disparity is becoming a major disrupter of what is left of global stability.
Nation States can no longer be depended upon to restore order to our world of disorder, or if they could they certainly are not demonstrating a committed willingness to stop the insanity that is causing so much of the instability in our world today.
New paradigms for governing and politics are necessary to match the acceleration of our changing world. New and innovative solutions to age old problems are needed to help restore order in our world.
A new way of seeing is so necessary if we hope to survive the impending doom that sits on our doorstep. We must listen and we must see or I am afraid we will spiral into a dark and disordered world that will swallow us whole.
Yes this is a dark picture of our world. But there is light of course. Light that we must follow to brighter and more hopeful places.
Jesus made it very clear to his contemporaries that their own impending disorder and destruction was the result of their not recognizing the “things that lead to peace.”
The things that lead to peace! What an indictment of his own people. What an indictment of anyone. What an indictment on us.
Peace is not an option for our survival.
Peace is not obtained by the use of violence or by military force. All the armies of the world have yet to bring lasting peace to our world. All the tough talking politicians and compliant Evangelicals have not restored order to our world of disorder.
Peace is not an option. It is rather a necessity if we are going to survive the insanity that is closing its grip on our once proud nation. Yes insanity!
The things that make for peace are clearly articulated by Jesus in the Gospels. Yet we have converted the Prince of Peace into an Advocate for War in our search for elusive peace.
We have become fans of Jesus rather than followers.
We too fail to see the things that lead to peace.
What is necessary is for so-called American Christians to reread the Gospels with fresh eyes; eyes that are actually seeking the things that make for peace.
We need to reread the Gospels in ways that do not attempt to shape the Prince of Peace into an American Patriot whose goal is to defeat any and all enemies.
This is not an option; but rather a necessity if we are make it deep into this century.
Pray for peace. Work for peace. Reject all government policies that do not make for peace.
Remember the words of our Lord:
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”
To be a child of God is to be a peacemaker.
To be a child of God is to advocate for peace in the tradition of Jesus’ example and teachings of nonviolence.
To be a child of God is to carry the cross of Jesus rather than wielding the sword of Caesar.
It really is the only real hope our world has today.
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