Sixth Sunday of Easter
May 9, 2010
Unworldly Peace
John 14:23-29
A Babe Totally at Peace
Alleluia, Christ is Risen. He is Risen indeed, Alleluia!
Speaking of Mother’s Day, one of my favorite sights is a newborn baby (say, less than four months old) rolled up in a little ball and sleeping—totally contented and at peace. Usually you see them like a big lump of warm, pliant gingerbread dough just molded here on top of a mother’s shoulder… smelling like warm yeast bread.
I bet there are many days when you wish that you could sleep like that! Safe, calm and secure. Oblivious to the world around you. Without a single care or worry. At peace. Totally at peace.
Last week I popped in on a man in the hospital at the very moment when he was waking from a fitful sleep. He had a nightmare. A terrible nightmare. Probably due a fever and his pain medications. And he was shaken to the bone. We talked and prayed an hour and he was still trembling when I left. And that was only a dream…and I wondered how many actually live the nightmare.
We Live in a Nightmare
Each week our kids face dangers that were rarely heard of thirty or forty years ago. When I went to high school, the biggest problems were chewing gum, talking in class and the length of skirts above the knees. Once in a great while some kid would sneak at smoke in the bathroom. That was it.
But, now…over 60% of high school youth in Lorain County have personally witnessed a violent act such as a beating, knifing or a shooting. And some refuse to go into certain bathrooms between classes for fear of what will happen there. No wonder moms are so nervous and protective.
And we all live with the threat of global terror as a certain car bomb on Times Square reminded us yet again this past week. Once there was a day when we thought the vast oceans on our two borders would protect us from the problems overseas. But that delusion got shattered the day two Twin Towers came tumbling down.
A Peace the World Cannot Give
Towards the end of Evening Prayer (that powerful and meaningful service of prayer we use during Lent), there is an ancient petition of the church that we use again and again and again. It is one of my most favorite prayers. It goes like this:
“O God, from whom come all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works: give to us, your servants, that peace which the world cannot give.”
Who are we kidding? The world will never give us peace. Back in the days of Jesus, the Roman government bragged about its “Pax Romana,” the Roman Peace. Twice the Emperor Augustus closed the “Gates of Janus” to mark world peace. For two years out of 200 there were no wars anywhere in the empire.
And what did that really mean, except that the Romans had so beaten people into submission that they had no power to resist. Is that peace? Beating people into submission?
“Peace I Leave You”
No, the world can never give us peace. It is at war with God. But Jesus can. Shortly before his ascension into heaven, Jesus turned to his disciples and said: “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”
This is not the kind of peace the world gives: A drug induced stupor, denial of any problems, a brief cessation of hostilities, a deceptive calm before the storm.
The peace that Jesus gives is the very peace that Jesus won upon a cross. A true reconciliation with God the Father. That results in the giving of his Spirit. Who keeps us calm and hopeful no matter how difficult the adversities come.
On the cross, Jesus broke down that wall that separated us from God, the wall of sin. The vertical. It was not the world’s victory through power and intimidation, but it was God’s victory through self-sacrificial love and invitation. The invitation to believe in the promises fulfilled through Christ’s death and resurrection.
Enemies Made Friends
And in the process he also broke down horizontal walls. The walls that separate us from each other.
In Luke’s telling of the death of Jesus there is a little detail that always makes me chuckle with delight. It hit me right between the eyes again as we read the Luke’s Passion account once again this year on Palm Sunday. It’s a detail that is very easy to miss unless you know exactly where to look. Did it catch your eye like it caught mine?
Only Luke tells us that when Pilate hears that Jesus is a Galilean he (that is, Pilate) sends Jesus off to Herod Antipas (the Jewish ruler of Galilee) for an informal hearing. Herod mocks Jesus and sends him back. And then Luke adds this detail: “That same day Herod and Pilate became friends with each other; because before this they had been enemies.”
And isn’t that an interesting touch? Herod and Pilate hated each other. They were two nations fighting each other in the arena of international politics. Romans vs. Jews. Neither one believed in Jesus. Both mocked him. Both thought they had the power over him—the power of life and death. And yet, these two bitter rivals became friends because of Jesus on the very day of his crucifixion.
Christ’s Power to Bring Peace
Do you get the message? This is the power that Jesus has. The power to bring peace into a fractured world. The power to bring divided people together. A power he passes on to us through his own Spirit. Peace is not something we achieve. Not us. Not in our own lifetime. Peace is a gift that only Christ can bring. And he does, through the gift of his own Spirit.
“Peace,” Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.” His parting word to us is “Peace.”
Alleluia, Christ is risen! He is risen indeed, Alleluia!
© 2010 Pastor Paul Jaster