Jesus is sending out disciples to spread his Way: of communion and so he sends out people in pairs to nurture community; of compassionate love and so he sends out people who are poor to nurture vulnerability; of creativity and so he sends out people gifted with healing power. All of these qualities make for peace, “Let your peace rest on the people.”
There were peacemakers before Jesus and his disciples came into the world. Jina Mahavira is recognized as a peacemaking pioneer of the 6th century BC who was the founding guide of Jainism. He was a contemporary of Siddhartha Gautama recognized as Buddhism’s founding guide and also a peacemaking pioneer. Both practiced personal peacemaking; giving witness to meditation, vegetarianism, and nonviolence as founding principles. Those founding peacemaking principles continue to influence millions of people across the world. Neither man, however, proposed a social endeavor for peacemaking. They never challenged the unjust social structure of Hinduism’s caste system. Hinduism is a part of the religion of Militarism. Militarism is a method of of establishing a dominating relationship model, of fomenting a hostile disposition, of practicing a violent ethic. It is each of these elements Jesus transforms by his three-fold Way; domination is transformed into a relationship model of communion, a hostile disposition is transformed to a loving disposition, and violence is transformed into an ethic of creative healing power. Together these ingredients generate peace and constitute the social endeavor of the Community of God. The Community of God enables every person after Jesus to be a social peacemaker, a peacemaker pioneer. Every social peacemaking endeavor is the social replacement of the kingdom of War Lords (Brahmins, Caesars, Czars, Presidents,…). War Lords do their best to convince people peace comes as a result of war. They have been convincing people of it for centuries – centuries and centuries of war after war, all of which are supposed to bring peace and never bring anything other than more war. No one is more conventional than a warmaker. No one is more boring, more repetitive, producing more hackneyed cliché’s for their destructive brand than is a soldier. Soldiers are not pioneers. They are trained as carbon copying mimicking repeaters.
Peacemakers are pioneers, personally and socially. Peacemakers keep forming new communities, keep sharing new love, and keep getting creative about how to heal. Carbon copying soldiers can be transformed into eternally imaginative peacemakers.
Prayer: Spirit of Peace, accompany us always, especially in conflict.
Question: In what ways am I a peacemaking pioneer?
July 15, 2018 Gospel Mark 6:7-13 Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time