“Walking in the Way of Peace”
Luke 1:68-79
There is a lot of talk about peace lately- and I’m
glad.
I
believe in peace, I work for peace, I pray for peace
I
follow one who is called “the Prince of Peace”.
It’s hard though because the world is always trying to
catch up
To the
command of peace that Christ brings.
Zechariah
the prophets whose words are
On
the front of the bulletin today said:
“Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of
Shout
aloud, o daughter of
Lo,
your king comes to you;
Triumphant
and victorious is he,
Humble
and riding on a donkey,
On a colt the foal of a donkey.
He
will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
And
the war horse from
And
the battle bow shall be cut off,
And
he shall command peace to the nations.”
Now usually we hear that prophecy from Zechariah
On Palm
Sunday as Jesus rides into
And
it is wonderfully appropriate at that time
But how about now?
As we consider the birth of Jesus
and his
mother riding on that famous donkey that carried her to
perhaps the very coming of Jesus into the world
was
first lived out as that donkey carried Jesus
in the womb of
Mary to
“Lo your king comes…humble and riding on a
donkey.”
Today we hear a different Zechariah speaking.
Today’s Zechariah is the father of John the Baptist.
He is a
priest named after the ancient prophet Zechariah
And
Zechariah, the father of John, also prophecies:
“Blessed be the Lord God of
for he has looked favorably on his people
and redeemed them.
He
has raised up a mighty savior for us,
In
the house of David
As
he spoke through the mouth of his
Holy prophets of old.”
Zechariah was talking about Jesus in this first part.
Then he mentions his own son, John:
“And you, child, will be called the prophet
of the most high;
and you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
to give knowledge of salvation to his people,
by the forgiveness of sins.”
And back to God’s saving work in Christ:
“By the tender mercy of God,
the dawn from on high will break upon us,
to give light to those who sit in darkness
and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
Theologian, Alan Culpepper calls that last statement
“a haunting phrase” and I believe him.
We are in a time today where we desperately need
peace.
And not
the peace of an uneasy, temporary truce
Between
warring parties but a real and lasting
Peace
that is broad, deep, adaptive and enduring.
I just read the report from the Study Group
on
The
report starts with the words:
“the situation is
grave and deteriorating.”
Those are stark words but at least they
draw our attention
To a war in which 102 of our brave soldiers died in October alone
And
3000 Iraqi’s are killed each month.
Unfortunately
the report which is only 135 pages long
Doesn’t give quick, easy solutions.
It
suggests several alternatives but they are all slow moving
And
deliberate and they include something called
“Comprehensive
New Diplomatic Offensive”
And
in this very brief report they spend several pages
Explaining
the various faiths of the Iraqi people,
The
leaders of various groups and
Their own background and history.
In other words, the report is not a
quick fix solution
That
most of us would prefer but rather guidelines that
enable us, maybe just maybe to
“walk in the way of
peace.”
I don’t know if the suggestions in the
book
Will
actually work but I was amazed at the parallels
With
William Barclay’s commentary on today’s lesson
Barclay
says there are four steps as Christians walk in peace:
Preparation, knowledge, forgiveness and walking the walk.
For
the Hebrew mind peace is not the absence of war,
(Although there are times when we would
accept that)
but real peace, Shalom,
is “well being”-
health, wholeness, safety, fulfillment, peace.
And so when I yearn for peace on earth
and when I look for
The
Prince of Peace, and the promise of peace that he proclaims
I
look not only to the war in
The
poverty and crime and hunger in our country,
The
lack of health care for so many,
The
deteriorating state of the environment,
Racial, ethnic and cultural tensions.
I believe that when Zechariah speaks of
one who will
“guide our feet into the way
of peace.”
He’s not
just talking about the military victory
That the Israelites were
expecting in their Messiah
but
truly the fullness of life that they were given
in Jesus Christ our Lord.
The prophet
Jeremiah was talking about
The plight
of the aged,
children homeless in
the streets and
destructive greed that
tramples down the needy
when he challenged the people who were saying:
“Peace, peace when there is not peace.”
The prophet Micah was talking about the
disparity between
The
wealthy and the impoverished and hungry when he says
They
have led the people astray saying:
“Peace, when they have something to eat,
but
declare war against those
who put nothing into their mouths.”
And Jesus was talking about physical
healing when
He
said to the women in Luke 7 and Luke 8:
“Your faith has made you well,
go in peace.”
I am convinced that when we prepare
ourselves to welcome
The
Prince of Peace we are preparing for one whose kingdom
Is
for the wealthy and poor alike,
And all have shelter, clothing and purpose
and
where everyone
has enough food and drink to share,
where the
miracles of healing are for
those who
have health care and those who don’t
and where the
air and water are clean for this generation & the next.
I’m convinced that this is the kingdom
Jesus is ushering in
And
that our job along with John the Baptist
And
his father Zechariah is be alert and receptive as
Christ
“guides our feet into the way of peace.”
We won’t get it right all the time.
We
will fall like the 14 month old just learning to walk
But
God the Father will pick us up and guide our feet
As
we strive to walk in the ways of peace.
We might get accused of getting too political
when we talk about peace
But
then we can just say with Rick Warren:
“It’s
not a political phase we’re going through
but an urgent
call to practice the Christian faith.
It is a
moral issue, a compassion issue
and because
Jesus commanded us to help the poor,
it is an
obedience issue.”
We might be accused of defining way of
peace too broadly
But
at least we are in good company when we look at
Jeremiah,
Micah and Jesus himself
Who
defined peace as “shalom”, “the wellbeing”
of all of God’s children
or the prophet Isaiah who talked of an “endless peace.”
Now we may get shouted down or dismissed
for taking Jesus seriously
As the Prince of Peace and our call to prepare the way of peace.
We
know that Joel Hunter was dismissed from his calling
To
lead the Christian Coalition because he defined
The
peace of Christ broadly to include not only
Sanctity
of life and marriage issues but also
Poverty and the environment.
And yet we know that the peace of Christ
is one that passes all human understanding and we prepare against all odds to
walk in that path, listening for the words of Christ “Peace I give you, my peace I leave with you, not as the world gives
give I unto you.” Amen