Jesus was born into a world where the sword achieved the peace of an empire. Peace by the pointy end of a sword, gun, or any instrument of violence exemplifies how well we do not understand the very thing we all want for ourselves generations to come. Humanity was and continues to be unable to save itself or secure its own peace, so much so that God broke into human history in a manger in Bethlehem, "among the poor, lonely, old and impotent" and saved us from ourselves.