I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.  In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. – John 16:33

 

Oh are we in the middle of it.
Like me, you probably went to bed with a heavy heart about the state of our country and our city last night.
And then, like me, you woke up this morning to more bad news, to another tragic event, more unnecessary death and violence.
And you might have started to wonder – will things ever get better?
Is this the way things are now?
And I know, I KNOW that’s an easy place to go.
Things right now seem so hopeless, and the thing about hopelessness is that it can leave us feeling powerless and impotent.  

Jesus knew things weren’t going to be sunshine and roses forever.
In fact, he told his disciples to “take heart” just moments before his arrest and execution.
Take heart.
The Greek word there means “have courage” or “be courageous.”
Yeah. He KNEW how bad life could get.
And he knew that the easiest response is hopelessness.

And then Jesus gives us this: νενίκηκα τὸν κόσμον
I have conquered the world.

(If you want to try saying it, it’s nen-i-ke-ka tone ko-smone)

Kosmon- where we get our word cosmos.
And nenikeka from the root nikao – which means to subdue, overcome, conquer.  

Jesus essentially says, the world can be a hard place, but I have conquered the world.
Anything the world can throw at you – I am bigger.
Any hatred or violence or despair – I have subdued it.

I need this today.
I need this so badly.
Because the world seems bleak.
It seems pretty dark.
But Jesus said this to his disciples and then was arrested and killed and in doing so showed us what conquering actually looks like.
It doesn’t look like violence.
It doesn’t look like hate.
It looks like love that will go further than any of those things.

And for why?
For whom?

For you.
For me.
For us.
For all of us.

Today, preacher, author, and New Testament Scholar Dr Eric Barreto said: “What if the opposite of violence isn’t peace as much as it is a radical love that cannot bear the taking of life because the taking of life is a denial of whom God has said we are?”

No matter what we believe, what we look like, or who we support – we are all children of God – and that means something.
Something undeniable.
We are children of God.
And with love – radical love – God has overcome hate.
With love – radical love – God has subdued violence.

“In this world you will have trouble – but take heart, I have overcome the world.”

So today I encourage you to do more than pray for peace, and do more than fall prey to hopelessness.
Trust that the radical love of God has overcome all the darkness the world has to offer, and then jump in.  Be a peaceMAKER.
Share, show, be the radical love of God to everyone around you.
Break the cycle.
Overcome.