More on peacemaking: 3 Pauline truths

Note: By “Pauline,” I mean, this Paul (me) and not that Paul (the Apostle Paul).

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The Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him…(saying) to them…“Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house!’ And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person, but if not, it will return to you” (Luke 10.1a, 5-6)

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I perceive in Jesus’ instruction to his disciples – whether this seventy sent forth two millennia ago and half-way ‘round the world from where I reside or to me, this day, here, where I daily abide – these two truths about peace:

1. Simply (for I believe that I understand this), I only can give away what I possess.

2. Incomprehensibly (for I do not believe that I, rationally, understand this, though, via my experience, I have come to know this), I only can keep what I give away.

From these two truths, issues a third: Peacemaking, as Jesus commands, always has been less about whether I understand it and more about whether I do it.

Illustration: Christ Sending Out the Seventy, James Tissot (1836-1902)