Devotion for the Tuesday of the Fourth Week in Advent

Theme for the week: peace

Devotion for the tuesday of the fourth Week in Advent (Day 24)

Reading: Zechariah 9:9–12 (NRSV)

⁹ Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. ¹⁰ He will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war-horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall command peace to the nations; his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth. ¹¹ As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit. ¹² Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today I declare that I will restore to you double.

REFLECTION: “He shall command peace to the nations”

Who is powerful enough to command peace among nations for whom creating war seems to be second nature? In the global arena, tensions and disagreements seem to rapidly escalate into warfare. When disagreements occur, treaties and agreements cause sides to rapidly coalesce and prepare to do battle. The past century has seen two world wars and innumerable smaller scale wars, rebellions and conflicts. Some of these “smaller scale” wars are in areas of the world that have been conflict and war torn for millennia. Who is powerful enough to command peace? Peace, peace, is there no peace?

In this Advent season, we sing one of the newer hymns from Evangelical Lutheran Worship whose title is “Come Now, O Prince of Peace”. In this hymn we ask for the Prince of Peace to make us one body and for Jesus to reconcile his people. Because of our sinful natures, self-interest and divisiveness, it is not possible for us to make peace ourselves. Only the power of God made manifest in Christ can bring peace into the world. In this Advent season, we pray for the Prince of Peace to come as a way to unite and mend our differences, bringing the peace that transcends our sinfulness.

PRAYER:

Prince of Peace, we pray that your healing power and uniting force might bring peace into this troubled world. Amen