Thursday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time
It’s easy for a lot of Christians to read the text from Saint Paul today and think that it is a call for spiritual battle or culture war. After all, Paul is talking about standing firm, holding your ground, resisting evil, being clothed in righteousness as a breastplate, putting on the armor of God.
A lot of folks these days think they are engaged in a spiritual battle/culture war with those who think other than they do. And they are ready to put their breastplate on. Many have already done so in the things they have said to their “enemies.” Some have even sought to physically harm their “enemies.”
But to get that read, one has to ignore a crucial phrase at the end of a sentence that might seem to be about righteousness and culture war: “So stand fast with your loins girded in truth,
clothed with righteousness as a breastplate, and your feet shod in readiness for the Gospel of peace.”
And your feet shod in readiness for the Gospel of peace.
If we are to “fight” we are to fight with our feet enclosed in the shoes of peace. As we walk onto the “battlefield” we are called by the Apostle Paul (and by Jesus) to find our footing within peace.
In these troubled times characterized by way too much division and acrimony, Paul’s message could not be more relevant. We are responsible for “the shoes” we put on. Will we stand firm for peace? Will we make ourselves vulnerable to those who might imagine we are their enemies? Will we love even them? In other words, will we be peacemakers?
I pray that when tested I will have the courage to do so.
- Sue Trollinger