Tuesday, November 11, 2003
Tuesday, November 11, 2003
"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God."
(Matthew 5.9
NRSV)
The most natural thing in the world is for us to love ourselves and those who are an extension of ourselves--our family, or clan or tribe--and to ignore or even despise the rest of the world. I read somewhere that among many tribal peoples, the word for human being is also the name of the tribe. Therefore, members of a different tribe are by definition not human beings. It is no coincidence that among many of the head- hunting tribes of the Amazon, killing a fellow tribesman is murder, whereas killing someone else is simply "hunting." That is the way primitive people think.
I guess "primitive" is not the right word. After all, it was less than a century ago the governor of a Western state in this country could publicly suggest the extermination of Indians. After all they were "savages," according to this way of thinking- -something less than human.
One comedian said it best. He said historians have recently found the very first treaty the United States government ever signed with the Indians. The treaty states that the Indians can keep their lands "for as long as the river runs clear, as long as the buffalo roam, as long as the grass grows tall, and as long as the mountains stand proud--or ninety days--whichever comes first!"
That is the natural way for human beings to behave. To love their own and to despise the foreigner, the stranger, the outsider. It is the natural way, but it is not the way of those who have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ. God has reached down into our lives. He has loved us with an everlasting love--even though we are unworthy. And He has called us to share that love with others. And those "others" are not limited to our family, our community, our city, our nation or even our faith.
God of peace, may I be a true peacemaker in bringing your people together. Amen.
