Sunday, July 6, 2008

Pentecost 8A     Zechariah 9:9-12     Psalm 145:8-15     Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30

 

THINGS THAT MAKE FOR PEACE

 

Beloved people of God, grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ.

AMEN.

 

“Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation: conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”

Thus began Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, delivered on November 19, 1863.  Lincoln and others were gathered to dedicate a portion of the great battlefield at Gettysburg as a final resting place   for those who gave their lives.  Lincoln believed that the freedom on which our nation had been founded had been at stake there.  Lincoln invited his listeners to resolve to remember those who had died so that their sacrifice would not be in vain.  In the conclusion of his famous speech he spoke of a “new birth of freedom,” rooted in the freedom conceived by the Founding Fathers.

 

Lincoln assumes that this new birth of freedom is a gift from the Creator.  As people of faith, we too believe that freedom is a gift from God.  “For freedom Christ has set us free,” writes Paul in Galatians 5:1.

 

The question then becomes: What are we going to use our freedom for?  We could use our freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence.  That has been a temptation in the history of the people of God as well as of our nation.  Or we can use our freedom to pursue what God intends for us.  What God intends is encompassed in the biblical concept of Shalom.  Shalom is translated as “peace”—but it means far more than the absence of war or conflict.  Shalom entails well-being of the whole person—mind, body, and spirit.  It includes well-being in all our relationships—with God, with other human beings,  and with the whole creation.  It manifests itself as harmony in our community, our nation, and our world.

 

In Isaiah 11:6-9 the prophet offers a beautiful vision of Shalom: “The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them.  The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.  The nursing child shall play over the whole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.  They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountains; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”  A famous painting of this prophetic vision is entitled “The Peaceable Kingdom.”

When Jesus proclaims the kingdom of God, he envisions a kingdom in which Shalom—that is, God’s peace—reigns.

 

Just as freedom is a gift from God, so is peace.  Our freedom allows us to participate in the process of making that peace a reality.  Our track record as human beings in making peace has not been a stellar one.  In Luke 19:41 Jesus weeps over Jerusalem: “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace!  But now they are hidden from your eyes.”  To a great extent these things have continued to be hidden from human eyes, and our Lord must continue to weep.

 

But the eyes of faith give us an opportunity to discern what makes for peace.  Utilizing insights from our Bible readings we can identify some things we can do to participate with God in making peace in our world.

 

In Zechariah 9:10 the prophet declares that the promised king “shall command peace to the nations.”  “Nations” could also be translated as “peoples.”  The promised king seeks the well-being of all peoples.  We believe that Jesus is that promised king.  One of the primary ways we participate in providing for the peace or well-being of all people is by being obedient to the teachings of Jesus and following his ways in the world.

 

In Psalm 145:8 we read: “The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”  This is a common refrain in the Old Testament.  God’s grace, mercy, and steadfast love are the foundation of peace.  This refrain affirms that God is intent on providing for our well-being, even when we go astray.  God does not give up on anyone.  Jesus manifested God’s mercy by eating with people excluded from the community of faith.  Religious leaders accused Jesus of being “a friend of tax collectors and sinners.”  A second way we participate in making peace, therefore, is by cultivating relationships with those who are despised or excluded by others.

 

Zechariah 9:9 prophecies Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem: “Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”  In the time of Jesus a conquering king would ride into town on a war horse.  By entering Jerusalem on a donkey, Jesus was dramatizing that he was coming to make peace.  He was making clear what God’s intent was for the people.  Peace would reign in the kingdom of God.  His humble entry into Jerusalem exposed the folly of putting inordinate trust in the weapons of war.  A third way we can make peace, therefore, is by following Jesus’ humble path.  In all humility we can refuse to put our trust in the weapons of war.  In all humility we can trust that the way of peace will, in the end, win the day.

 

In Psalm 145:14-15 the Psalmist writes: “The Lord upholds all who are falling, and raises up all who are bowed down. The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season.”  Clearly there is a special place in God’s heart for the lowly and those in need.  God seeks to lift them up and provide for them.  As Pope Paul VI once observed, “If you want peace, work for justice.”[1]  Thus, a fourth way of making peace is to pursue justice— to lift up the lowly and provide for those in need.  When we fail to pursue justice, it is as if, said Mahatma Gandhi, we are thieves: “If I take anything that I do not need for my own immediate use, and keep it, I thieve it from somebody else.  In India we have three millions of people having to be satisfied with one meal a day, and that meal consisting of unleavened bread containing no fat in it and a pinch of salt. You and I have no right to anything that we really have until these three millions   are clothed and better fed.”[2]  Jesus taught us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.”  The way of peace is to gladly share a just portion of the daily bread God has blessed us with.

 

In Matthew 11:28 Jesus issues a beautiful invitation: “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”  Rest is essential to our well-being—to our peace.  We are not simply talking about getting enough sleep.  We are talking about the whole person—mind, body, and spirit.  In our culture it is so easy to get caught up in the hectic pace of life.  When the pace of ministry became too much, Jesus himself sought time for solitude and prayer.  As people of faith, prayer is essential to seeking peace.  How can we seek peace in the larger community and world, if we do not know how to seek peace in our personal lives?

 

When visitors came to see Mother Teresa, she would give each one of them her “business card”.  This is what was written on it: “The fruit of silence is prayer. The fruit of prayer is faith. The fruit of faith is love. The fruit of love is service. The fruit of service is peace.”  For Mother Teresa it was axiomatic that everything starts with silence and prayer.  When it comes to making peace, we assume that we do something; and indeed, we have identified a number of things we can do to participate in God’s process of making peace.  But when we are overwhelmed by life, when we find ourselves mired in conflict, the place to begin is with rest.  That is why we take time to rest.  That is why we take time to pray.  That is why we to take time to worship on the Sabbath.  Those who take time to rest and experience personal well-being are far more likely to be fruitful agents of peace in the world.

 

Zechariah 9:12 suggests a sixth and final way of making peace.  The Lord announces to the people of God in captivity: “Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today I declare that I will restore you to double.”  In other words, the Lord promises them a future full of hope.  The promise of restoring them to double implies a future overflowing with hope. In a world full of suffering, violent conflict, environmental degradation, and warfare, holding on for dear life to a future full of hope is vital in making peace.  Without hope the people perish.  Without hope the people have no reason to utilize their freedom to pursue peace.

 

The “Prayer of St. Francis” begins with the words: “Lord, make us instruments of your peace.”  We remember those who have gone before us and served as instruments of God’s peace.  On this Fourth of July weekend it is fitting for people of faith to resolve to use our freedom to serve as instruments of God’s peace.  When we serve in this way, we are most fully who God made us to be.

In Jesus’ name, AMEN.