Excerpt from Peace: God's Infinite Justice
by Virginia Wiles

Paul declares that he did not come to Corinth either in power or in wisdom. Instead, he writes, "I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified" (1 Cor. 2:2).

Reflecting on Sept. 11, it would have been easier had Paul's words been "Jesus Christ, and him resurrected." We could have talked together about how God's response to the crucifixion was resurrection, not retaliation. I could have talked with some force about how the resurrection was God's act of peace in the midst of violence. These things are true. But Paul speaks in this text only of crucifixion. What does he mean when he says he decided to preach only this: "Jesus Christ, and him crucified"? How is that good news?

According to Paul, Christ's death was his ultimate identification with humanity. In his death we see the image of every violence, every humiliation. In his death we know our own deaths. Through his humiliation we know our own humiliation. We share his death. Thus, do we recognize that God chooses what is weak, the lowly and despised. God chose the crucified Christ.

We grieve those lives lost on Sept. 11, 2001. We grieve for their families, for their friends and colleagues. We grieve for a nation stunned in pain. And so we should. But for those who know Jesus Christ and him crucified, our grief does not turn to a retaliatory anger. Righteous indignation cannot compensate for this grief. For in those thousands of losses, in each multiplied ripple and wave of anguish, we meet the depth of our poverty in spirit. We know in our depths Jesus Christ, and him crucified.

Christ is our righteousness and sanctification and redemption (1 Cor. 1:30). Christ is the righteousness of God. In him is expressed and accomplished God's passionate desire for peace. But to know Christ—and thus to know God's righteousness—is to know his crucifixion and to know our own deaths. We cannot seek for peace apart from knowing our own death, apart from confronting our own complicity in violence, apart from recognizing that we, too, are "poor in spirit." We can only be peacemakers if we mourn.

Plan for Peace
Jesus says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit [those who know humiliation], for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." And then he says, "Blessed are those who mourn. . . . Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. . . . Blessed are those who are merciful. . . . Blessed are the peacemakers."

It is not a battle plan that either Washington or Al Qaeda is likely to follow. But for those who name Jesus the crucified as Lord, it is the only plan for peace that we have. First, we acknowledge that we are creatures, not the Creator; we know our own poverty of spirit; we confront the weakness of our strength and the folly of our wisdom; we preach Jesus Christ, and him crucified. Only then, when we know our own poverty, are we truly able to mourn. Such mourning, deep and unspeakable as it is, will lead us to a ravenous and tender hunger for God's righteousness, for clear evidence of God's shalom-making activity in our midst, for God's infinite justice.

And, our expression of this justice? Mercy. For in God's economy, mercy is not the restraint of justice; it is the expression of justice. Mercy is justice making peace. And blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons and daughters of God.

"Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors." We proclaim Jesus Christ, and him crucified.

Virginia Wiles is a member of First Church of the Brethren in Chicago and teaches New Testament Theological Seminary in New Jersey. This excerpt from Peace: God's Infinite Justice (copyright © 2001 Brethren Press) was adapted slightly for publication in the September 2002 issue of Messenger, denominational magazine of the Church of the Brethren. This essay and other titles in the Perspectives series are available for $2.50 from www.brethrenpress.com.