An ongoing look at "Jesus and the Kingdom of God" by Stanley Hauerwas.
...our possessions are the source of our violence. Fearing that others desire what we have, or stung by the seldom acknowledged sense that what we have we do not deserve, we seek self-deceptive justifications that mire us in patterns of injustice which can be sustained only through coercion. And of course we believe our most precious possession to be the self we have created, that we have chosen. such a possession we do not lose - as we see clearly in the character of the disciples in the Gospels - simply by willing to give up all that we have. What Jesus offers is a journey, an adventure. Once undertaken, we discover that what we once held valuable, even the self, we no long count as anything.
Can we also say that by possessions we need to include our worldview...in the sense that how I see the world and how the world should be can be one of the great sources of the violence we are willing to enter? That world view or religious view or moral view can become something onto which we cling so strongly that we cannot hear or see the good news of the Reign of God. Instead, we fight to have our way become the way that is in possession of the power that gets things done in the world. At that moment, the shalom of the Reign of God is given over to the powers we choose to whip around our heads like a whip ready to strike those who act out in ways contrary to our view. Jesus' view of life was guided by the life with the promise of the Reign of God. That Reign of peace never comes among us through acts of violence. Rather, it is a way that will not - under any circumstances - become a partner in violence on behalf of any side. What may lead to peace is the inspiration to become -as noted yesterday - part of the dispossessed. That can appear to be frightening...but in that movement is a promise of new life.
Connection: Violence is just too easy to enter. The flip can be thrown with such ease that what appears to be a day of peace becomes one of violence on one level or another.
Lord of the Peaceable Reign, pull us into your domain and inspire us to live there as we move through this day. Remind us of the way of peace that was the life of our Lord, Jesus, and encourage us to follow. Amen.
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