Tonight in my reading, I came across Ephesians 2:13-18. I know I’ve read this plenty of times, but I was struck by how Paul chooses to frame the Gospel story:

13But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.14For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, 16and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

Reconciliation, specifically the reconciliatory work of Christ, is the lens for understanding this passage. Christ has reconciled us to God by becoming our peace. Our access to God now comes through Christ, by the Spirit. Now we participate in this work by becoming peacemakers ourselves (“Blessed are the peacemakers,” Matt. 5:9). This makes peace a central issue in my quest to affect reconciliation.

I met with a sweet lady on Thursday, Marian Behrens. Marian has been diagnosed with colon cancer and her prognosis is not good. She doesn’t have long to live. She came in and wanted to talk to me about baptism. We’d spoken for about 10 seconds before she broke down in tears. She just wanted to be reconciled to God. She wanted peace. So we took her to the baptistery and baptized her into Christ. And we trust in the truth of this Word. May Christ be Marian’s peace.