Last Sunday we lit the fourth candle
on the Advent wreath—the candle of peace.
Few would argue with the assertion that peace is the most prized, yet
one of the rarest commodities humanity has ever known.
We tend to
think of war as an exceptions —as
periodic and brutal interruptions
of the usual peaceful state of humanity. But at least one historian and
philosopher has noted that war is actually the normal state of affairs for humanity, and peace is the interruption
You might disagree with that, but if you look back over the course of the
twentieth century, it must be admitted that this argument isn’t without basis,
and that the nations of the world have, by and large, not been very good at
peace.
But peace,
true peace, is more than a lack of war.
Conflict
seems to define human relationship at many levels, from the nation to the
family, from the workplace to the school, to the roads we drive everyday.
What is the
solution to this problem , this problem which has plagued humanity for
generation upon generation upon generation?
Well. The
bottom line answer—the biblical answer is that humanity is really helpless to
do anything on its own and by its own power. We see the evidence for that in history. In trying to fix
the problem, human beings have, more often then not, made the problem worse.
The answer to the problem of war has
really been the same—develop better and more sophisticated weapons, so that if
there is a war, the right people would win it. The problem with that is our
perceived enemy does the same thing, which leads to an arms race. An arms race
was at the root of the First World War. The arms race between the United States
and the Soviet Union, led to a situation where total war would mean total
annihilation. Fear of nuclear
annihilation may have prevented world war three but arms manufacturers have
ensured that a stockpile of conventional weapons are available to reap a
harvest of death and destruction around the world.
The
spiritual underpinning of all of that is sin, humanity playing God, humanity
turning from God and devising its own means. And its like that at all levels. Any human conflict is, at the root basic level,
a conflict with God, a
contention about who is in charge.
If we despise our neighbour, we are
rejecting the commandment to love our neighbour. When we reject the
commandment, we are deciding that God should not be in charge. Yes, I might think that this business about
loving neighbour, that might be a good commandment when we are dealing with
nice people, but maybe, in this case, with this guy, there ought to be an
exception. I am going to institute a temporary suspension of the commandment
and punch this guy in the nose.
That’s playing God, and human beings have been playing God for a very
long time, and it hasn’t worked, and it has led to every single sin ever
committed. It has given rise to a
world of horror and pain. After being expelled from the garden of Eden, it
didn’t take the descendents of Adam and Eve long to start killing each other,
as we read in the account of Cain and Abel.
The answer,
the ultimate answer cannot be the simple application of a new method. Methods
are bandaids. There needs to be a transformation, a fundamental transformation,
of the human heart. That transformation must come from
outside. It must come from outside,
and it has come from outside.
The message
of Jesus is not “give peace a chance”, but rather, ‘I am peace,” Jesus became,
and is peace, for us and for the world.
Jesus
Christ came into this world, not to judge or punish the world, but to save the
world, save the world from its destructive course, and to bring true and
lasting peace.
The Prince
of Peace came to rule over his peaceable kingdom. Now, during Advent, we anticipate the arrival of that
peaceable kingdom in its fullness. But that kingdom is here in a very real way,
and the peaceful fruits of its harvest are available. Those fruits are found in
the forgiveness and healing of Jesus. Through that forgiveness a new life is made possible—a new life
which transcends death and suffering, a new life where peace is available,
peace which does not come from us,
but peace which comes to us.
Today we
read the story of Mary, the young virgin. Nothing about Mary would suggest that
she was special or different from the girls around her. What made Mary special
and different was the decision God has made about her. God had decided that she
was to bear his child.
God had
decided that Mary, young, humble, Mary would be the entrance point for the very
incarnation of peace. Mary was a special person because she was made special by
God. The specialness of Mary has been a point of contention between Catholics
and Protestants. But you do not have to be Roman Catholic to uphold Mary, the
blessed virgin, as a special person, a special person because she was the
special recipient of God’s Grace, and
entrusted with bearing God’s peace. What an incredible honour—what a
magnificent election. Today we read together the Magnificat from Luke 1.
This was
Mary’s response to the Grace which God had showered her with, a Grace she
struggled with, because at first, she didn’t understand why God would choose
her. But in the magnificat we read that Mary had a real understanding of God’s
Grace and God’s Peace--that it would not come through the mighty or the
powerful or the strong or the proud, but in the lowly and the gentle.
Those who
believe in Jesus Christ as Lord, are like Mary, like Mary in that they are the
recipients of God’s Grace. And like
Mary, they are called, to live in
response to that Grace. Our worship is a response to God’s Grace. And in that
Grace there is an everlasting peace, a gift of peace which surpasses all
understanding. A peace which the world cannot give.
Yet, there
remains an absence of peace. The world is conflicted and hearts struggle. There
is a lack of inner peace, even amongst those who confess Christ. External
circumstances and internal storms and struggles define life for many—especially
as we move into the heart of the holiday season. What is the answer to that?
The first
answer is Christ in community.
Christ, and his peace, works through the community of believers, who help each
other move through difficult times. The gift of peace has been entrusted to
Christians to share with each other and the world. When we share the peace
during worship, this isn’t a break so folks have time to dig their wallets out for the offering.
It’s a time to share the peace of
he who is the incarnation of peace. We, in effect, become that incarnation to
each other. Peace becomes flesh and blood and not just an idea, or some
abstraction. And that peace is carried through the worship service, into
fellowship, and into the world. The storms of life may continue to rage, but
they need not be endured alone.
Such
accompaniment is important because in the minds and hearts of many people,
storms rage and there is no peace. There is often no peace because of intense and ongoing frustration.
This frustration more often than not stems from relationships with other
people, stems from the desire that others would be different—wishing that
others would stop doing what they are doing or start doing what we think they
ought to be doing.
We may
somehow try to take steps to control their behaviour or lie awake at night
ruminating and worrying. But there
is a real and fundamental problem in this approach, and the problem is that
there is not one person in this world who we can control or change.
The illusion that we can change others
springs from the age old problem of humanity—and that old problem is wanting to
be God. But the illusion does not, cannot, bring the
desired results. Yes, we can
persuade, we can influence. For children, adults can role model and provide
safe boundaries. But no amount of
swearing or cursing is going to stop bad drivers from being bad drivers. Even if someone really does need to
change; we cannot change them. Only God can do the changing.
But
ultimately the desire for others to conform to our expectations leads to a lot
of distress, and most certainly a great sacrifice of inner peace.
St
Augustine, one of the great early church fathers understood what this meant, because he lived it. He wrote his
confessions, and in them he recognized the source of his bondage.
“I was
bound not with the iron of another’s chains, but by my own iron self will.”
That iron self will is incompatible with peace because the iron self will does
not understand its own limits. The
peace restless hearts and minds so desperately need cannot be given by the iron
will, on its terms, with its methods.
Most of you
are fimilair with Charles’ Dicken’s classic, A Christmas Carol. When we think about the character Ebenezeer
Scrooge, when we think abut his problem, it is easy to jump to the conclusion
that he was just greedy, mean and miserly. But what is underneath that, is a
misguided attempt to control reality and thereby achieve peace—a perverted
attempt to maintain peace by blocking out the reality of a painful childhood,
peace by blocking out the reality of the poverty which gripped industrialized
London, peace by blocking out the reality of his own ultimate demise. Scrooge’s
iron will kept him tightly bound, but there was no real peace in Scrooge’s
heart.
In Nazi
Germany, Adolf Hitler upheld the human will, celebrated the will to power and
the triumph of the will. History saw where that Triumph looked like. It was not
peace, because peace, true peace, comes only from one place—from the heart of God. When that
peace is received, true peace comes.
True peace
comes when it is received as a gift, not as something earned or achieved, or
granted as reward. It is rooted in the Grace of God which is totally
unconditional, a Grace which tells us that there is nothing we need so or can
do to earn the love of God. This love is the foundation of our lives. The
people around us might disappoint us, or anger us, or let us down, but what
they can never do is remove the Grace God has given us. Jesus was crucified,
but his status as God’s only begotten son did not change.
Yet, even knowing this, we struggle. We
struggle because that will keeps bubbling up and telling us that we have to
earn God’s love, earn it, and get it through others, and on our terms. The will tells us we have to do
something to make God love us to give us peace. Maybe that something is being
the perfect parent, child, spouse, teacher, accountant, sibling. Fill in the
blank. Maybe we think that peace will come if we earn enough money, or have
enough things, or make ourselves sound holy enough, or use the right religious
words This is a sad illusion.
So again
and again we need to hear the message of God’s grace. Again and again, we need
to hear about the entrance point of this grace into the world. It is not in the
strong or the most religious—it is in the meek and humble. This is the great
truth we hear in the Magnificat. Mary tells us where this Grace and peace is
found. It is found in he who entered this world as a humble infant. It is found
in he who was crucified for the sake of
sinners. It is found in he who rose from the dead and has promised us a
share in his resurrection. Now may his peace fill your hearts and minds today
and for eternity. Amen.
