Hello, everybody, and welcome back to the fourth way podcast. Last episode, we discussed what peace or shalom means in the Hebrew bible. It's a very rich term which includes any and every positive aspect of a relationship, in particular, in regards to wholeness and completeness. Today, we move on to peace within the New Testament. As I mentioned last episode, I will often use the term shalom when referring to how peace is viewed within the Bible.

This is fine with the Hebrew Bible, since that word is the word which is actually used. But, of course, the New Testament was written in Greek, and the words translated to peace is different, irony or something like that. And so I will often still use the word shalom, though, just as a way of distinguishing it between our cultural notions of peace and making sure there's continuity between when I'm talking about it within the biblical context. Now the New Testament is absolutely bathed in the talk of Shalom, even more so than the Old Testament. In the Hebrew scriptures, Shalom is undoubtedly the direction that all is leading.

God planned for Shalom, and despite humanity's continual insistence on thwarting his plans, God again and again promises that Shalom will prevail. This is God's project, God's vision, and in the end, it will come about. In the New Testament, we finally have Shalom's inauguration. Even if not completely in reign, if not completely in session, so to speak, now within the people of God, the kingdom has come, and it spreads outwards towards all people and against all other empires. In Ezekiel thirty four twenty five, God says that he will make a covenant of peace with his people.

Will it swartly believe that the New Testament was that covenant of peace? And I'm inclined to believe him. Shalom in the New Testament is basically of the exact same essence of that within the Hebrew Bible. In fact, most, if not all, of the differences stem from one predictable source, Jesus. The writers of the New Testament saw Jesus as a manifestation of Shalom discussed and promised within the Hebrew Bible.

Unsurprisingly, it's from those scriptures that the first Christians' notions of Shalom grew, which is the reason why I needed to start the season with a short survey of Shalom within the Hebrew Bible. This identification of Jesus with Shalom, or at least the coming of Shalom, is more than just a theological clarity, though, for these writers. Through Shalom's manifestation and Jesus the Messiah, the early Christians believed and wrote about Shalom as something which governed their lives, both present and future. They also saw Jesus' followers as ones who would further expand the peace to the ends of the earth, even to their enemies. The purpose of this episode, though, is actually pretty narrow.

After a brief survey of the essence of peace within the New Testament, I'm going to go over several ways in which peace is discussed, but isn't generally recognized as such. Peace is discussed in nearly every page of the New Testament. Sometimes, it really feels as though it permeates every single line. I don't even mean that as an exaggeration. In addition to the Greek word for peace, which is used around a hundred times and in nearly every single book of the New Testament, The various authors of the New Testament also use different terms and metaphors for speaking of peace.

They each have their favorite terms and metaphors, and this episode will identify some of these terms and concepts so that you will hopefully be able to go forth in your own studies to further draw out the message of peace within the scriptures. As such, we won't delve too deeply into any specifics unless it helps us understand how a certain concept pertains to peace. I will also hardly mention any of the very many verses and passages which explicitly mention the word peace. Those have often largely been forgotten within Christianity as well. It's just not what I'm looking at today.

And, hopefully, with this episode and the previous one, this will open you up to the idea of peace, reading peace within the scriptures more. So those passages will suddenly jump out as having more significance, as before, when maybe perhaps you just ran over them without even noticing it. So just a brief rundown of what peace meant when the idea was invoked within the New Testament. I'll provide a slightly edited list from Willet Whortley. So first, it's a relationship between God and humans arising through salvation in and by Jesus Christ.

Second, it's a simultaneous peace among humans, breaking down walls of enmity such that peace and thus also reconciliation, with each other occurs. Third, Christ's new creation, peace, creating an alternative community to the Pax Romana. Pax Romana was the idea of, peace within Roman rule. So Rome would go and conquer all these places, and then there were no more wars because they were all under the the leadership of of Rome. So Pax Romana means the the peace of Rome.

And often the writers talk as though they're speaking for an alternative to that peace. Almost a correction to it of sorts. Number four, a peace with sociopolitical dimension. We see this especially in Luke and Acts, but also in Paul and all the New Testament lordship titles of Jesus. And for fifth, peace with cosmic dimensions.

We see this clearest in Colossians and Ephesians. They're creating the new heavens and earth, and reconciling all things, through Christ. And sixth, peace that stills the human heart, giving confident hope and adversity amid imprisonment among other things, but, typically, imprisonment is where the writers were. We also see a link between righteousness and shalom, which the authors surely learned from reading many of the scriptures which we discussed in the last post. For example, Romans fourteen seventeen says, for the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

In second Timothy two twenty two, we see flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. And in James three seventeen to 18, which is probably my personal favorite on the topic, James writes, but the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure, then peace loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, and sincere. Here's the big part. Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness. So before we finally start, some of you may be thinking, yes, sure, peace is important, but surely not such a huge focus as you're making it out to be.

Right? It's a fruit of the spirit, agreed, but it's not quite essential and prominent as as, you know, what I'm saying right now. Well, I think that's a fair concern given the little attention that it has traditionally been given. So let me give you a few reasons to help support my claim of peace's centrality within the Bible. This is in no way exhaustive, obviously, but hopefully, it's enough to at least show how wrong we have been to sideline peace the way that we have.

So to start off, as already noted, the Greek word for peace, is used around a hundred times in the New Testament. That is fairly impressive in and of itself. But considering how much more time the concept of reconciliation gets than peace, even though that word's only used four times, is quite telling. I'll argue later that reconciliation is actually another word for peace, but even without that, still should be something that catches our eye. In how many sermons have we heard on justification?

That word is used less than half as many times as peace, and instead of being spread throughout the entire New Testament, it's found primarily in a single author, Paul, and within his writings, mostly in just two books, Romans and Galatians. Now word counts should not be taken too terribly seriously for numerous reasons, but given the number of sermons and books written on something related to justification compared to those on peace, I do think it warrants taking a closer look. Another point, Willard swartly notes that peacemaking and loving of enemies is related to being a child of God by several New Testament authors. Of course, Jesus says, blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be children of God. But in Ephesians five, it also says, be imitators of God as beloved children and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us.

In first Peter chapter one, it starts with, well, in first Peter chapter chapter one doesn't start with this, but, in one thirteen, the argument begins, and it starts with, if you call on him as a father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, and this, continues, and it climaxes in two twenty one, where it says, for this, you have been called because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you might follow his steps. And in first John four seven to 12, well, in that area, he says kind of repeatedly, whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. It is important to note here that these are from different authors and are quite different from each other. What I mean by that is they don't stem from a common source. So this is significant because it shows that several different people came to similar conclusions independently.

Another point to consider is Paul's frequent use of the title God of Peace. This is significant because Paul seems to have come up with this himself. He apparently felt that the terminology used before him was inadequate to describe what he was experiencing, and he needed and he needed a new coin to term, this phrase in order to really accurately depict what he was experiencing. He uses it six times. Hebrews, we do see it once, but he uses it six times.

And while God of hope occurs only once, and God of love only occurs once, and that in conjunction with God of peace. In addition to this, the fact that something's like God of wrath or God of judgement doesn't appear at all within the New Testament, despite the prominent of the God as a warrior motif within the Old Testament, really strengthens the idea of the fact that Paul felt the need to to coin this God of peace phrase. Next, Paul uses the word peace in every single letter of his that we have. That would be significant in and of itself, but it's even more powerful when we recognize other claims for centrality in his thought, justification through faith, Paul's apostolic self consciousness, his focus on mission to the Gentile, his in Christ mysticism, God's manifestation of righteousness in Jesus Christ. God's apocalyptic triumph in Jesus Christ.

And church as the body of Christ. These are all, different things that have been put forth by different authors and thinkers as the centrality of Pauline thought. But, none of those are found in all of his writings. They incur in some, but not all. Peace is found as all.

Something, again, that should should at least raise our eyebrows here. And, lastly, this comes from Christer, Stendahl. They note that what is usually regarded as Paul's conversion is really his call to announce Jesus Christ's peace to the Gentiles and to make peace with the enemy, which sort of reminds me of what a friend of mine says that the most obvious change with the transformation from Saul to Paul was his refusal to use violence against his enemies. He remained just as bold and zealous for the God of Israel, but once he came into contact with the risen Christ, he sought to break down those walls between us rather than force others, outside of our territory. Let's begin.

How I'm gonna do this is I'll go through the different phrases or words that are often used by certain authors, and how what they're really talking about here is peace, whether or not they actually say the word peace. So we're gonna start here with the kingdom of God. So throughout this an optic Gospels especially, the kingdom of God is a very prominent theme. The kingdom of God with all its complexity and differences between different authors, it all comes to the same thing, God's domain. That is, the place where God's will is done.

Where God's will is done, and only where God's will is done, there is shalom. The Lord's Prayer. The Lord's Prayer is probably the most well known example of this as well of the one of the most applicable to our purposes. In the Lord's Prayer we have thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. So his kingdom comes as his will is done and we already saw how that was perceived in the Old Testament.

When his statues are followed, everything works together, the land, the people, the nations with God. Jesus here is teaching us how to pray with a prayer which has as its first petition, the coming of the kingdom, God's rule. Shalom. This is made especially interesting in Matthew because the prayer there is placed in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount, which is chapters five through seven. And the Sermon on the Mount is basically an entire sermon describing how we all should behave within the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven or how those within the kingdom of God would behave perhaps.

Historically, this sermon has been viewed as being impossible, and it does in some way or other it's pushed to it's pushed aside. Maybe we push it to some future date. We will all follow this in the future, or maybe only a select few people do it. The monks would do it, but most of us can't do it. And, it would be scandalous for many, especially within the prodigants prodigant circle to suggest this.

This reeks of works of righteousness, which is very unacceptable to many Christians. So, that's what we do. We just push it aside. There are many ways to explain this way. In fact, if you wanna see some of those ways, a really wonderful book by, oh, Clarence Bowman, I think.

The Quest for Truth or something. I'll put it in the in the notes. I didn't think about mentioning this, but it's quite good, and he basically comes to to that conclusion. He goes through, many, writers on and just thinkers in general on, their view of the Sermon on the Mount, and he does a pretty faithful job as far as I can tell of telling us their thoughts and their approaches. And then he he goes over it at the end and basically says that, oh, man.

How creative are we, aren't we? We can come up with all sorts of ways of basically saying that Jesus didn't really meant what he said he meant. It's a good book. So, anyway, to get back on topic, there is more. So the Sermon on the Mount could be seen as having a chiastic structure, and a chiasm is a way of rhyming ideas, so to speak, rather than sounds.

So our poetry, generally, will often lines rhyme with with each other. The last word will rhyme with a different line, and then we see them as connected in certain ways. And a chiasm is the same basic idea, but, ideas within the lines parallel in some way, ideas within another line. So in the case of the Sermon on the Mount, certain sections rhyme with other certain sections. For our purposes, it's important to see that, the section of chapter five twenty one to twenty twenty one to 48, the impossible super ethic of not returning blows, not making oaths, etcetera.

This is parallel with chapter six nineteen through seven eleven, which is the the part about following God instead of mammon, not praying for public esteem, etcetera. Now, one of the powerful things about chiasms is discovering how the author links together to sometimes seemingly unrelated ideas or images, and seeing how the author finds them connected. And, and, so it can be pretty powerful. So, here, I believe that the passages do relate to one another. So, that second one, the six nineteen to seven eleven, it's all about single-minded focus.

You don't split between treasures in on earth and treasures on heaven. You don't be split about God and money. Don't be split about the kingdom of God and the things of the world. Don't be split on judging others rather than yourself. This is difficult, but something we could reasonably strive for even, even if we know that we'll never, perfectly arrive, I don't see a whole lot of people saying, oh, I could never focus more on God than money.

That's definitely something that we feel we could get better and better at. This is linked then to 05/21 to '48, and that sheds important insight on this passage. This passage is largely seen as having a bar far too high to even consider, especially its peak in verse 48, where it speaks of being perfect as our father in heaven is perfect. But if these two passages are related, we notice that the single Bidenness of six nineteen and beyond, which trusts in God rather than ourselves, shapes our lives in a way which allows us to bear the fruit with the previous section, five twenty one to 48. Not only that, but the Lord's Prayer sits between these two passages as the peak and central focus.

It's both the culmination of everything before and after it, and the thing that glues it all together. What this implies is that, as we maintain a prayerful attitude which desires the coming of God's kingdom, we are empowered to hold a more single-minded focus on God and his will. Through this prayerful focus, we will begin to see the fruit of non retaliation and enemy love. What was once seemed what once seemed impossible can begin to take place through the spirit of the one whom nothing is impossible. In short, this nonviolent peacemaking sermon is not to be viewed as idealistic, but as a manifestation of the kingdom of God, Shalom, in our lives.

Viewed this way, the entire sermon can be seen as a call for us to be peacemakers. As for Mark, he has Jesus start his ministry at the very start of the book by proclaiming the gospel of God by saying that the kingdom of God is at hand. Here, he has set the tone of the gospel as a whole, and we're expected to see everything else within this framework. This recognition has really helped me make sense of some aspects of Mark that I used to be at a bit of a loss at what to do with, in particular, the exorcisms and and even the healing sometimes. Not even so much of did it really happen or whatever, but just what message do I get out of this almost.

But this has helped me reframe certain things. Exorcisms and healings aren't simply improving someone's life. They are that, but they're a bringing in of the kingdom of God. Jesus is confronting that which is against his kingdom, that which is isolating, hurting, and tormenting others, and bringing wholeness in his stead. So we see this in the exorcisms and healings in chapters one twenty one to three six.

This, I'm gonna be quoting extensively here from Willard Swartley. It it frees people from social ostracism and challenges religious laws that fettered freedom. Jesus's pithy sayings as in, two ten seventeen well, chapter two, his riddles a little bit later, and his parables in chapter four, these really tantalize standard social expectations. They threaten existing social order, and even they're harboring us for revolution. So all of these exorcisms and healings and acts of forgiveness are really the kingdom bursting through to become a reality on Earth.

Through all of this, Jesus never uses his power to destroy his enemies. Instead, it's used for healing and defeating demonic spiritual power. This defeat does not just result in individuals' inner peace, though. It results in very tangible and physical changes. This is most clearly seen when Jesus sends his disciples out to heal and cast out demons.

In light of the start of the gospel, it's implied here that they are widening the boundaries of the kingdom of God. In Mark's characteristic fashion, he doesn't mention it outright because he doesn't like to blurt out anything that should be known or could be deduced. Luke, on the other hand, when narrating the same scene, plainly tells us that their healing of the sick was the kingdom of God coming near to the people. In Luke, the disciples are also to enter into each household with a declaration of peace. Strikingly similar to the beatitude in Matthew that peacemakers are the sons of God, here Jesus says that peace will rest upon the sons of peace.

In fact, in Luke ten five to six, the word peace appears three times. Whatever house you enter, first say, peace be to this house. And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you. It's clear from Luke's narrative that peace is a distinguishing feature of the gospel news.

It's also evident that Jesus is looking to gather children of peace. Additionally, the peace isn't just some quiet rest, but results in the expulsion and defeat of evil. This is even more evident when Jesus says that he saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Swartley is correct when he notes that the kingdom of God, despite its characterization of peace and lack of force, is still one of ultimate power which dispels of evil wherever it reaches. This narrative represents Jesus' missionary imperative extending to all nations, and it's significant that it is most strongly associated with peace.

Continuing into Acts, Luke's response is to show us that this gospel eventually found its way to Rome and took root there, and this is where Paul picks up. To Paul, Christ's victory on the cross meant the defeat of the might of the principalities and powers. This is the New Testament equivalent of governments, rulers, ologies, isms. And Paul knew firsthand what Pax Romana meant. Any disruption of Rome's rule, any lack of admiration towards their power was met with force.

Seeing the inside of many Roman prison, Paul knew the farce between the propaganda of such peace. The peace of Jesus, however, did what Pax Romana was never able to do. It united formerly hostile peoples into one faith of body, living under the lordship of Christ. Even in Romans 13, we do not have Paul calling for a single obedience to the state. The first seven verses of Romans 13 must be read as growing out of chapter 12, as well as blossoming into thirteen, eight, and beyond.

Romans 12 clearly puts the obedience and lordship on Jesus. Following this date only works if we have devoted ourselves first to following Jesus, our actual king. What all this means is that anytime we see discussion of the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven, we've come across Shalom texts. This includes spiritual warfare texts, victory over Satan and death, all the Jesus is Lord type texts. All these show us what the community of God looks like and how it comes about.

The next section will be justification and reconciliation. Clearly, the Pauline letters or those attributed to him, Paul's letters are saturated with peace. He mentions the phrase peace of God six times as mentioned before. He calls Christ our peace, refers to the peace of God, the peace of Christ, peace from God. He does more than just use peace as theological understandings though.

He, at least as often, speaks of peace as an ethical admonition. Let us have peace with God, he tells the Romans. Let us have peace with each other, he encourages the Thessalonians, Romans, and Corinthians. To the Ephesians, he says to keep the bond of peace. And to Timothy, he commands to pursue peace, which is a command also echoed in Romans, as well as Hebrews and first Peter.

And along with the author of Hebrews, he calls us to live at peace with all. As mentioned earlier, the term peace is also mentioned in every Pauline letter, which is more than most, if not all other claims to the centrality of Paul's thought could say. Just with the above survey, it's clear just how important and central peace was to Paul's thought, and this allows us to view other teachings of Paul within the context of peace, starting with his important theme of justification. Justice, first of all, should not be seen as separate from righteousness. The root words are the same in Greek, and whereas in English, righteousness is usually understood within the personal realm, and justice within the legal, in Hebrew thought, no such separation existed.

It is a mistake to view, as we have so often done, especially in Western Christianity, terms such as justification as merely forensic descriptions, which simply allow the individual to get off without paying the punishment to their crime. It must be linked to the social. Paul sees justification as a way of reconciliation between God and sinner with the intent of restoring relationship. This is meant to branch out farther to the social realm and reach everyone around us. In Romans eight, Paul explains that through Jesus, we have been set free from the law of sin and death.

By condemning sin in the flesh, we now do not have to live according to the flesh, but are able to live according to the Spirit. In verse six, he's clear. The mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. Put another way, for Paul, justification means that God has made things right with the sinner. Sin no longer stands as a barrier between us and God, between us and God.

He has broken it down so that we may be one. He has broken it down so that we may be one. We'll see later that in Ephesians, this means that we will become one, not only with God, but with others as well. For now, though, it's enough to understand that we, who are sinners, are enemies of God. But through Jesus, we are now justified and thus reconciled with him.

Reconciliation is a synonym with peace. We can see this by the parallel in Romans five one and five ten. So five one says, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. In five ten, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son. So it's very clear here that we are reconciled to God and have peace with God through justification.

Ephesians is similar when it says in two fourteen that Jesus is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility, so that he may reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross. And in Colossians one twenty, it's written that God dwelled through Jesus to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace by the blood of his cross. For Paul, justification wasn't simply some private affair between God and each individual person. This writing with God, while perhaps individual at first, then branches out to reach everyone around us. Justice does not exist without righteousness.

We cannot expect a world of shalom if we have a dissonant relationship with God. We saw this in Isaiah two one to four in the previous episode, where weapon transformations, sword into plow and so forth, and Shalom take place only after all nations go before God's presence. For Paul, justification was the first step in really the watershed moment in which Shalom came to earth. It is in this way that Jesus himself is our peace. And it is through this peace that we now have with God that allows us to follow the spirit instead of the flesh.

And this is where that that high moral standing that we find in Paul comes from. We'll get to that in this next section. I am gonna start with the synoptics, though, because I'll get through that real quickly. This section is it talks about the love of enemies, non retaliation, suffering for the faith types of passages. These texts and keywords are probably the most obvious to us, that they're peace texts of some sort.

Though, even then, the emphasis is less on peace per se, rather than on the nonviolent aspect. Which is all well and good, but I want to note that these passages are more than just teaching a way to behave. They are also showing us what a community of peace looks like, as well as to help bring that community into reality, and then to expand it even to our enemies. So starting with the synoptics, in the synoptics, we have passages such as the turn the other cheek, the parable of the good Samaritan. Love your neighbor as yourself.

Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Put your sword back into its place, for all who take the sword perish by the sword. Of course, the entire narrative of Jesus meekly and willingly being taken prisoner, slandered, tortured, and painfully and shamefully murdered without ever retaliating or offering up a single curse is relevant. In fact, the only thing he says to or about them is a plea to give them forgiveness. Also, things like eating with tax collectors, talking with the Samaritan woman, healing the Phoenician woman, these show us, as Willis Fortley says, Jesus's inclusion to the outsider, the overcoming of enmity, and the extension of the kingdom of God to all people, which is where all biblical peacemaking brings us.

And now, we move on to Paul. Following a person's justification and consequential reconciliation with God, Paul believes that one may now finally follow the spirit that we've been desiring to do, but was previously unattainable. This is especially true in terms of loving one's enemies, which is about as unnatural an act as one can attempt. Gordon Zerb Zerbah. I'm not exactly sure how to pronounce his name, but he does an excellent job of organizing for us a list of responses that Paul gives in response to mistreatment from enemies.

I'm not going to read the citations here, like, of the biblical passages, but many of these have are are found several times within Paul. So one, not repaying evil for evil. Two, not taking vengeance for oneself. Three, not cursing. Four, forbearance, often translated patience.

Five, endurance. You remember, these are all in the context of enemy persecution. Six, not litigating, and seven, not reckoning evil. These are all passive responses, which is often a criticism levied at those who emphasize the non retaliation, suffering, and enemy love passages, a criticism not entirely empty. He continues, though, with active responses of evil found within Paul.

So continue on there then. The eighth kind of response, responding with good or kind deeds, ninth, blessing, responding with blessing, tenth, conciliating, eleventh, being at peace, twelfth, forgiving, and thirteenth, loving. Of course, Paul speaks in similar ways when not speaking of enemies too. He frequently calls on believers to love each other. In Thessalonians, he says to encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone.

In Ephesians four four through six, Paul uses the word one, as in the sense of unity, seven times. This oneness, this unity of the church with each other, and with God, and his spirit, is found throughout this letter. This is all, of course, peace talk. He's speaking of shalom. He's speaking of shalom, which exists in the midst of a world that is so very far away from shalom.

Not way off in the future, not just within ourselves, but within the community right now. He's in fact, he's often speaking of shalom when we are directly attacked with unshalom. Yes. The believer does not respond in kind. The believer does not retaliate or use evil, but this is not simply because we do not harm, but because we are instead called to pursue peace, to forgive, and reconcile with all until the full vision of shalom is finally realized.

More than just being a call to not participate in evil, we're called to be peacemakers. And we'll look a bit at first Peter. First Peter's entire structure is supported by pillars of peace. It begins with the salutation, may grace and peace be with yours in abundance, and ends with the blessing, peace be to all of you who are in Christ. And right at the heart of the epistle in, chapter three verse 11, he says, turn away from evil and do good.

Seek peace and pursue it. We're missing so much if we simply dwell on the righteous suffering aspect while remaining oblivious to what is holding up the entire epistle. The nonviolent suffering should be seen as in service to the peace we're seeking. So I encourage you when you read and study these non retaliation passages to look beyond just not hurting others and see that they are all pieces of the puzzles to peace. I'll end this section with a quote from Thomas r Yoder Newfield.

However much marked by meekness, patience, and suffering, such peaceful righteousness must never be severed from the repeated injunction to aggressively pursue peace. The next section here is jubilee and social justice. Before we begin on this section, we do need a brief recap on what the jubilee on what jubilee was. The jubilee laws come from Leviticus 25 and were meant to keep in check power's natural tendency to continually grow and sap from all around it. In essence, every fifty years, debts were given and property was returned.

Before any one person or group could erect an impenetrable wall, which kept them on top and others subservient to them, the walls were broken down and everyone made equal once again. We see the emphasis numerous times in the in the synoptic gospels, though most strongly in Luke and its sequel, Acts. So Mary's Magnificat in Luke one fifty, which exalts the lowly and calls for the feeding of the hungry. This echoes the Jubilean theme. Jesus's resistance to grab kingship in the worldly sociopolitical terms in chapter four.

It's another example. And just following that episode, in verse 16, Jesus stands in front of the synagogue and identifies himself with the classic Jubilee text from Isaiah, which speaks of proclaiming good news to the poor. He says he was sent to proclaim liberty to the captives, and recover the sight to the blind, set liberty to those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, that is, Jubilee. We saw in Matthew how the Lord's prayer was set within the context of God's will being followed on Earth, but in Luke, the Lord's prayer can be seen within this strain of Jubilee, as Jesus here calls for the forgiveness of debts. Luke is also well known for his scathing criticisms of the rich and call against reliance and hoarding of wealth.

We see this all over, but, starting in chapter 12, there's a good string of examples there. Continuing into Acts, Jesus's followers practice community of goods. They provide material needs for widows and sent relief to the poor in Jerusalem. It's clear from these texts that Jesus and the earliest followers obeyed the calls to to aid the poor and the needy found within the Torah and the prophets before them. As we read and study these passages then, we need to be sure to look beyond just doing good deeds and making sure people are fed.

That's important, of course, but we also need to step back and see the bigger picture that these are merely strokes in. Mountains are toppled, valleys are raised, but none of that can contradict what we just talked about over in the love your enemies part. Shalom will not arrive if we are filled with a self righteous attitude that finds satisfaction in oppressing or demolishing the current oppressors. Just as loving enemies cannot be satisfied with injustice, so these jubilee injustice passages cannot bypass that this is for all, not just those who are down and out currently. The toppling of the mountains is for the benefit of the oppressors as well, though they surely won't feel it in the process, and we don't support them.

That is the ultimate goal here. Jubilee ushers in a shalom where all worship God together and live in perfect community with one another. The last section we'll talk about, Logos theology and abiding in and receiving the peace of God. This is primarily in, John. So in John's writings, he speaks about peace in a very different sense than the synoptics or in Paul or the other writers.

Of course, we do have the beautiful farewell discourse in chapters 14 to 17. And there, as well as other places, but there, we really see that John uses terms or ideas such as abiding in Christ to express to express his notion of Shalom. John writes to community, which is to be separated from the rest of the world. There's a dualist approach to John that leads to a desire for purification of the Jesus followers with the evil world outside it. In John, we have the repeated emphasis on Christ abiding in or dwelling in the father, and believers abiding in or dwelling in Christ.

This abiding theme, in particular, is used in a way of separating the community of believers from the rest of the world. This approach could and has been interpreted as an isolationist strategy, which hardly interacts with the outside world. In fact, many scholars have even concluded that these writings imply that believers are supposed to hate the world. That's really not a fair reading though, and it can't really be found within the text anyway. Repeatedly, John says that the world will hate the believers as it hated Jesus, but nowhere do we have instructions to return that hate to the world.

Instead, we have a powerful Logos theology, where Logos comes as the light of all people and enlightens all people. With the model and mutual indwelling of the father and son comes the model for the community's love for one another. And it's in this way that the Jesus community is established and its alternative lifestyle style is marked definitively by its love for one another. That is a means used to reach the outside world. If believers are to do as Christ commanded and to dwell in him, then surely John's emphasis on Jesus as the inclusive Messiah who embraces out outcast, Samaritans, and the poor and heals the chronically ill and it's a a Roman official son to boot.

It's to take place within the believing community as well. So with this in mind, let's look at how, once again, Willis Fortley elucidated three pillars of peacemaking within John's writings. First pillar, mutual indwelling and interdependence of the father and son. God gave his love for us and Jesus even while we were sinners. He did so for the entire world, not just a select group.

If we are to love because of and like God, then our love also extends out to reach all corners of the Earth. Second pillar. The universality of John's Logos theology. The Logos comes as the light of all people, and it's the true light that enlightens every person. The Logos as an agent of creation is also its purpose, goal, and end, and it's no coincidence that the Quakers who really stress that of God, of everyone, and speak quite often of the light and light of and within people are historic bee sturge.

The third pillar is the almost excessively dominant motif of love one another, which is to appeal to the outside community, combined with Jesus' refusal to use violence even when threatened and arrested. In John twenty one fifteen, Jesus asks Peter three times whether he loves him. This is crucial because only by loving Jesus, and because one loves Jesus, can one finally be anchored in love in a way which allows one to feed his lambs and sheep. Peace is made within the community, first of all, with laser focus on love of neighbor. This love of neighbor has the ultimate expression of lying down one's life for another.

Jesus, of course, is the example for this, and he gave his life not just for his disciples, but for all. As Jesus said in twelve thirty two, he will draw all people to himself through this sacrifice. It makes sense then that the believing community who obeys Jesus, and thus has him dwelling within them, who bears a fruit of Jesus himself, would, through their self sacrificial love, draw the outside world to themselves. The world may hate this Jesus community as a hated Jesus, but like Jesus, they will not hate it back, but instead will love them to the end. Over the last two episodes we've gone over what Shalom meant to authors of the Bible more than that though I put forth the idea that Shalom is absolutely central to the message of the scriptures rather than just being one single thread within them.

In fact, maybe a good way of looking at it is that all the threads are woven together into a beautiful tapestry that is shalom. It is true in some ways that love is both that love is both more important and prominent in the Bible. The two most important commandments are to love, and though God is a God of peace, he is love. Shalom, though, it's what it looks like when love is acted out consistently within all the communities of the world. And that's why when we see things like the kingdom of God, justification, reconciliation, non violence, care for the poor, be Jesus being treated as king, and the call to abide in Jesus, what we're looking at here are more different what we're looking at here are different aspects of Shalom being made manifest.

And more than just being called to recognize this peace coming to us, we are to help spread that peace by becoming peacemakers ourselves. And that's all for now so peace and because I'm a pacifist when I say it I mean