"When Jesus’ followers saw what was going to happen, they said, “Lord, should we strike with our swords?” And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear. But Jesus answered, “No more of this!” And he touched the man’s ear and healed him."
Luke 22:49-51
The disciples of Jesus were committed to their perception of righteousness.
The Holy Spirit had not yet fallen on them...they were zealous in their own minds,
and so they raised their swords, thinking that they were protecting their Master and themselves. But they misunderstood. They had somehow missed the message of the first and second greatest commandments: loving God first, and loving others secondly, and therefore what would flow outwards as such a response.
Jesus restored an injured man of the harm that a disciple acting wrongly had caused.
In the history of the Church, countless wars have been waged in the name of Jesus and a wrong sense of righteousness. In my humble opinion, the Church has been fragmented by doctrines and dogmas, the Body of Christ dismembered, by a wrong sense of what the righteousness of God really is supposed to manifest, namely unity, restoration, renewal, and reconciliation:
"For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves." Romans 12:3-5, 10
Beloved, ask the Holy Spirit to enable us to extend the same grace to those we have previously judged, and probably misjudged, spoken against, or caused discord in the Body-just as our Father has extended so much undeserved grace and mercy on each of us.
Luke 22:49-51
The disciples of Jesus were committed to their perception of righteousness.
The Holy Spirit had not yet fallen on them...they were zealous in their own minds,
and so they raised their swords, thinking that they were protecting their Master and themselves. But they misunderstood. They had somehow missed the message of the first and second greatest commandments: loving God first, and loving others secondly, and therefore what would flow outwards as such a response.
Jesus restored an injured man of the harm that a disciple acting wrongly had caused.
In the history of the Church, countless wars have been waged in the name of Jesus and a wrong sense of righteousness. In my humble opinion, the Church has been fragmented by doctrines and dogmas, the Body of Christ dismembered, by a wrong sense of what the righteousness of God really is supposed to manifest, namely unity, restoration, renewal, and reconciliation:
"For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves." Romans 12:3-5, 10
Beloved, ask the Holy Spirit to enable us to extend the same grace to those we have previously judged, and probably misjudged, spoken against, or caused discord in the Body-just as our Father has extended so much undeserved grace and mercy on each of us.
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