Read Romans 5:6-11; 1 Corinthians 15:1-8.
A missionary got so frustrated with the protracted war between two tribes in his mission field. He has had enough of the bloodshed that he threatened to leave them and move to another tribe. He feared the worst when he saw the warring tribes in front of his house the next day. Then the tribes performed a tribal ceremony for a peace treaty. The chieftain of one tribe handed over his newborn baby to the chieftain of the other tribe. It is said that as long as the child (dubbed as the “peace child”) is alive, there will be no war between those tribes. There will be peace.
I’ve also heard of another peace treaty where the chieftains of the tribes in conflict would exchange names and weapons as a gesture of oneness and trust between them. Then, to seal the treaty, they would cut themselves and rub salt or dirt on the wounds to make sure it would form scars. As long as the scars were there, it was a visual reminder of the treaty. There will be no war among them.
I wonder what could have happened if, in a tragic twist of fate, a snake bit the peace child or a lightning struck one of chieftains? While they were dying, just imagine what is going on in the minds of those people. Were they worried that war could erupt in their midst once they draw their last breath? Were they already sharpening their swords as they lower the child or the chieftain down the grave? What they did were dramatic gestures for peace but it appears they were tragic ones for these could not bring lasting peace.
But our Lord Jesus Christ is the perfect peace child. We were God’s enemies, but the death of Christ on the cross brought reconciliation between us and God. And His resurrection from the dead proves that God accepted His sacrifice. “For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son.” (Romans 5:10, NLT)
It is also interesting that when He rose from the dead, even if He transformed His tortured body into a glorified one, the nail wounds in His hands and the wound in His side remained in His resurrected body. It proved to His disciples that the One who appeared before them was really the Lord Himself who rose from the dead, and not someone allegedly pretending to be Him. (Remember the disciple dubbed as “Doubting Thomas”? He refused to believe that Jesus had risen unless he saw and put his fingers into the nail wounds in the Lord’s hands and touched the wound in His side. The Lord “called his dare” and Thomas ended up declaring Him as Lord and God. You can read about that event in John 20:24-29.)
But, much more than that, it reminds us of the scars of the tribal peace treaty. It appears those marks serve as the visual reminder for all eternity of the peace treaty between mankind and God. Without the resurrection, the crucifixion would have been just be another dramatic but tragic story. But because He lives, His death on the cross became the defining moment of history.
But it does not stop there. Not only that we will have peace with God when we put our trust in our Lord Jesus as our Savior (Romans 5:1), we will also have the peace with ourselves as people who have been forgiven (Colossians 1:14, 2:13-14). The reason people are often angry at others is because they have this anger boiling in their hearts, directed toward themselves – like Bruce Banner. Before he turned into the Hulk in one of the Avengers movies, he confessed, “I’m always angry.” As the Bible put it, “What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you?” (James 4:1, NLT) And so, having found peace from being graciously granted mercy, forgiveness, and grace by God, we should be able to humbly treat others with the same.
Because of our Lord’s death and resurrection, we are no longer at war with God, with others, and with ourselves. In a word, peace. That divine peace treaty is eternal. Jesus indeed is the ultimate, unique Peace Child who brought real lasting peace!
Rev. Eyriche C. Cortez is the pastor of Filinvest Community Christian Fellowship in Batasan Hills, Quezon City. He teaches as an adjunct faculty member at the International Graduate School of Leadership and at the Febias College of Bible. He is also the author of Add On: Putting 2 Peter 1:1-11 in Action.
