Peace

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

PEACE

Luke 12:57-59

57 "Why don't you judge for yourselves what is right? 58 As you are going with your adversary to the magistrate, try hard to be reconciled to him on the way, or he may drag you off to the judge, and the judge turn you over to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. 59 I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny." 

NIV

Jesus had turned his attention from his teaching his disciples certain truths to the crowd and was speaking to them. He had just finished telling them how they could discern or forecast the weather but could not forecast the time they were in, that being the time of the Messiah, him. Now it seems he begins to interfere in their social life and about their disputes with one another. That is simply not the case as Jesus is always concerned about the eternal matters and their souls. Although some scholars reject this idea completely, it seems appropriate to consider that our sin had made God our adversary. Our sin has provoked his displeasure with us. He has both right and might on his side and it would seem useless to battle with him in any way. We know that Christ has been given all authority of judgement and he is the magistrate before we must go. If we try to take our stand or make our defense trying to justify ourselves, the case will surely go against us and we will be thrown into jail, hell as it were, but as we can see that will not be forever. We will not get out until we have paid the last penny, which is death, spiritual death in the lake of burner sulfur, for that is where hell is also thrown. This seems to make sense within the context of his entire message to the people. He was showing them their hypocrisy and the cost it would be to continue in that path. We know that as we accept his message and understand we have no case of our own and that we have been reconciled to God through Jesus Christ. We are no longer his, or is he our adversary, as we are now his children through Jesus Christ. We have been justified on the cross with Jesus. When we return to any attempt to live by rules and regulations established by men are we making some effort to justify ourselves, by righteous behavior? Do we think we are better than simply being sinners saved by grace? By our attempts at righteous behavior have we once again become an adversary of God? Should we not judge for ourselves what is right? Should we not judge that we need to be at peace with God and the only way to do that is through Jesus? Nothing we can every do, no matter how righteous we try to be, no matter how good we think we can be, nothing will give us any reason to be justified. Only Jesus can do that. Of course we should not continue to sin so that God’s grace can abound. Yet it is impossible not to sin, so that which Paul argues is about continuing to live in sin, going about doing whatever we please as if had refused salvation, or before we had accepted Jesus. But the point is still the same. We cannot justify ourselves in any way, buy any behavior. We need to make peace with God, and it is only through Jesus that we can do that. We should say it another way. The only way God makes peace with us is through Jesus. The only way we can have true peace is in Christ.