True and stable peace is that achieved by Christ, who knocks down the bastions between the ancient people of God and the new ones called by the people. We must return to him for a solid and reconciled friendship.

Rosanna Virgili

NIn the Letter to the Ephesians we find perhaps the most beautiful manifesto of Christian peace (Ephesians 2:11-22). Paul addresses those who are "far away", that is, the uncircumcised, whom the Jews consider distant from them and excluded from the chosen people. But both Jews and pagans, when they enter the Christian community, find themselves forming a single people and even a single "body". And so the Apostle must explain to both of them how this union that seems impossible becomes possible, and how the differences between different cultures and traditions can cease to ignore or oppose each other, much less enter into conflict.

Paul therefore illustrates first of all to the Gentiles the exclusive gifts that God had given to the Jews from the beginning of their history: "Therefore remember that you, Gentiles in the flesh (called uncircumcision by what is called circumcision because you were made circumcised in the flesh by hands), that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world" (vv. 11-12). After having clarified that both the 'uncircumcision' of the Gentiles and the circumcision of the Jews is nothing other than an element of the "flesh", Paul outlines what are the true pillars of the Jewish faith, which have an effective spiritual value: Christ, the polity (citizenship) of Israel, the covenants of promise, hope, Emmanuel ("God in the world"). This is what gave life and identity to Israel, through whose virtues this people, originally made up of migrants and refugees, found stability, a land where they could live, cultivate fields, build houses, generate sons and daughters, praising their God.

They had the "Christ", that is, the Messiah (first pillar), political leader appointed by God, 'Davidic Messiah' well described in the words of Isaiah: "The spirit of the Lord will rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord. He will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by appearances, nor decide by hearsay; but with justice he will judge the poor, and decide fairly for the humble of the earth. Justice will be the belt of his loins, and faithfulness the belt of his loins. The wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion, and a little child will lead them" (Is 11:2-6).

With his fear of the Lord, this 'root of David' will ensure that Israel becomes a 'citizenship' (the second pillar), where law and justice will be guaranteed for all, where all will have equal dignity being born free, for thus says the Lord: "If your brother who is with you becomes poor and sells himself to you, you shall not make him work as a slave; he shall be with you as a hired servant, as a sojourner. He shall serve you until the year of jubilee; then he shall go out from you, he and his sons with him, and shall return to his family and return to the property of his fathers. For they are my servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as slaves are sold. You shall not treat him harshly, but you shall fear your God" (Lev 25:39-42).

Israel also holds another privilege that makes it truly unique: the pact, the alliance with God (third pillar), with which he promised "a good and spacious land [...] flowing with milk and honey" (Exodus 3,8:XNUMX). From the alliance with God comes the very life of Israel as a free and happy people.

The only condition required was fidelity to a God who was invoked as the only source of hope (fourth pillar): "Hope of Israel, O Lord, all who forsake you will be put to shame", as the prophet Jeremiah will speak of him (17,13:XNUMX). Because the God of Israel, unlike the pagan divinities who were distant from the people who worshipped them, was the daily companion, the friend, the husband, the father, the guardian (fifth pillar): his name was Emmanuel, 'the God with us'.

Until then, pagans had been denied access to these five 'pillars' of the Jewish faith, which, while remaining a source of immense grace for Israel, totally excluded all other peoples.

Israel's exclusive assets, its religious traditions, the Law itself, risked becoming the source of enmity and conflict with those "far away", even the cause of war.

And here is the way of the solution: Jesus extends from those near to those far away all the gifts reserved until now for Israel. In fact: «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 made the two one, and broke down the dividing wall of hostility through his flesh. He abolished the law with its ordinances and decrees, so that he might create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and might reconcile both of them to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death the hostility in himself. He came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near [...] So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God» (vv. 13-19).

The path of peace is therefore the embrace of Jews and Gentiles, Palestinians and Israelis, Russians and Ukrainians – just to speak of the peoples at war today – in the sacrament of an inclusive body that synthesizes and becomes the only, indispensable 'pillar' of salvation for all, the only one capable of breaking down the wall formed not only by armies but also by divisive and exclusive laws, which in turn generate enmity. A body that is "in Christ Jesus". 

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