Our response as a nation toward the people of Afghanistan after September
11, 2001, was not surprising: we were angry and full of vengeance for the
perpetrators of that horrible action against us.  As a nation, Afghanistan admitted giving sanctuary to the Al Quaida leadership responsible and so our
action was seen as justifiable.  We went into that country and militarily overthrew the Taliban government.  Sadly, the end result has not played out
as we hoped: Osama bin Laden is still alive and remains out of our reach, the Taliban is resurgent and threatening to topple the country once again, and we are embroiled in an ongoing conflict there with no sign of pulling out or things getting any better.  Such often seems to be the end result of vengeance-based violence.

While not denying the fact that everyone has a right to protect themselves
from harm, just for the sake of discussion, what if our response to Al Quaida had been one of grace instead of revenge; one, however, that made it clear we would protect ourselves from further harm?  What might have happened to the hatred propagated against us by our enemies if, instead of bombing Afghanistan and killing innocent civilians in the process, we had dropped food, medicines, text books, clothes, and solar cells on them?  What would world opinion be of America if we had reacted with a response so completely out of character and unheard of?  What would a people's response be to being bombed with grace?  While there is a role and reason for law and judgment, it has its limitations.  If the day should come when some nation ever returns a response of grace for a violent action taken against them, watch out, for the kingdom of God will be born fully in our midst.  It will be a time to pay close attention.

 

Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.  I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.

 

What then are we to say was gained by Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh?  For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.  For what does the scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.’  Now to one who works, wages are not reckoned as a gift but as something due.  But to one who without works trusts him who justifies the ungodly, such faith is reckoned as righteousness.

For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith.  If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void.  For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation.

For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, as it is written, ‘I have made you the father of many nations’)—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things.

 

Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews.  He came to Jesus by night and said to him, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.’  Jesus answered him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.  Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?’  Jesus answered, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.  What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Do not be astonished that I said to you, “You must be born from above.”  The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.’  Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can these things be?’  Jesus answered him, ‘Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?

‘Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony.  If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?  No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.  And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

‘Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.