Hello my dears
This world has the potential to be so hostile. Even in our Christian spaces. Ironically, our mandate from Christ is completely opposite as indicated in today’s Holy Nougat
“And into whatsoever house ye shall enter, first say, Peace be to this house.” Luke 10:5 ASV
Within the context of the Nougat, Jesus was sending the second batch of disciples out, the seventy two. They were being commissioned as ambassadors (ie evangelists), agents of healing and transformation. It’s a little odd therefore for Jesus to insist that wherever they went they were to proclaim peace – unless peace was a rarity in those spaces.
Possibly it was, for we also recall that Peace became part of the Christian’s offensive armour which precedes us wherever we go (you know, the preparation of the Gospel of Peace – Ephesians 6).
Now there’s peace, and then there’s Peace. There’s peace, the absence of conflict (which has its own intrinsic value), and there’s Peace, the ability to withstand the conflict and opposition which life brings. I believe we are commissioned to offer both.
When our sisters, daughters, mothers and even grandmothers face the threat of violence daily; whether at home or beyond, we need peace. The kind that protects us from becoming the next victim. But there’s also need for the Peace which gives us strength to heal and overcome after life has crushed us.
A child is auctioned online as bride, a girl leaves home and is found in a dumpster days later, a woman is gang raped on a bus, a woman is forced to receive communion from her sexual abuser …. We are commissioned; we are Mandated by Jesus to be the emissaries of Peace. In every space we enter.
Sometimes offering peace seems unnecessary. But the truth is, we don’t know what happens behind closed doors when the world is absent. And, if God’s Peace legitimately reigns in us, then extending peace wherever we go may be the difference between life and death. And it may not be about what happens in the household, but that in covering the space with God’s peace, we have dispatched angels of protection and the Holy Spirit to go ahead and deliver each person from evil. For our men face threats also. And, who knows, maybe in speaking Peace, we might be sowing seeds of healing and transformation upon a troubled soul.
And all it costs is obedience. For if it’s not received, we have permission to leave.
Can we do that please, offer peace wherever we go?
Good morning
