{"id":30518,"date":"2025-11-23T02:14:53","date_gmt":"2025-11-23T07:14:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/henrykarlson\/?p=30518"},"modified":"2025-11-23T02:14:53","modified_gmt":"2025-11-23T07:14:53","slug":"embracing-peace-a-call-to-unity-and-healing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/henrykarlson\/2025\/11\/embracing-peace-a-call-to-unity-and-healing\/","title":{"rendered":"Embracing Peace: A Call To Unity And Healing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>
Scan Dom Grabar, Die Kunst des fr\u00fchen Christentums: The Healing Of A Bleeding Woman, Rome, Catacombs Of Marcellinus And Peter \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Christ is the prince of peace<\/a>. \u201cFor to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called \u2018Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace\u2019\u201d (Isa. 9:6 RSV). Those who would turn Jesus into a warrior-messiah, someone who will conquer the world by violence, misunderstand his messianic mission. They would have Jesus give into the temptation of the devil<\/a> in the desert who offered him all earthly control if he would but take and use it, and in that fashion, bow down to the devil by following the devil\u2019s ways. Jesus, to be sure, is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, but he exercises his authority<\/a> in and with love, and through that love, he establishes bonds of peace. That is, he establishes a peace which brings people together as one so that they can receive the Spirit of peace for themselves; then, the will be able to become adopted children of God: \u201cAnd he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near;\u00a0 for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father\u201d\u00a0 (Eph. 4:17-18 RSV).<\/p>\n

We are called to be one<\/a>. We are meant to experience the peace of Christ<\/a>, not just individually, all by ourselves, but with everyone. We must not look at others as strangers to hate or fear, but as those whom Christ loves. We are to find a way to be with them, to treat them with love and respect, and if they are in need, to help them with their needs. This is the way of Christ, the way which we are to follow if we are to properly bear the name of Christ as Christians. This is how we are to represent and bring Christ\u2019s presence<\/a> into the world. We are to show the world the true peace of Christ<\/a>, the peace which is not established by force but which comes from and is preserved by love. We, after all, were once estranged from God, and instead of coming to us with violence, seeking to dominate and control us with force, Christ came to us, doing what he could to give us his peace so that we can find ourselves within the household of God:\u00a0 \u201cSo then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God\u201d (Eph. 4:19 RSV). We should, therefore, look to others with the way Christ looked to us, not as strangers to be hated and resisted, not as someone to dominate or control, but as those who need love and mercy.<\/p>\n

Thus, in the incarnation, Jesus breaks down the barriers<\/a> between the people instead of setting more of them up, or preserving intact those which already exist. His work heals the wounds of sin<\/a> in the world. His victory, his peace, is eschatological, but it is anticipated in many ways, including in the ways he healed those who came to him with faith, such as we see happened when a woman<\/a> came to him and touched him:<\/p>\n

And a woman who had had a flow of blood for twelve years and could not be healed by any one, and had spent all her living upon physicians,\u00a0 came up behind him, and touched the fringe of his garment; and immediately her flow of blood ceased.\u00a0 And Jesus said, \u201cWho was it that touched me?\u201d When all denied it, Peter said, \u201cMaster, the multitudes surround you and press upon you!\u201d\u00a0 But Jesus said, \u201cSome one touched me; for I perceive that power has gone forth from me.\u201d\u00a0 And when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling, and falling down before him declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched him, and how she had been immediately healed. And he said to her, \u201cDaughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace\u201d (Lk. 8:43-48 RSV).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The woman was healed by her faith. It made her well. Christ gave her a new peace within, a peace which was manifested externally by her bodily healing. Then she was sent back into the world so that she could become a bearer and representative of the peace which is to be had in the kingdom<\/a> of God. Healing those with pain and sorrow, therefore, is important. We must recognize there are many ways someone might need to be healed, many kinds of sicknesses, some which are physical, some which are mental, and some which can be said to be spiritual.\u00a0 Christians who share Christ\u2019s presence, Christ\u2019s peace, to the world must follow the example set by Christ and seek to bring healing to those in need.<\/a> Those who would withhold medical care for some, especially the poor and vulnerable, work against the peace of Christ. It should not be surprising, therefore, that those who would deny medical help to those in need will also make war in the world, seeking to dominate and control it, showing little to no sympathy to those they hurt. They do not love peace, no matter how many times they pretend otherwise.<\/p>\n

Christ\u2019s interests should be our interests.\u00a0 We should look into the world with Christ\u2019s eyes<\/a>, the eyes of love. We are to see those in need, and care for them, helping them the best we can. We are to show them love, treating them with the dignity and respect we would show Christ. This is one of the ways we are to build up God\u2019s kingdom. We will be following the example of the prince of peace, Christ. \u201cFor he is our peace, who has made us both one, and has broken down the dividing wall of hostility\u201d (Eph. 4:14 RSV). When we are confirmed (chrismated<\/a>), we take on Christ\u2019s name, we are anointing with his anointing; we are to embrace the Spirit of peace, sharing Christ\u2019s true peace with the world. We are to bring healing to the world, not more pain and destruction. We are to overcome hostility with love, showing compassion to those in need. Why, then, do we often do otherwise?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Stay in touch! <\/em>Like A Little Bit of Nothing<\/em><\/a> on Facebook. <\/em>
\nIf you liked what you read, please consider sharing it with your friends and family! <\/em><\/p>\n

N.B.:\u00a0 While I read comments to moderate them, I rarely respond to them. If I don\u2019t respond to your comment directly, don\u2019t assume I am unthankful for it. I appreciate it. But I want readers to feel free to ask questions, and hopefully, dialogue with each other. I have shared what I wanted to say, though some responses will get a brief reply by me, or, if I find it interesting and something I can engage fully, as the foundation for another post. I have had many posts inspired or improved upon thanks to my readers. <\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Christ is the prince of peace. \u201cFor to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called \u2018Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace\u2019\u201d (Isa. 9:6 RSV). Those who would turn Jesus into a warrior-messiah, someone who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2643,"featured_media":30521,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3727,328,3288],"tags":[830,174],"class_list":["post-30518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-healing","category-jesus","category-work","tag-healing","tag-jesus"],"yoast_head":"\nEmbracing Peace: A Call To Unity And Healing<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Christ healing people who came to him represent one of the ways he brought the peace of the kingdom of God into the world.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/henrykarlson\/2025\/11\/embracing-peace-a-call-to-unity-and-healing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Embracing Peace: A Call To Unity And Healing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Christ healing people who came to him represent one of the ways he brought the peace of the kingdom of God into the world.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/henrykarlson\/2025\/11\/embracing-peace-a-call-to-unity-and-healing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"A Little Bit of Nothing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-11-23T07:14:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/637\/2025\/10\/Healing_of_a_bleeding_women_Marcellinus-Peter-Catacomb.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"960\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Henry Karlson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Henry Karlson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/henrykarlson\/2025\/11\/embracing-peace-a-call-to-unity-and-healing\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/henrykarlson\/2025\/11\/embracing-peace-a-call-to-unity-and-healing\/\",\"name\":\"Embracing Peace: A Call To Unity And Healing\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/henrykarlson\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-23T07:14:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-23T07:14:53+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/henrykarlson\/#\/schema\/person\/269348dfd5e71e22d2b6ff023593bb36\"},\"description\":\"Christ healing people who came to him represent one of the ways he brought the peace of the kingdom of God into the world.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/henrykarlson\/2025\/11\/embracing-peace-a-call-to-unity-and-healing\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/henrykarlson\/2025\/11\/embracing-peace-a-call-to-unity-and-healing\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/henrykarlson\/2025\/11\/embracing-peace-a-call-to-unity-and-healing\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/henrykarlson\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Embracing Peace: A Call To Unity And Healing\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/henrykarlson\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/henrykarlson\/\",\"name\":\"A Little Bit of Nothing\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/henrykarlson\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/henrykarlson\/#\/schema\/person\/269348dfd5e71e22d2b6ff023593bb36\",\"name\":\"Henry Karlson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/henrykarlson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/03e9d0aef2c173710576b61c5b97db97?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/03e9d0aef2c173710576b61c5b97db97?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Henry Karlson\"},\"description\":\"Henry Karlson, after studying early church history and theology, and talking to a close friend who could answer many of his questions, became a Byzantine Catholic in 1995. Because of his interests, he eventually pursued graduate studies in theology. He has a wide variety of topics he likes to talk about which will be reflected upon here, including, but not limited to, Patrology, Sophiology, Comparative Theology, Theological Aesthetics, Eschatology and Literature.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/henrykarlson\/author\/hkarlson\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Embracing Peace: A Call To Unity And Healing","description":"Christ healing people who came to him represent one of the ways he brought the peace of the kingdom of God into the world.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/henrykarlson\/2025\/11\/embracing-peace-a-call-to-unity-and-healing\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Embracing Peace: A Call To Unity And Healing","og_description":"Christ healing people who came to him represent one of the ways he brought the peace of the kingdom of God into the world.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/henrykarlson\/2025\/11\/embracing-peace-a-call-to-unity-and-healing\/","og_site_name":"A Little Bit of Nothing","article_published_time":"2025-11-23T07:14:53+00:00","og_image":[{"width":960,"height":1280,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/637\/2025\/10\/Healing_of_a_bleeding_women_Marcellinus-Peter-Catacomb.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Henry Karlson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Henry Karlson","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/henrykarlson\/2025\/11\/embracing-peace-a-call-to-unity-and-healing\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/henrykarlson\/2025\/11\/embracing-peace-a-call-to-unity-and-healing\/","name":"Embracing Peace: A Call To Unity And Healing","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/henrykarlson\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-11-23T07:14:53+00:00","dateModified":"2025-11-23T07:14:53+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/henrykarlson\/#\/schema\/person\/269348dfd5e71e22d2b6ff023593bb36"},"description":"Christ healing people who came to him represent one of the ways he brought the peace of the kingdom of God into the world.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/henrykarlson\/2025\/11\/embracing-peace-a-call-to-unity-and-healing\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/henrykarlson\/2025\/11\/embracing-peace-a-call-to-unity-and-healing\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/henrykarlson\/2025\/11\/embracing-peace-a-call-to-unity-and-healing\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/henrykarlson\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Embracing Peace: A Call To Unity And Healing"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/henrykarlson\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/henrykarlson\/","name":"A Little Bit of Nothing","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/henrykarlson\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/henrykarlson\/#\/schema\/person\/269348dfd5e71e22d2b6ff023593bb36","name":"Henry Karlson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/henrykarlson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/03e9d0aef2c173710576b61c5b97db97?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/03e9d0aef2c173710576b61c5b97db97?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Henry Karlson"},"description":"Henry Karlson, after studying early church history and theology, and talking to a close friend who could answer many of his questions, became a Byzantine Catholic in 1995. Because of his interests, he eventually pursued graduate studies in theology. He has a wide variety of topics he likes to talk about which will be reflected upon here, including, but not limited to, Patrology, Sophiology, Comparative Theology, Theological Aesthetics, Eschatology and Literature.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/henrykarlson\/author\/hkarlson\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/henrykarlson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/henrykarlson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/henrykarlson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/henrykarlson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2643"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/henrykarlson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/henrykarlson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30518\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/henrykarlson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/henrykarlson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/henrykarlson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/henrykarlson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}