Hello, everybody, and welcome back to the fourth way podcast. Today, we're going to talk about Jude. Now Jude is a tiny, much forgotten and overlooked book. And while I say largely forgotten, I would say it's probably intentionally. Perhaps even actively avoided maybe is a better way of putting it.

And this is for a few reasons, really. One is that it's just so short that there's simply not as much development or depth as many of the other writings that we have. It's also slightly disjointed with the author actually admitting that he's changing directions midwriting. It most of it can actually be found within second Peter too. So I know I have often just wanted to read second Peter instead so I can get more stuff around it.

And it's also just, I don't know, odd. Jude references extra canonical sources, which seem a little bit fantastic, I think, to a lot of modern, readers. I remember a number of years ago hearing some pastor, telling some story about some some guy that he knew who's a new Christian saying that he had heard some other preacher talking about how the archangel Michael was fighting over the devil about the body of Moses or something. And the pastor was like, this is nonsense. You know?

Like, who, like, who are you listening to? Some weird preacher. And then he goes, oh, it's in the book of Jude. And and there it is, you know, when the archangel Michael contending with the devil was disputing about the body of Moses. Like, oh, okay.

Doesn't quite fit into how a lot of us view, I think, kind of the spiritual world, if I can say it that way. I don't know. It's weird. And so it's just a little bit odd. And, lastly, at least to certain groups and individuals, it can make us a bit uncomfortable with the seemingly divisive and severe tone of the letter.

So we are going to briefly look through Jude today, and it's only one chapter, so it's already brief. And we're going to do this as a way of showing how our lack of understanding of peace and its centrality to the gospel has often led us to misunderstand and, in turn, neglect this powerful epistle. Jude was written to a certain group, the beloved, in contrast to another group, the others. It's very possible that the others are still currently within the beloved community here at the time of this writing and would be reading this letter alongside the rest of the community or perhaps hearing it be read to them. And there is quite a strong polemic against the Others in this letter.

The others are compared to certain angels which are undergoing a punishment of eternal fire. The others are reserved forever to the gloom of utter darkness. In fact, at the start, he says plainly that these people are designated for this condemnation. Before listing all sorts of evil deeds that the others commit, I. E.

Grumbling, being malcontent, following their own sinful desires, being loud mouthed boasters, and showing favoritism to gain advantage, He says that the Lord will execute judgment on all and convict all the ungodly of their deeds and ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way. I have read this little epistle a lot. And when I get to this, this is verse 15. When I get that, I just it's hard for me not to picture preacher standing up at the pulpit denouncing the evildoers for all their wicked ways and for corrupting the godly beloved. And just as we're brandishing our pitchforks and lighting our torches, he comes to the climax of what the beloved are to do with such sinners.

This is verse twenty two and twenty three. He shouts out, have mercy on those who doubt. Save others by snatching them out of the fire. To others, show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh. Wait.

What? Where's the excommunication? Where's the shutting, the the imprisonment, the stoning? They're all completely absent, and in their place is nothing but mercy. And here's the thing.

I don't think we're supposed to think of this as some sort of a twist ending. I don't think Jude noticed it when he wrote it nor do I think his listeners were supposed to when they heard it. These early communities were so saturated with the vision of peace in the idea that peace had been brought to Earth and was in fact continuing to be spread throughout the Earth that this was the natural response to evildoers. You don't bring about Shalom by killing others, but by showing mercy to them. You don't bring about Shalom by throwing them into the fire or even watching them burn, but by snatching them from the fire.

So let's back a bit up though to verse 19 now. Speaking again of the others, Jude says, it is these who cause divisions, worldly people devoid of the spirit. Without the spirit, division and undulum spreads. He continues. But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.

The four things that the Beloved Community is called to do are: one. Build each other up two. Pray in the Holy Spirit. Three, keep themselves in the love of God. And four, wait for the mercy of Jesus.

This is, of course, in direct contrast to the division that the others cause. Had we been paying attention to this kind of buildup here or perhaps had the concept of Shalom been as deeply ingrained within ourselves and our psyches as it was these first Christians, then perhaps a call to action would have been much more obvious. Followers of Jesus don't create more divisions like the others do. After building each other up, praying in the spirit, and bathing ourselves in God's love and mercy, Jesus' followers then set out to extend that love and that mercy to the others as well. And that's all for now.

So peace. And because I'm a pacifist, when I say it, I mean it.