Naun Lucoer Cerrato’s roots are in Central America. He moved with his family to the USA, specifically Elkhart, Indiana, in the ’90s. Naun graduated from Goshen College with a bachelor’s degree in organizational leadership. In August 2018, he graduated from Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary with a Master of Arts in peace studies with a concentration in international development administration.
Naun Cerrato is the founder of Piedra Viva Mennonite Church, Elkhart; and was installed and licensed, for leadership on June 14, 2022. He also is the founder of a popular podcast within the Hispanic community called Un Momento De Anabautismo. It was in high school that he started writing stories, and he was later inspired by how women work very hard in America, especially single mothers. And hence “The Magic Book of Isabela” was born.
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Luke 19:42
42 He said, “If you, yes you, had only known on this day
the things that would bring peace to you. But now,
it is hidden from your eyes.
As Mennonites, we emphasize things that have to do with peace — or is it that we are grounded in words about peace? We base our beliefs in the idea of peace. However, do we, as peacemakers, have peace? Can we claim true peace — do we live peace — within our self, our mind and with our neighbor? Do we have peace with fellow Mennonites who don’t agree with us?
In Luke 19:42, when Jesus was entering Jerusalem, he stated that there are things hidden from our eyes and those are the things that are supposed to bring us peace. The people of those times needed peace and liberation from the oppression of the Roman Empire. They were waiting for a king who could free them from this oppression, but to the surprise of many, this king, riding a donkey, cried out and predicted the future of the city and how it would be left in ruins. Those are not the words of a liberator, but people shouted, and they shouted because they were so focused on what they expected that they missed what was there in front of them. In Luke 19:42, Jesus identified that people would miss peace, because it would be hidden from them.
First, he said that people did not really see who he was during his days on earth (read Luke 10:24). At that time, people did not know that Jesus could create an internal peace through which he could heal and restore peace with human beings by creating a bridge of reconciliation.
People were so excited about the death of the enemy that they missed Jesus’ importance while he was still here and his idea of building a spiritual kingdom.
Maybe even today we are missing those things that bring inner peace. And we want God to come quickly on horseback and finish off those who don’t agree with us. However, in Jesus, we don’t see the destruction of those enemies but an invitation to dialogue with them and even walk an extra mile for them.
Third, he mentioned things that are hidden from our eyes. What are the things that the human eye cannot understand or identify? How is the human eye limited? Can the human eye see love, compassion and peace in others? Can the human eye see God incarnate in Jesus? Jesus, many times, said that his words would bring peace to us. But how do we create peace within ourselves? What are the things that we usually miss in our life that should bring us peace?
This Lenten season, do we not see due to how busy, how hurt, how divided and how unhappy we are? What is it that we are missing in seeing “the things that would bring peace”?