Day 12 • The Week of Peace

Scripture Readings:
Psalm 126
Habakkuk 2:1-5
Philippians 3:7-11

Our world is suffering from so much division right now. Contentious debates around how society should navigate issues regarding race, gender, sexuality, religion, nationality, and so much more have become national and even global realities. Sadly, we are struggling to navigate these issues with grace and humility, and far too often, we cause a lot of harm by handling them with coercion and vengeance. Unfortunately, this isn’t a new phenomenon. It has been something that humanity has been wrestling with in every age. The debates just look different depending on the historical context.

Take the context of our passage from Philippians 3:7-11 as an example. Paul is writing on a hot-button cultural issue of his day, but one that may not even register on our radars today: circumcision. At that time, the Jesus movement was a growing sect within Judaism, not something separate from it. With those like Paul spreading the gospel of Jesus to Gentiles non-Jewish believers, there was a deeply heated debate over how they could be brought into right relationship with God. Many people demanded that Gentiles must be circumcised and become Jews before they could have a relationship with God. In this passage from Philippians, Paul is condemning that kind of approach. But why?

Unfortunately, like many passages in the New Testament, Philippians 3 has been interpreted in an “anti-Jewish” way when nothing could be further from the truth. Just as in his mini-biography in Galatians 1:13-17, Paul also describes here his Jewish pedigree. He was circumcised on the eighth day, born of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews and, in regard to the law, a Pharisee (3:5). Paul did not “convert” from being a Jew to a follower of Jesus. Rather, Paul understood himself to be akin to a Jewish prophet, who pointed to Jesus as the fulfillment of the long-awaited reconciliation and wholeness promised by God.

Understanding this is so important, not only to acknowledge the Jewish roots of the Jesus movement but to understand the radical nature of Paul’s message here and in his other letters. For Paul, Christ’s willingness to endure an unjust crucifixion radically ushered in an entirely new age of right relationship between all people and God, not in spite of their diversity, but in the midst of humanity’s beautiful diversity (Romans 3:21-26; 15:7). Jews do not have to stop being Jewish nor do Gentiles need to stop being Gentiles. They are welcomed by Jesus just as they are, and Paul is asking that they welcome one another in that same radical way.

With circumcision being a sign of distinction between Jews and Gentiles, the way Paul saw it is that when both Jews and Gentiles gathered together for meals, fellowship, interpreting the scriptures together, and worked to live as people of God together, they were living out the sign of new creation ushered in by the cross of Jesus! Diverse people united by Jesus! For the Jews, God is fulfilling the covenant of gathering all people from all nations into the fold of God, and for the Gentiles, God is welcoming them in with radical love. In this way, Jews in Paul’s community can continue to be faithful to their faith and its practices, just as Paul himself was, and just as they were free to be who God called them to be, Gentiles would also have the same freedom in Christ.

Paul’s example here shows us modern-day Christians how we can both treat our religious beliefs as deeply sacred, yet not use them as a cause to exclude others who are different from us but search for the ways Christ is working in the midst of the beautiful diversity that is humanity. This is a theme echoed all throughout the Bible, with one of my favorite examples being the day of Pentecost in Acts 2, where the Holy Spirit did not come and obliterate all languages for the sake of one uniform language, but everyone could hear the disciples speaking in their own native language (Acts 2:8). Acts 2 goes on to describe how the Holy Spirit does the same in regards to age, gender, economic class, nationality, and ethnicity. God’s spirit is “poured out on all flesh,” not obliterating diversity but bringing unity in the midst of diversity. Now, that is beautiful power. What a picture of true peace being made by God.

This is the kind of peace and “goodwill towards all people” that defines Christ’s arrival at Christmas. This is the kind of peace the world continues to long for yet struggles so much to embody. We humans are so often filled with fear by each other’s differences rather than filled with hope over how we might find solidarity in our shared humanity while celebrating our diversity. The season of Advent invites followers of Jesus to dare to imagine and even embody such an age of peace ushered in by the coming of Jesus.

Reflection Steps

Peace is something so many of us long for, but it is something that asks us to truly make room for each other, including our differences. Today, I want to invite you to think about this idea of making room for others within your community, especially those whom you find so different from you. Does this idea bring you comfort or discomfort? If it is discomfort, what about their differences causes that for you? Is this perhaps an opportunity to try to understand those differences in a more positive way? As you do this, think of a time when you were welcomed by someone exactly as you are, with no demands for conformity. Then, think of ways you might be able to do that better for others.