This time spent thinking about the new heavens and the new earth and what it means for our life now continues to be a theme for me this week.  Today, a story from the archives of how God has given me a fuller view of the wildness of the reconciled life we will live and are called to begin now!

“The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and theleopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them.  The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.  The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den.  They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord.”  Isaiah 11:6-9

I was out for my endorphin high, walking in the next neighborhood, thinking of this most difficult passage I had just read.  No, it’s not difficult to understand – these words about the peace that will preside in these last days is pretty plain – it’s difficult because I know we are commanded by Christ to live into this passage about reconciliation even now. That’s the hard part!

So I was praying – asking God – what does it mean for me to love my neighbors and my enemies, how can I possibly do this?  I remembered I should pray for my enemies, particularly the sin that hardens my own heart.  I tried to imagine the possibility of sitting in the same room with certain ones without a single murderous thought crossing my mind…

Maybe it was because I was having difficulty imagining this that God placed an object lesson in my path – a neighbor who was an enemy of sort.  He was moving slowly down the driveway to fetch his paper, looking slovenly (yes, that is the first murderous thought that crossed my mind – do you see how difficult this is for me?) unshaved, wearing his boxers and a big Notre Dame t-shirt…and I looked away – I figured he didn’t want anyone to see him like this and it was only 6:20 in the morning.

“Come on, God, I said – you know what he did!  Don’t I have a right to bear a grudge?” I complained.  I’ll tell you what he did and you can decide, though whatever you judge, the Judge of the Universe had his own opinion which He made clear to me…

It all began about 4 years ago when some poor volunteer from the City Rec department called me, begging me to coach our youngest son’s U-8 soccer team.  I knew very little about soccer, having played only one bad inaugural season as a senior in high school. But my son really wanted me too, and by this point I had attended 8 years worth of my three older kids’ soccer practices and games so I thought I could manage a U-8 team.  We were a ragtag bunch, with only nine players, 4 of them being funny little girls (and I mean LITTLE), and we excelled in the goals I had for them – to get exercise, have fun, be good sports, and learn a few soccer skills.  If our goal had been to win, one could not say we exactly succeeded.

One cold and wintry day near the end of the season, I had only seven players show up.  It was going to be a rough day, with only one sub.  Then I saw our opponents, 12 sturdy and obviously athletic boys, completing passes in warmup, something our team attempted but never quite accomplished.  Everyone knew them – they had played together since they were four, and they always won. The hulking, deep-voiced man, my enemy neighbor, was the coach, barking orders at his team.  I sighed and readied myself for a rough game.  Our kids fumbled the kickoff and the big guys captured the ball, made one pass, and scored from midfield.  By the second half, their strategy was apparent, and it was working – one guy would kick the ball way downfield to where a forward was waiting (there was no offsides rule at this age in this league), and he would kick it into the goal, undefended, except by our goalie, who performed valiantly, then begged to be replaced.  I was furious at the way they were bullying and humiliating our kids.  I fumed and fussed, and finally after their eighth goal was scored (we still had none), I looked over at the coach, threw up my hands and said, “How many do you want?”  He smiled at me and said, “Oh, I just want every boy on my team to score.”

So, I indignantly asked God, , “You want me to dwell in peace with this wolf who hurt those little lambs??”  The Spirit spoke, very plainly, it seemed, “Who said you are the lamb?”  It then occurred to me, I am the wolf in this scenario who would like to hurt and destroy.  I know it is right to be angry against injustices, and there are many far worse than humiliating young soccer players, but I also know that God is the one who has defeated unrighteousness by humbling Himself to send His own Son to endure the Cross, despising the shame, for sinners like me.

Because I have been reconciled to God, I am called to long for reconciliation with my enemies.  It would not be wrong to kindly speak to my neighbor and encourage him to be considerate of the feelings of the other players, but it is wrong to think slanderous thoughts of him.  So I long for the day when I will no longer be a wolf, when I will no longer ‘hurt’ and ‘destroy,’ and I look for it to begin happening now.