“My Beloved Brethren, I commend you to the grace and blessings of the Holy and Glorious Trinity. Depart in peace with the gifts and Blessings that you have received from the atoning sacrifice of the Lord”
The above portion is the first part of the fourth blessing of the Mar Thoma liturgy. Let us look at it a little closely. I would like to concentrate on the portion “Depart in Peace”. In my opinion the correct translation is “Go in Peace”. Why is it said “Go in Peace”. I asked one of my teenage friends and he very humorously replied “I guess we just need to go and chill. That is what it means to ‘Go in Peace’.” Rev Sam Koshy T. who is now a professor of Theology at Mar Thoma Theological Seminary, Kottayam, gives a very insightful reflection to this. For this he refers to the portion Exodus 4: 18
“Moses went back to his father-in-law Jethro and said to him, “Please let me go back to my kindred in Egypt and see whether they are still living.” And Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.”
Rev Sam interprets that Moses was supposed to leave to Egypt to take on the Pharaoh, to liberate his people. He was going for a very difficult mission. Jethro was aware of this. And look at what he said, “Go in Peace”. Conventionally Peace is equaled to tranquility, to have no worries, to chill, to have a perfect life. Peace in Hebrew comes from the word Shalom which means wholeness. Moses was going to take on Pharaoh by the power of God to bring wholeness to the broken people of Israel and to liberate them out of bondage. Jethro was Blessing him, but it was a commission not to be blessed, but to be a blessing.
Friends, every Sunday we worship the Lord. Many have their reasons to go and worship. Some do it out of a sense of compulsion from parents, some for having a social life. Many ask why do we need to worship? I pray, aint that enough? These are common place questions. Worship is ordering of our life, to wonder at his majesty. In adoring his majesty, we encounter our sinful nature which we confess. We give thanks to him for redeeming us from sins and we have a communion with our brothers and sisters in remembrance of the death of our Lord and his victory over the Death, and we anticipate His second coming. Worship is our willingness to be open to God’s will. We the broken people are healed of our sins and are blessed. We share the Kiss of peace. The divine peace we have. But the final blessing is a commission to us not to leave our peace at the Church. It asks us to travel with the peace into our daily domain. We will encounter many pharaohs who are keeping this world in bondage. We know of many people who are broken, who have no peace. The commission of “Go in Peace” does not mean to “Go Chill or Go Celebrate.” It means to carry this wholeness you have received in this worship into a broken world. To be a healing force in a world where people are scarred and wounded. We are sent as missionaries into the world to be witness of the peace of God. We are not called to be blessed, but to be a blessing.
We often feel that witnessing the Lord is not our call. It should be left to the people who are called for full time ministry. But when we read the bible, we see that the great witness for God were anonymous people ready to do the will of God. It is the slave girl, whose name we do not know, who became an instrument in the healing of the Syrian General Namaan (2 Kings 5). It is the selflessness of 4 youths, who were ready to break open the roof of the house in Capernaum because of which the paralytic got healing. As Mark 2:5 says “When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” The faith of these four youths, whose name we do not know, became instrumental for the healing of a paralytic. There are many out there in your work places and colleges who are suffering from loneliness, stress, anxiety, depression and many other emotional problems. Are you seeing it? Through your companionship are they seeing the peace of God in you? God will use you to be a Blessing. “Go in Peace”
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