"For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit."
My spirit is unsettled this morning but there is great comfort here. Christ is the prince of peace. He is peace to the individual soul and to the entire community. He brings peace between the most disparate and unlikely. He brings peace by revealing our fundamental alikeness. Far or near, Gentile or Jew, middle class or working class, Israelite or Palestinian - we all share the same sin, the same need, the same failure to fulfil the righteous requirements of the law. But christ has fulfilled the law. Matthew 5.17. All of it. And in doing so he has paved the way to peace. We can have peace with each other as we realise we are all in the same boat. We all need reconciling to the father. We all need the blood of the son. The cross is the ultimate leveller: at Calvary god pronounces his verdict on humanity even whilst he frees us from such a verdict. This is what it takes to be right with god. This is what it takes for anyone, everyone, to be right with god. Romans 3.22-24. And so, this morning, i pray for peace for myself and my community. I ask to be a peacekeeper, a peacepreacher. One who believes in an alternative to hostility, one who proclaims the peace found at the cross, the body that reconciled us, the broken flesh that healed us, the wounds that make us whole. Isaiah 53:5
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