Where is the Love?

I'm watching the Tour de France but I can't get the pictures of the evening news out of my head. I've been taking it in all day. Hezbollah crossed into Israel killing and abducting soldiers and then commenced firing 80+ rockets across the border. Israel retaliated with air strikes bombing the international airport and many other parts of Beirut. One Israeli official said, "In Israel the land is unsettled, in Lebanon it will be hell." Another said that Beirut would be bombed back twenty years.

It is tragic that the prophetic call of U2's "Love and Peace or Else" has once again been proven all too true. Two brothers at war.

Lay down
Lay down your guns
All your daughters of Zion
All your Abraham sons

I don’t know if I can make it
I’m not easy on my knees
Here’s my heart and you can break it
I need some release, release, release

We need
Love and peace

Baby don’t fight
We can talk this thing through
It’s not a big problem
It’s just me and you
You can call or I’ll phone
The TV is still on
But the sound is turned down
And the troops on the ground
Are about to dig in

And I wonder where is the love?
Where is the love?
Where is the love?
Where is the love?
Love and peace

On July 2 former MBBS president and professor emeritus Elmer Martens preached in my church from Jeremiah 22. The prophet confronted King Jehoiakim because of the injustices in his kingdom. Martens did a masterful job of defining the Hebrew word for justice, mishpat. In western society we have come to understand justice as something we receive (I am a victim, I demand justice) or we dispense (he was convicted and justice was served). But mishpat could best be defined as "honorable relations." Justice is something that we do in relationship with others. It is active not passive. The goal is shalom -- not merely the absence of conflict, but the presence of harmony in relationships. What might a country look like if it practiced this kind of justice?

Once again, either through intention or intuition, Bono has captured the heart of the prophet Jeremiah by calling us back to love, justice and right relationships (note the relational language in the lyric above). More than once I have heard this post-punker confess, "Rage can only take you so far." The implication: love is the way. Love and Peace OR ELSE!

Comments

[Linda]

The Anglican bishop, Tom Wright (or N. T. Wright), often speaks about justice as "things being put to rights." This is so different than the kind of retributive punishment that many cultures take for justice. First and foremost it deals with relationships, but it also includes the kind of holistic restoration that shalom is all about. The "justice" we see in our court systems, or in the world in general, is not and will never be complete until God's kingdom comes in all its fullness.

[Tim Neufeld]

Thanks for the post Linda. I agree that shalom "will never be complete until God's kingdom comes in all its fullness," but what is our responsibility? Is there as sense that shalom can come in part if not in whole? Some would say that peace will never come to our planet until Christ returns, thus there is nothing we can do to avoid the situation in the middle east (ironically, some welcome the present conflict as a necessary sign of Christ's return). Others would say that it is our job as agents of God's mission (missio dei) to usher in his shalom in every way possible. There are two basic options: do nothing, do something. I'd love to hear where others stand.

[Linda]

To do nothing is to deny the reality and power of Christ in this life and to ignore following Christ's example. To think that we can accomplish utopia on earth is to deny our need of Christ's ultimate and complete healing and to make ourselves gods.

Out of gratefulness for Christ's one-off act, we actively help him bring about shalom, although our actions may be sometimes not far from the eagerness of a 4-year-old helping mommy make dinner. We might make a fairly sizable mess, but it is also possible that we may be of some small help. Regardless of the outcome, it is ultimately pleasing to a parent who is delighted that the child is taking an interest in participating with her and learning from her an act that will bless all who partake.

[Jamie Mack]

Thanks for your insights, Tim...I enjoyed reading this. It made me miss being in school and digging deeper into my role as a believer, today, looking forward to Christ's return.