2 Kings 17:5-8, 13-15a, 18
Psalm 60
Matthew 7:1-5
True peace doesn’t begin with pointing out someone their faults and imperfections. We point one finger to someone when we call out their wrongdoings or what we think they need to fix. While we point out one finger to them, though, there are three fingers in our hand that point back out to us. True peace doesn’t begin with pointing at other people’s faults. Perhaps the three fingers that point back at us in our hands is our LORD’s way of saying that the peace we desire in our world begins within us. For within us, there is the “beam” of brokenness that we have to acknowledge. That beam of brokenness reminds us how much we need the LORD in our hearts to fill in that peace He can only provide. When we experience the LORD within, then maybe we can make a difference in others by being that peace in the world. The saints we celebrate today, John Fisher and Thomas Moore, lived with that peace in their lives in spite of the troubles surrounding them wrought by King Henry VIII. It was that peace that enabled to stand up against the king’s corrupt desires, and that peace is what will enable us to stand up against the splinters surrounding our world these days, the splinters that cause anxieties, distress, and division. Our LORD reminds us today that we can never bring about peace in our world unless we allow the LORD to help us make peace with our own brokenness. John Fisher and Thomas Moore were not able to change the king’s mind, but the peace within them made all the difference in the troubled world around them.
Vessels of Meaning 