CONFLICT AND RECONCILIATION

CONFLICT AND RECONCILIATION

Despite the fact that advances in travel and communications have shrunk the world to a global village and drawn communities and nations into closer interaction, we still experience interpersonal, interracial, inter-religious and international conflicts. How is it that humanity, which yearns so much for intimacy, almost inevitably moves towards conflict?

The answer is that conflict has been part of human existence ever since the fall. Sin brings people into conflict with God, with others and with the natural world. It results in a deep sense of shame, fear and an unhealthy self-consciousness (Gen 3:6-10). It led Adam and Eve to attempt to cover their nakedness and to Adam blaming Eve for his failure (Gen 3:12). The differences between them were no longer something to be celebrated. Instead, they became a source of threat.

Cain reacted against Abel’s righteousness by murdering him (Gen 4:1-8). Thereafter, conflict among brothers becomes a major theme in Genesis. As is often the case today, most of these conflicts arose due to ownership and sharing of land and resources. The subsequent history of Israel is one of continuing conflict – intertribal and international – until first Israel and then Judah went into exile. The trauma of such conflicts created a longing for reconciliation and peace, captured in the psalmist’s exclamation, “How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!” (Ps 133:1).

Prophets like Isaiah hold out a more comprehensive vision of reconciliation that includes all people, not just “God’s people”. They envisage a day when humanity will live in peace with God, with each other and with the natural order (Isa 11:1-9; Amos 9:11-15).

Reconciliation lies at the heart of the gospel. Paul explains that the ultimate purpose of God’s work of salvation is to reconcile the world to himself (2 Cor 5:18-21). Consequently, both the ministry and message of the apostolic church are fundamentally about reconciliation. Paul brings out the social dimensions of this reconciliation when he points out that Christ’s sacrificial death has taken away the hostility between God and humanity and made it possible for hostile communities to experience peace with one another (Eph 2:11-21).

Christians are not immune to conflicts. We even experience them in the church and families because of our deep-rooted insecurities, our acquisitive tendencies and the perceived threat of whatever is different. Those who insist that “wisdom comes with age” clash with those who are young and seeking change. There are clashes between those who speak one language and those who speak another, between castes, and between those who live in the city and those who live in rural areas.

Conflicts, however, are not insurmountable because Jesus, by his trust in God, selflessness and embracing of all humanity, has destroyed the basis of conflict and opened the way for reconciliation.

Through his teachings Jesus not only anticipated conflicts that would emerge in the new community he inaugurated but also provided pointers to help the church aim for reconciliation in such instances. In Matthew 5:23-25 he introduced the radical concept that the efficacy of our worship is directly related to the harmony between us. Thus we should settle our differences before coming to worship him.

In Matthew 18:15-17 he sets out the logical but limited steps a Christian community should take when dealing with someone who is a source of conflict. He advocates that disagreements should be settled gently, in private or with only two or three witnesses (see also Gal 6:1; Jas 5:19-20). This approach resonates with typical shame-cultures as in South Asia. The implication that disputes are better settled by corporate rather than individual effort also parallels the situation in South Asia, where village councils and similar bodies play a role in dispute resolution. On the other hand, there are tendencies in our South Asian context to play down and cover up serious ethical violations. The fact that an unrepentant Christian faces public exposure and even excommunication is the counter-cultural gospel corrective to these tendencies.