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The Other Jesus, Part 3, Week 2, Day 3

by David Joynt on July 31, 2018

The Other Jesus, Part 3, Week 2, Day 3

LUKE 12:51

Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!

Here is our hard saying! “Do you think I’ve come to bring peace on the earth?” Well yes we do, Lord! Your birth was announced by angels who announced “peace among these whom God favors.” You called your disciples to be peacemakers, overcoming division and strife. (See Luke 2:14 and Matthew 5:9.) You prayed for unity among your disciples in your final prayer in John 17:11, and in your Resurrection appearances you gave your distressed disciples the gift of your peace. (John 20:19)

Yet here Jesus says, “No, I tell you, I came to bring division!”

PRAYER

Prince of Peace, grant us your peace, Lord, which passes understanding. In a world of trouble and dis-unity of harsh words and deadly conflict, let us be vessels of your reconciliation, bridge builders, and relationship menders. May our community be knit together in truth and love, deep enough to share the world a more excellent way. Amen.

 

Tags: peace

About the Author
David Joynt

Dave Joynt began his service as a pastor at Valley Presbyterian Church in Paradise Valley, Arizona in September 2014. This meant a move away from the Northeast, where he has a long history, growing up in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and then serving congregations in Delaware and New Jersey for a total of 23 years.

Dave was nurtured in a great church in Bethlehem where his parents, Anne and Carey, served as elders. He graduated in classics from Lehigh University where his Father taught, and then from Oxford, where he met his wife Julia. Ordained in 1988, he completed a Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1993.

He and Julia have a son, Tristan, and a daughter, Madeleine.

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