Friday, October 19, 2001
Friday, October 19, 2001
"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God."
The hatred between the Samaritans and the Jews is captured in this moment of Jesus'
rejection.
Jesus' own disciples, James and John, ask him if he'd like them to command fire to
come down
from heaven and consume these Samaritans! Apparently James and John had been
playing hooky
when Jesus taught, "Blessed are the peacemakers!"
It's a sign of Jesus' grace that instead of raining down fire on the Samaritans, he chews
out his
disciples, and later makes a hated Samaritan the hero of his parable about the Good
Samaritan.
There is a lot that is wrong in our world, but there is also a lot that is right. "Blessed are
the
peacemakers."
(Matthew 5:9
NRSV)
Jesus is walking through Samaria. Right away we know we're in for an interesting story
because
the Jews and the Samaritans were like the Hatfields and the McCoys. They'd been
feuding for
centuries! The Samaritans viewed their form of Judaism as superior to that practiced
by the rest
of the Jews of Palestine. They had their own Samaritan Pentateuch, (or first five books
of the
Bible.) They claimed it was older, and therefore more authentic, than the Jewish Torah.
They
refused to worship at the Temple in Jerusalem, having their own Temple on Mt.
Gerizim. As we
read in Luke 9, Jesus himself had already been rejected by the Samaritans once he set
"his face
towards Jerusalem."
Lord Jesus, thank you for the peace you have brought to my life. Help me to be a
helpful
peacemaker. Amen.
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