AtomWhatever Happened to Peace on Earth?
Luke 12:49-56
“What Ever Happened to Peace on Earth, Good Will to All?”
Most of you probably know that here in Minnesota school starts in exactly 15 days. Whether you are a student or a teacher, you may not have wanted me to remind you of that today. Summer breaks are nice. On the other hand, so is learning and friendships and using your gifts to help others learn and grow. And, if you are a parent looking forward to a little more order in your life than summer brings, you may be saying, “Yes! It’s time.” 15 more days for good or ill.
What you may not have thought of yet is that there are only 127 days until Christmas. Have you thought of that yet? Probably not. But I thought of it this week because of this gospel reading from Luke. When I read these words of Jesus I think to myself, “We are certainly a long ways from Christmas and the Christmas message of peace and good will to all.” Remember? Remember how the angel comes to the young peasant girl Mary and ways to her, “I have wonderful news for you…you are going to have a baby.” (That might not have brought immediate peace and joy to Mary. Remember, she was an unmarried teenager at the time, engaged, but not married.) But the angel was reassuring: “This is God’s plan to bring you and your people and even the whole world, a savior – a rescuer.” Remember?
And then there was the announcement to the shepherds hanging out with their sheep in the fields on the night of Jesus’ birth, “We bring you good news of great joy, for unto you is born this night in the city of David, a Savior who is Christ the Lord.” And then they left singing, “Glory to God in the highest and peace to all with whom God is pleased.” Peace and joy. Remember?
And then there was old Simeon in the temple when they brought Jesus to be named and to dedicate him to God. And Simeon had a sense about this baby. God’s spirit moved in his heart and he took the baby in his arms and he praised God and said, “Lord God, you are sending your servant (me) off in peace, according to your word, for I have seen your salvation which you are preparing for all peoples.” Peace and joy and praise. Remember?
And we sang, “Silent night, holy night, all is calm all is bright, round yon virgin, Mother and child, Holy infant so tender and mild. Sleep in heavenly peace, sleep in heavenly peace.” Jesus comes. God’s savior comes and all is well. There is peace in God’s world. Remember?
So what is happening here today? “Do you think I have come to bring peace on the earth?” says Jesus. “No, I tell you, but rather division. From now on five in a household will be divided; three against two and tow against three…” I always dread when our regular reading of the gospels brings us to this particular word from Jesus. I like to talk of the Jesus who is our friend, the Jesus who knows our deepest needs, the Jesus who calms our fears, as Pastor Dave suggest to us last week. I have much more trouble announcing to you today that Jesus has come to tear things up in your families…to divide you and to set you at odds with each other.
But to be sure, Jesus does both in the Bible. He does bring peace – the biblical word here is shalom, which means “wholeness,” a wholeness to mind and body and spirit, a wholeness to our relationship with our God and with our world and with our own selves. Do you want to know who you are and what your purpose is and what will give you direction and hope in your living? Jesus brings that. You are made for God. You are loved by God. You are precious to God. Your gifts are intended to serve God. Jesus brings that kind of hope and peace, that kind of “wholeness.”
In the very beginning of his ministry, Jesus announces to his hearers, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to bring release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord’s favor, to bring “shalom,” peace, wholeness.” Remember? And then he goes about doing just that. A woman, an outcast, a sinner in the eyes of her community, comes to Jesus, falls at his feet and begins to kiss them. He recognizes her need for forgiveness and hope. He says to her, “Your sins are forgiven. Your faith has made you whole; go in peace.” (Luke 7:50ff) Remember? Jesus brings peace to the spirit.
And then a woman who was hemorrhaging, bleeding from within for twelve years, and slowly dying. She seeks Jesus out in a crowd, reaches for him, hoping that in touching him she might be healed. She is. And Jesus senses her healing and searches her out in the crowd. Again he says to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace.” (Luke 8:48ff) Remember? Jesus brings peace to the body.
And there are those of you here today who know of this peace that Jesus gives. A few weeks ago, I visited with a woman new to our community who is finally free after years of struggling with alcohol and drug addictions. She was bound for so long and her body suffered and her relationships with her loved ones suffered. But somehow, the Spirit of Jesus and the support of his church helped her find peace and wholeness of body and mind and spirit. Jesus brings peace to our troubled spirits.
There are others who know the peace of healing for their bodies. Sometimes that healing has happened slowly with the aid of doctors and nurses and medicines and the intellect and healing gifts God has given to people. Others times it has happened…well…miraculously! One day there was a tumor and the doctors didn’t know how to get at it. And a week later there was no tumor and no reason that it should be gone except divine grace. Peace and wholeness. It is a gift that Jesus brings to those who receive it.
But not all receive it. Not all believe Jesus’ words. Not all believe he was sent from God. Not all follow his leading and guidance. And Jesus knows this. As we come to this twelfth chapter of Luke’s gospel, the story is starting to heat up. Not everyone likes what Jesus has to say about God or about life. There are those who see him as a threat to the government. There are those who see him as a threat to the leaders of his local community. There are those who see him as a threat to their nice tidy way of living. Remember the story of the bigger barns a couple of weeks ago. To the wealthy man who builds a bigger storage shed because life has blessed him with more things, Jesus says, “You fool. Life is more than possessions.” Now, if you are poor and don’t have much in the way of possessions, you probably didn’t have a problem with that story from Jesus. But, if you are like me and know that you have more than you need and are constantly tempted to add to your collection rather than to give away and share, well you probably didn’t like what Jesus had to say. I was uncomfortable. Jesus knows that.
And Jesus knew that as some of the leaders in his day became more and more uncomfortable with his calling them to faithfulness that life was going to become more dangerous for him and for his followers. Maybe Jesus even knew that death was staring him in the face. He certainly seemed to. He told his followers, “Just watch. I will be rejected. I will suffer. I will die. I will rise again.” Jesus knew this was the way God’s leading in his life was being played out. The future looked anything but peaceful for him.
So, in today’s gospel he says, “Bring it on. If there are going to be those who don’t like what I say, who get so upset about it that they will attempt to do me in, so be it. All I can do is be faithful and know that God has bigger plans for me and their opposition cannot stop the will and plan of my Father in Heaven.” Bring it on. “Do you think I’ve come to bring peace? I have for those who will listen. But I have also come to stir it up because not all will want to hear my call to faithfulness. And there will be division between those who follow and those who do not.” Jesus brings peace. Jesus brings division. Because to follow Jesus is to know peace with your God and with your purpose, but to follow Jesus is also to know conflict with those who don’t agree with Jesus’ take on life.
And some of you here know both. You know the peace and the conflict.
Think simply of your worship life…not everyone in your family probably agrees on the importance of a regular time of worship. Some would rather do other things with their time? And so you are divided. Or in the use of your family resources. Not everyone agrees that a portion of your income should be given away to others. Or even in the use of your time and the sharing of yourself with those who are not family, or are not even a part of your community. Young people, did all of your friends understand you heading off to Montana to help poor folks out there? And even paying your way just so you could go and work in the hot sun? Did anyone make fun of you? They may have. It is inevitable that people who do not follow Jesus will disagree with you when you do, because when you follow Jesus your take on life changes; your values change. God’s values become your values. You begin to see faith as more important than success. You begin to see people as more important than possessions. You may even be seen as a fanatic by others in your circle of family and friends. William Willimon says this of his work as a chaplain in a major university:
I’ve been a campus pastor for 20 years. In that time, I’ve had no parent call me with, “Help, my student is addicted to alcohol,” or “Help! My daughter is sexually promiscuous,” though such are our great problems.
No, I’ve received maybe a dozen, often angry calls, “Help! I sent my daughter of to Duke to be a success and she’s become a religious fanatic.” Religious fanatic defined as she is going with the Catholics to Haiti to work in a literacy program. Jesus [lights fires.]
I couldn’t agree more. Jesus lights fires…”I have come to bring fire on the earth,” he says. Jesus stirs things up, offers a higher calling, higher values for life and living. He brings division because he sees a higher purpose in life…his life and your life and my life.
Jesus has a word for us in the gospel today. Jesus says, “I have come to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! God has a plan for my life. I must carry out the plan. I must die and then be raised. I must suffer and then see glory. My life has a meaning, a purpose, a destiny when it is in God’s hands.
“And so it can be for all who put their trust in me. You suffer much in your life in this world. You wonder at times if life is worth the effort, if life has any meaning or purpose or destiny. I am here today to tell you that your life can have meaning. I am here today to tell you that your life can have purpose – higher purpose. I am here today to tell you that your life can have a destiny, a peace like no other. Put your trust in me. Your life takes on meaning when you give it up to me. I am your purpose. I am your destiny. I am your peace.” Amen.
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