The Peace Prize and the Prince of Peace

                                                                                Greta Thunberg

 I have been practicing my look of surprise and my "aw, you shouldn't have!" in anticipation of tomorrow. It is my birthday and the day when the annual Nobel Peace Prize is awarded. No, I'm not nominated but that's a minor detail -- ask a former US president who fomented discord at home and abroad but figured he deserved it.

The Peace Prize is both prestigioius and a curiosity on a number of fronts. Alfred Nobel was a 19th century Swedish chemist who was nicknamed the "angel of death" by journalists for his invention of dynamite. His brother died in an explosion at one of the Nobel nitroglycerine factories. He made a lot of money with his inventions and his regret over how they were used may have prompted him to create the Peace Prize.

And what about the recipients, some of whom seem worthy and others...not so much? President Jimmy Carter eventually got the equivalent of a lifetime achievement prize but why wasn't he a co-winner with Anwar Sadat of Egypt and Menachim Begin of Israel in the 70's?

When Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan won at the age of 17 for her children's rights work we cheered. However, teen climate activist Greta Thunberg has been nominated a couple of times without a win despite energizing young people around the world. 

Has anyone ever figured out why President Barack Obama got a Nobel Peace Prize when his country was embroiled in conflicts in the Middle East? Apparently the Nobel secretary came to regret this one. 

                                                                    Abiy Amed in 2019

I'm pondering all this, not because of my birthday, but because the 2019 winner was Ethopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali for his efforts to achieve peace and international cooperation, with a strong role in resolving a border conflict with neigbouring Eritrea. 

This sounds wonderful but Abiy has been engaged in what is effectively civil war in Ethiopia for the past year. There is ethnic and religous violence with Christians among the targets in certain areas. An estimated 350,000 people in the conflict-ravaged Tigray region are starving, the largest food crisis in the world at the moment. Perhaps there should be a Nobel Peace Prize Hall of Shame.

This year Greta is nominated again, along with the World Health Organization and Black Lives Matters. We'll see. 

I wonder whether Jesus could be awarded the Peace Prize. I would say posthumously, but as a Christian I figure he's still around. I'll concede that lots of people have done terrible things in Jesus' name, but he is the Prince of Peace, the holy one who reminded his disciples the night of his arrest that "those who live by the sword, die by the sword." 

We'll see which individuals or groups get the Peace Prize tomorrow, but no one can match Jesus' lasting symbolism for peace. 

                                                       Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane