What Makes for Peace!

Thursday, November 20, 2025

1 Mac 2:15-29; Lk 19: 41-44

Today’s Gospel highlights that acceptance of Jesus, repentance, and humility make for peace. 

Jesus came in peace. The purpose of his incarnation was to win peace on the cross. However, while he was grossly misunderstood by his enemies, the purpose of his coming was taken for granted. As a result, Jesus faces rejection by his own people. 

Jesus’ cry over Jerusalem is only a manifestation of the betrayal of his love. Hence, we are called to understand what makes for peace. 

Acceptance: When Jesus comes in love and peace, his enemies reject him. For people under Roman occupation, political liberation sounded like real peace. But what they failed to realize was peace comes in the presence of the Lord and not in the absence of foreign soldiers. Though acceptance of Jesus is the easy way to peace, people ignore and miss the truth.

Repentance: Jesus weeps over Jerusalem. We must understand that his own fate of imminent death did not bother Jesus as much as the rejection of his love by his own people and his enemies alike. It is because his tears are shed in love that they become valuable. In subjecting Jesus to pain and sorrow, the people of Jerusalem curse themselves. Jesus is more anguished by the fact that the people of Jerusalem did not feel the need to repent and seek reconciliation. 

Humility: In rejecting Jesus, the people of Jerusalem show how haughty they could become. They expected Jesus to fit in with their likes and dislikes without caring to respond to Jesus’ initiatives. When they ignore the need to transform themselves, destruction sets in. The warnings that Jesus pronounces only prove that when God is rejected, only chaos and unrest will fill the place.

Let us pray that we may understand the demands of peace and work to promote it. 

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar