PEACE IS A COMMANDMENT
GOSPEL OF MARK
20:19 When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you."
Peace be with you. This is an ancient Hebrew greeting. Shalom Aleichem. If we compare it to its Arabic counterpart, to the phrase of Salem Aleikum, it is obvious that the two greetings are completely the same. These two languages are closely related to each other, Hebrew and Arabic respectively, and the speakers of these two languages are cousins.
Thus, this greeting goes back at least to Abraham or even before him, probably to Noah or even to Adam, who had to bury his slain son.
In general we know, that peace is a condition we should not take as granted by default, but it must be maintained, it must be preserved, it must be restored, it must be established. As we can see from the Bible stories. Peace is very fragile even among a couple, as Adam blamed his wife for eating the forbidden fruit.
The peace is very hard to maintain even between brothers, as it is known in the Bible, that in the very beginning Cain murdered his brother Abel, and even in the same tribal structure can easily grow deadly anger among compatriots, as it is written in the Book of Genesis, chapter four, that “Lamech said to his wives, “Adah and Zillah, hear my voice. You wives of Lamech, listen to my speech, for I have slain a man for wounding me, and a young man for bruising me. If Cain will be avenged seven times, truly Lamech seventy-seven times.”
In the same book, we can see that fatal hostility can grow between even related nations, as Jacob became the forefather of the Israelites and Esau became the forefather of the Edomites, and the two nations came to the disagreeing agreement that the world or the land around the Jordan Valley is too small to host both nations in peace. Nonetheless, it is written in the Book of Deuteronomy, that the Lord told Israel, that “You shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother.”
It can be a bitter perception from the known human history, that peace may dwell only in a land that none passed through, where no man has ever lived and quarreled angrily with each other by waging war, inflicting looting, devastation, extermination and by wiping out whole nations, making cities and half continents desolate.
The human prayer for peace is genuine, but maybe the peace is just against human nature, against the code in our DNA, which is embedded in our cells. Some scholars say that human history should be depicted according to its sad and brutal reality, as it is nothing else but a chain of long and cruel wars where even truce had been used always for preparations toward the next war. Thus, peace, as a desired, but never really achieved condition, looks like, it is as if not completely impossible, at least almost supernatural.
The realm of the Messiah King's is the home of peace beyond human reason, the home of the benevolent rule, justice, compassion and mercy, all woven into harmony. Its coming is a certainty, however even the prophets hardly dared to dream about it, as if it were only a wishful thinking, though a sure promise from God, as it is written in the Book of Isaiah, chapter two that the Lord " will judge between the nations, and will decide concerning many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”
Enduring and ruling peace on Earth definitely needs divine intervention, wisdom and guidance, supervision and even direct divine governance.
That is why the Biblical view is so important that all kings on Earth were and are usurpers, because the Lord alone is the King of the Earth and the whole universe. When kings or countries fighting for domination and overlordship, attempting to gain the upper hand, fighting for power, for rule, for resources, they are fighting for something that does not belong to them, as it is completely clear from the Lord's Prayer that Jesus says to God the Father of all that “for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.”
And this is the main point. The major cause of hatred is not that two people disagree with each other. The cause of the hatred on Earth, because humans disagree with God, rejecting God’s commandment and rejecting God, as the King.
The sinful Man can not have peace with the Lord God without complete repentance and full submission to the Lord.
According to the Book of the Judges, even the Midianite war started in the era of Judge Gideon, because “The children of Israel did that which was evil in the Lord’s sight, so the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years. (… and ...) The hand of Midian prevailed against Israel; ” until they repented and God finally sent judge Gideon, the man of valor to free the people and the land.
We have to find peace with the Lord through full repentance and by the amendments of our conduct, otherwise there is no peace inside the heart of a single person, no peace in a house, no peace within a tribe, within a nation or on the surface of the Earth or in the whole universe among the creatures and different species. And it is very logical.
The sinful human heart is filled with selfishness, animal lust, greed, blood thirst, power hunger, idolatry and blasphemy. It is impossible to reach peace in the single heart and within a household or within a tribe, or within humanity without repentance and the full acceptance of the kingship and the rule of the Lord.
Only, when God is the only king in my heart and in my country, then there will be peace in the house and on Earth, exactly as it is in Heaven. May your kingdom come, Oh Lord, may your name be praised by our deeds and by the peace among us. With the Holy Spirit may we pray, AMEN.
