Point of Reference
Point of Reference
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Matthew 5:10
“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. …You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven, for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.” Matthew 5:38-45
There is an experience common to those of us who drive automobiles. It often occurs after you have pulled up to a stoplight and your car is sitting on a slight incline. As you sit there waiting for the light to turn green, you notice movement out of the corner of your eye. This movement can be disorienting and confusing: Is your car moving? Is the adjacent car moving? Are your brakes failing? Are you going to collide with the car in front of you? The experience usually elicits a quick response, causing you to slam down hard on the brake pedal as you seek to determine what is happening. To remove all doubt, your eye may quickly scan the landscape searching for a sign, a tree, or some type of immobile object – something to serve as a point of reference. Once you find this point of reference, you can reorient yourself to the truth.
It is a fitting analogy for Christian living in today’s world. There are times in our journey of discipleship when we may become disoriented and confused. There are so many voices clamoring for our attention. There are so many people offering alternative ways of seeing and believing. There are so many things moving around us and beside us that we may find ourselves confused: Are we moving? Is the world moving? Has our faith grown or has it merely accommodated culture? Are we going to collide with those in front of us? Do we know the truth about who we are and what we believe?
I have experienced such disorientation in recent days. There are so many voices clamoring for war. There are so many speeches for “preemptive strikes” against Iraq. There are so many people offering alternative ways of “seeing, believing, protecting, and securing.” It is enough to confuse the best of us. What is the faithful Christian response to this crisis? Perhaps we should heed the instinctive impulse to hit the brakes hard and start scanning the horizon for a sign, a tree, or some type of object to serve as a point of reference. We need something or someone who can reorient us to the truth about ourselves and the truth about our world. For Christians, that point of reference is Jesus Christ.
Christians must use Jesus as our point of reference and not be too quick to dismiss or “explain” what Jesus “must have meant.” A quick look to our Point of Reference reveals instruction like: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God … love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” It doesn’t sound much like sound international policy or wise counsel to those worried about national security, but then Jesus never suggested such teaching would be popular – only faithful. The church cannot afford to be silent or complacent about where we stand as followers of Jesus. Before we implicitly or explicitly support this latest campaign to destroy our enemies – those of us who call ourselves Christian may need to hit the brakes and look again to our Point of Reference.
