The Courage of Peace

Sermon                                  THE COURAGE OF PEACE

December 8, 2013

Texts:   Matthew 3:1-12

             Isaiah 11:1-6, 8-9

Dr. Jacquelyn L. Foster

Compton Heights Christian Church

(Disciples of Christ)

On this Peace Sunday, as we light the Candle of Peace, we hear the Prophet Isaiah describe the reign God’s peace and righteousness on earth, and the Ruler who brings in that reign – One who judges those in need by what is right, and renders decisions on the earth’s poor with justice. The world this brings according to Isaiah is a world in which the one who has devoured and the one who has been devoured live together in peace.  Isaiah’s images of that peace present a vision that seems impossible – against nature –  the wolf living with the lamb, the leopard lying down with the kid goat – the lion with the calf.  And the height of absurdity – a little child shall leads them on this path of peace.   And yet these are the images used to reveal God’s vision for humanity.

It’s a beautiful, powerful scripture that we love to hear, but that we spiritualize, never  quite allowing ourselves to believe that the hatred and conflict, the devouring of one people by another, the racial, cultural conflict can ever change.  We who live in the midst of it take it as a given – it is way it is.  And that it is unreasonable, pie – in – the sky to believe that it will ever be any different.

In fact there are those who depend on our spiritualizing the promises of God, keeping our faith benign and safe.

Yet if we believe that Jesus of Nazareth truly embodied God, lived God’s kingdom on earth, so that we might live into God’s reign on earth; then we must believe that God truly is transforming the world through humanity.  We believe that the divisions we have created are not the end.  We believe that God comes to us in Jesus Christ for something even greater than our individual salvation – that God comes in Jesus because God loves the world and is doing a new thing.

  In light of who we know Jesus to be – One who was always turning the expectations of the people upside down — it makes sense that the story of Jesus in Matthew starts with images that seem all turned around – John who lives in the wilderness wearing a hairy robe“ and eating wild locusts is the one baptizing people and calling them to turn around, to change their lives.

When the respected religious leaders start coming to be baptized by him,  he asks them why they slithered down to the river bank fleeing the wrath to come.  Why they have come to be baptized by him, when what they need to do is to bear fruit worthy of repentance.  In other language, they need to change their values and therefore their actions so that what grows out of their lives is different and has a different impact on others – on the world than the kind of faith they’ve been living.

They do produce fruit, they work hard at being faithful –  but it isn’t good, life-giving fruit.   The word for them is to produce fruit that reflects that their lives have changed in the direction of God’s reign, that they have come into relationship with the God revealed in the coming of Jesus of Nazareth.

      We have the advantage of knowing what Jesus’ challenge was to the Pharisees – and those focused on observing the laws and practices of the faith to the T – that they were not faithful in caring for the poor in their attempts to be righteous.  They repeatedly set other priorities – the rules of the Sabbath, keeping pure by avoiding association with those they thought impure. They were highly religious and observant, but were they living the kingdom of God?    The God who comes to us in the birth and life of Jesus the Christ is the God of peace and reconciliation, forgiveness and compassion.  The Jesus who continually called the religious leaders of his day to a changed life, would no doubt have a word for us as we observe Advent and Christmas.  I suspect he would say that our dearest Christmas traditions and decorations, feasts, family gatherings, and presents, and “yes” even lighting the Candles of Hope, Peace, Joy and Love mean nothing unless our lives are changed to be harbingers of Hope, and bold Peacemakers, and to embody Joy, and to Live in Love such that our communities are changed.

On this Peace Sunday, especially, we are reminded of the ability of one who is grounded in the faith of Jesus the Christ to bring the transformation that comes of that faith to the world.  Nelson Mandela did not talk about his faith very much in his political life because it felt it would bring division.  But it was his Christian faith that motivated his work to bring freedom and justice, to put an end to the legal system of racism, apartheid in South Africa.  It was his faith that made it possible for him to only strengthen in his vision while in prison for 27 years.  It was his faith that grounded his leadership of the country and world into a new day.  So when he died this week, at the age of 95, we could truly give thanks for this great saint who had the courage to lead the world closer to God’s realm.

When sentenced to prison for his leadership to abolish apartheid, Mandela said:

“I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die” (biography).

That depth of commitment to live and to die for peace and justice for God’s people is grounded in our faith.  In his 1994 autobiography, “Long Walk to Freedom”, he said: “No one is born hating another person because of the colour of (his) skin, or (his) background, or (his) religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”

Nelson Mandela’s faith seems to have been primarily rooted in the Methodist church.  When addressing a large church assembly, he spoke of    “The Good News borne by our risen Messiah who chose not one race, who chose not one country, who chose not one language, who chose not one tribe, who chose all of humankind!

“Our Messiah, (he said)  born like an outcast in a stable, and executed like criminal on the cross.

Our Messiah, whose life bears testimony to the truth that there is no shame in poverty: Those who should be ashamed are they who impoverish others.

“Whose life testifies to the truth that there is no shame in being persecuted: Those who should be ashamed are they who persecute others.

“Whose life proclaims the truth that there is no shame in being conquered: Those who should be ashamed are they who conquer others.

“Whose life testifies to the truth that there is no shame in being dispossessed: Those who should be ashamed are they who dispossess others.

“Whose life testifies to the truth that there is no shame in being oppressed: Those who should be ashamed are they who oppress others.”

Apartheid formally ended on April 27, 1994, all people were given the opportunity to vote for the first time. Mandela was inaugurated as the first President of a democratic South Africa. Mandela said in his inauguration speech:

“We understand it still that there is no easy road to freedom. We know it well that none of us acting alone can achieve success. We must therefore act together as a united people, for national reconciliation, for nation building, for the birth of a new world. Let there be justice for all. Let there be peace for all… Never, never, and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another…” Let freedom reign” (biography).

Nelson Mandela has reflected the Light of Christ, not because it came easily, but because he did the hard work of rising above what could have come easily, and perhaps even felt most natural, to hold anger and vengefulness after 27 years in an apartheid prison on Robbens Island.  Instead he said that he knew that when he was freed from prison, he needed to leave behind hatred and bitterness, if he was to be truly free. 

He came forth ready to live the peace of Isaiah and of Jesus the Christ.

As we prepare our hearts, this Advent, it is our task to search our hearts and to identify the bitterness, the hatred that we need to leave behind in order to prepare the way for peace and reconciliation. 

 Let it be so.