Wednesday, March 04, 2015

Jesus as peace

For Paul, then, Jesus is “the Messiah, our peace” (cf. Eph 2:14) by virtue of his peacemaking death that has made God’s enemies into God’s friends, and has also made people who are naturally quite different and even estranged into one body, one reconciled people of the (new) covenant. This is a reality, a divine and messianic gift. The promised peace has arrived, in all of its dimensions. At the same time, however, it has not arrived in its fullness and, for that reason, it is a peace that needs to be embraced and embodied day to day. That is, Jesus the Lord of peace continues the work of peace in the present. We need, then, to consider Jesus as the present Lord of peace, and thus to peace as ecclesial practice.— The Death of the Messiah and the Birth of the New Covenant, page 178

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