peace on earth

One of the saddest stories in the Bible:

Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly." And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth."

And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. And the LORD said, "Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another's speech." So the LORD dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth. And from there the LORD dispersed them over the face of all the earth.

Genesis 11:1-9

At one time mankind was united geographically, united in purpose, at peace, so confident in its own power and potential that it lost sight of God. That God had to break mankind of this hubris is clear--the purpose of mankind is, as Paul states in Acts 17:27 to "seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him", but this was never going to happen while mankind didn't see a need for God.

The solution to the problem was simple and effective--so effective that it has been tearing mankind apart ever since. In destroying mankind's ability to effectively communicate, God shattered our unity, shattered our ability to rely on each other, to trust each other. Ever since Babel humanity has been divided. Belligerent nations, feuding tribes, shattered friendships and broken families--these are the norm throughout history and they are a direct result of our inability to communicate and understand one another.

The only way to have the kind of relationships that made mankind so united and strong before Babel is to learn to communicate. A few individuals can, with enormous effort, overcome the difficulties of communication and learn to live in peace and harmony. A few marriages are characterized by true unity and a few friendships exhibit complete trust, but when mankind relies on its own efforts and its own wisdom to solve the problem the norm will always be division and conflict.

Fortunately, God has given us a real solution to the problem:

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

Ephesians 2:13-22

Communication will always be hard and peace will always be tenuous, but we can succeed in finding that peace and unity through Christ.