Reconciliation, Eiríni, Salaam, Shalom for us Today – Mr. Abdu Murray, J.D.
Transcript: Reconciliation, Eiríni, Salaam, Shalom for us Today
You know the Bible sometimes is chided as this book that’s this irrelevant relic from a time gone by, that has no relevance to us today. And I would challenge that on many, many different levels. One specific story in the Bible I want to share with you, is one of the deepest encounters you’ll ever read in Holy Scripture–one of the deepest encounters is found in John chapter four.
It’s when Jesus–the Jewish man, the Jewish prophet–ends up encountering a Samaritan woman. This is important, friends, because, historically speaking, the Samaritans and the Jews hated each other. There was ethnic tension between them. There was religious tension between them. There was geographical tension between them. Whose land is this? Is this your land? Is it our land? Are you doing something wrong with this? Did you take over? Or did you take over? Everyone’s mad at everybody else for ethnic reasons, for religious reasons, for land reasons. And for power reasons.
Does that sound familiar to you?
Outdated book? And yet this woman comes to this encounter with Jesus and she brings up every one of those things. And what does He do? He doesn’t sidestep them. He addresses them. But He says, “These issues of land, power, ethnicity and religion…All these places…worship here, don’t worship here, do this, do it this way…You say this, we say that.”
He says, “All of that stuff? None of that gets you into heaven. None of that reconciles you with God, who is your Maker.”
All of that can either be resolved one day, in the providence of God, but if you focus on it, it won’t give you peace.
You see our fundamental conflict is with the evil in our own hearts. As He exposes this in her–and He exposes this so well, as He begins to unmask all the issues that she has–this woman comes to see Him as the Messiah, the Savior of the world.
And then she rushes away from that place, goes back to her Samaritan village–remember, a village that hates Jews. And something she says to these people is so exciting to them, that they–the Samaritan village, the entire village–spend three days with this Jewish man, who they should hate, and all of His disciples, who they should hate. And they spend three days with Him, learning from Him. And then they tell the woman, “We have come to believe that this man is the Savior of the world.” That is a miracle.
If that reconciliation–that eiríni, that salaam, that shalom–can happen in that particular moment because of the person of Jesus, maybe it can happen today.
Mr. Abdu Murray, J. D.
Abdu Murray is a speaker, author and attorney who specializes in addressing issues where religious faith and emerging cultural trends intersect and collide. Since founding Embrace the Truth in 2004, Abdu has spent decades analyzing how the major religious and non-religious thought traditions have attempted to address emerging cultural issues, he has authored several books including Saving Truth, Grand Central Question, Apocalypse Later and his latest, More than a White Man’s Religion: Why the Gospel is Not Merely White, Male-Centered, nor Just a Religion. His articles have been featured in Fox News, Christianity Today, Christian Post and Western Journal.
For most of his life, Mr. Murray was a Muslim until a nine-year historical, philosophical, theological and scientific investigation pointed him to the Christian faith. He has engaged with diverse international audiences in debates and dialogues across the globe and hosts the podcast and YouTube shows, All Rise, Deliberations LIVE and CouldaShouldaWoulda.
Mr. Murray holds a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor and earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan Law School and was named to Best Lawyers in America and to Michigan Super Lawyers three times.
He lives in the Detroit, Michigan area with his wife and their three children. Read his full bio here.
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