"Peace"---Jesus' first word to the assembled disciples following His Resurrection is usually interpreted as His effort to calm His frightened friends and fellow Galileans in the presence of a visitor from the dead.
Fearful, betrayed, adrift in a hostile and riotous city, it seems likely that they needed calming by the Teacher. Recently, though, I've wondered just what the disciples were engaged in at that moment. As the first assembly of Christians, I suggest that they were arguing: about when and how to escape Jerusalem; who to follow now that Jesus was dead; was John alone supposed to carry the responsibility for Jesus's mother and any other family members cut loose by the murder of Jesus? Perhaps Jesus just needed them to focus on the first principle and the Great Commandment.
In the ancient Christian tradition of debate, argument, tirades and vilification, we carry on in the pews and the social halls. Peace would be a welcome balm for the ugly tangle of electoral politics and standards of orthodoxy. Peace should be the beginning of our invitation back to all those divided and dismayed Christians who have parted ways with us in the past.
How many of the entrenched Catholics on the left and right would be able to hear Jesus calling for peace over the tumult of acrimony?
15 October 2012
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