Let Peace Begin With Me

“Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.” (Psalm 34:14)

The biblical story of Pilate asking the crowd to choose between releasing either Barabbas or Jesus metaphorically also asks them to choose between the way of violence and hate (represented by Barabbas), and the way of love and compassion (represented by Jesus). (Read this story in Matthew 27:15-23, Mark 15:6-15, Luke 23:18-25, and John 18:39-40)  In many ways, this choice haunts us today, and challenges each of us to ask ourselves, “What part am I playing in enabling peace and love to win out over violence and hate?”

The plot of the 1986 movie The Mission highlights this choice between choosing the way of love or choosing the way of violence, and how – just as with Jesus – too often we choose the latter. The very last scene of the movie shows a 18th-century religious leader in Paraguay who had ordered the removal of missionaries by force questioning those who carried it out why the brutality and slaughter that ensued was necessary. One of them replies, “You had no alternative, your Eminence. We work in the world, and the world is thus.” The religious leader replies, “No, Señor Hontes. Thus have we made the world…. Thus have I made it.”

So, before we go around complaining about what someone else is not doing to bring peace, we need to first look deep inside ourselves and ask what we are doing to help foster it, and to make sure our actions are not the inadvertent cause of strife and hatred. The words of a famous hymn say it well:

"Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me;
 Let there be peace on earth, the peace that was meant to be.
 With God our creator, children all are we.
 Let us walk with each other in perfect harmony.
 Let peace begin with me; let this be the moment now.
 With every step I take, let this be my solemn vow:
 To take each moment and live each moment in peace eternally.
 Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me.”
[--Words by Sy Miller and Jill Jackson (1955), cited from the United Methodist Hymnal #431]

May this be our prayer as we struggle in our world to choose the ways of Jesus (the “prince of peace”). Always remember that God loves you and I do, too!