Peace

Luke 2: 1-20

Luke and Matthew both write that Jesus was born in Bethlehem and emphasize that Joseph was of the house of David.  Why was it important that Joseph and thus his adopted son Jesus be of the house of David?  Those awaiting the Messiah were taught that the anointed one would be from the House of David.  David was the idealized King and it all began when he brought peace to the land with one sling.  David brought many other military victories for Israel, and why wouldn’t a people oppressed by Roman occupation, dream of such a King, such a savior.  The Chosen People celebrated being freed from Egypt which included the Red Sea swallowing up those in pursuit, and they attributed God being on their side when they took the land they were promised by God from all the inhabitants.  Yet Matthew and Luke knew by the time they recorded these Gospels that Jesus did not come as a military leader.  All the disciples did not realize it until the resurrection, but they did eventually.  So is it still important that Jesus be linked to the House of David?   And the answer is found in the prophets that wrote of this new David, for they understood that it was not going to be the same type of kingship, or the same type of peace.  I share three prophets and five texts to make my point:

Amos 9:11

On that day I will raise up   the booth of David that is fallen, and repair its breaches,   and raise up its ruins,   and rebuild it as in the days of old;

Jeremiah 33:15

In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.

Jeremiah 23:5

The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.

Isaiah 16:5

then a throne shall be established in steadfast love in the tent of David, and on it shall sit in faithfulness  ruler who seeks justice and is swift to do what is right.

Isaiah 9:7

His authority shall grow continually, and there shall be endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom.  He will establish and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time onwards and for evermore.  The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

These prophets make it clear that the new David will bring peace through justice and righteousness and not through violent victory.  This is clear from Jesus’ time on the tree, as He did not call down the Heavenly Army (the Heavenly Hosts), rather he triumphed over sin and death through the resurrection.  A peace that surpasses all understanding as it is tied to the hope and faith we have in God’s inevitable victory over evil.  Jesus’ victory and peace are tied to the eschatological Kingdom we have one foot in as we live in this world, as well.  His peace is not simply about no war today, but no violence or death forever.

“Divine, Son of God, God, God from God, Lord, Redeemer, Liberator, and Savior of the World” (Borg & Crossan, Location 928).

These are terms used a generation plus before Jesus was born for Caesar Augustus.  These terms we would think were unique to Jesus were exactly what people would call the victorious Octavian, who ended 20 years of civil war, to earn the term Augustus, which in Latin is One Who Is Divine. (Borg & Grossman, Location 904)  Thus it was Augustus’ victory and actions that lead to his “divinity” status.  That is even evident in his ancient biography as his “divine” conception was recorded not in the chronological beginning, but after the accumulation of his victories, while of course the Gospel writers make it clear of Jesus’ Divinity from the beginning, despite knowing it through the resurrection.  Augustus followed “…the four successive elements of Roman imperial theology—religion, war, victory, peace.  You worship the gods, you go to war with their assistance, you are victorious with their help, and you obtain peace from their generosity.  …For Augustus and for Rome it was always about peace, but always about peace through victory, peace through war, peace through violence.” (Borg & Crossan, location 949) This is his claim to peace.

When the Gospel writers call Jesus Divine, Son of God, God, God from God, Lord, Redeemer, Liberator, and Savior of the World, they were committing high treason.  We too are also to commit high treason to peace based only on violence.  Peace based simply on the absence of fighting is not the peace Jesus brings.  Jesus brings us a peace that surpasses all understanding and is based in righteousness and Justice.

Peace through violent victory is not real peace.

Peace through Justice & Righteousness thus gives us

Victory through Peace

Work Cited:

Borg, Marcus & John Dominic Crossan “The First Christmas; What the Gospels Really Teach About Jesus’ Birth”  HarperCollens e-books Kindle Edition, 2007.

Way of Faith

Matthew 3: 1-12

I knew two wonderful youth who were best of friends, but were extremely competitive.  Everything was a competition, especially academics.  I remember overhearing one ask, what grade the other got on a test.  “A” was the answer, and the one asking said “A, also,” after a hesitation, “94” the other replied with a larger smile, “95.”  They are very smart people, and their competitive nature I am sure had encouraged them to learn even more.  I was not that competitive with grades, and was in part why I chose to go to go to an undergraduate college without grades.  You may think that seems great, “no grades.”  However, it meant most of us students put in even more, but of course some simply did the minimum.  For most of us we worked hard to learn as much as we could.  We could not compare our success, except within ourselves.  I remember going to defend my senior thesis, there were two professors and a peer, and even though I had worked with my professors with drafts, I was still nervous I would not pass. 

In this scripture John the Baptist is coming to prepare the way for Jesus, which is on our mind as we wait for the baby Jesus.  However, John is talking about Jesus’ coming as our judge, not as a helpless baby.  Hearing that Jesus is coming with a winnowing fork can be scary, until you realize that each piece of grain has chaff and needs that removed.  Each of us needs our chaff, (sin) removed and how wonderful to know that Jesus will be down on the threshing floor working on each of us with the Holy Spirit (winnowing wind).  This is like the professor working with me to get me to that final meeting and John does remind us that there is an ax and the base of each tree.  Or how Paul puts it, “For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive recompense for what has been done in the body, whether good or evil.” (2 Cor. 5: 10)  Jesus will work on us as individually helping to remove our sin, but ultimately there is a judgment.  Just as John warned the Sadducees & Pharisees not to simply say “we have Abraham as our ancestor,” Christians should not simply say, “I have Christ as my savior,” for we will be judged not just on faith but how we lived our faith.

Jesus tells us in the Sermon on the Mount, that we are the light of the world, and shares the Beatitudes, including, “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to go into hell.” (Matthew 5: 29-30)  This tells me not that we must literally cut off our limbs but we must be self aware of the chaff that we have.  We are going to be judged, by the judge that gets down on the threshing floor with us so we may be ready.  I think the best scene for us to remember for the judgment, is when in John Chapter 8, the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery to trick him (why just the woman I am not sure, since last time I checked it takes two).  Jesus response was, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”  I can imagine the silence, as he etched something on the ground.  Slowly different men leaving as they examined themselves and realized they had chaff and sin to remove, and to be forgiven.  Finally, Jesus looks up and asks, “’Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ She said, ‘No one, sir.’ And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.’”  Jesus asked each of the accusers to look in on themselves and passes a judgment of forgiveness to her as well as all of us from the cross, “Father, forgive them…”  We are not to judge others, for we are to worry about our own time before Jesus.  The good news is that our judge loves us so much that He spent time on a tree for all of our sins.  The way of faith is knowing we must “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” (Matthew 3: 2)  That is “Act as you are judged, because the Love of God is near.”