Reconciliation – is the measure of peace

Ephesians 2:11-22

¹¹ Don’t forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders. You were called “uncircumcised heathens” by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts. ¹² In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope. ¹³ But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ.

¹⁴ For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. ¹⁵ He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups. ¹⁶ Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death.

¹⁷ He brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were near. ¹⁸ Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us.

¹⁹ So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. ²⁰ Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. ²¹ We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. ²² Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.

When Nelson Mandala was elected Prime Minister in South Africa, after 27 years in jail.  He created the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to hear the atrocities that white people had done to those who were Africans.   “The rules were simple:  if a white policeman or army officer voluntarily faced his accusers, confessed his crime and fully acknowledged his guilt, he could not be tried and punished for that crime.”  Mandela knew that truth was needed for reconciliation to occur.  However true reconciliation could not be attained by money, payments, etc, but only through forgiveness.

“When the world sees grace in action, it falls silent.”  *

The most memorable story was a white policeman (van der Broek) who had killed a woman’s husband and 18-year-old son in front of her.  As the woman shared her grief, the judge asked her what she wanted from the policeman.  The woman asked that he would gather the dust where her husband and son died, and he would help her bury them.  She then said she had a lot of love to give and asked that van der Broek would be required to come to her home twice a month and spend a day with her, so that she could be a mother to him.  She wanted to tell van der Broek that God had forgiven him, and she also had forgiven him.  I would now like to embrace him so he could know my forgiveness is real.  Amazing Grace began being sung spontaneously in the courtroom as she made her way toward van der Broek.  He had collapsed to the floor from feeling overwhelmed by grace.

When the world sees Jesus Christ in action through us, there is no question that God is alive and living through us.

Lord Jesus, just as you forgave from the cross, help us to be that example in our lives.  Help us to forgive and continue to respond in the opposite spirit to the world.  May you be seen in US.  In Jesus name, Amen.

Written by Ps. Sue Botta

*Story is taken from “Rumours of Another World by Philip Yancey