This is the time of the year when we celebrate the coming of the ‘Prince of Peace” into the world, in the “peaceful” scene of the baby in the manger in the stable—as the beautiful Christmas carol “Silent Night” has us sing to the newborn, “Sleep in heavenly peace”. It’s idyllic, and I think part of why it captivates us so much is that it flies in the face of what seems instead to be happening in our world, and even at times in our own lives—that “peace” is elusive.
Think about it. We have been in a “war on terror” for most of this 21st century, and it has involved almost continual military presence and activity (at various levels of engagement) for that whole time. Our politics has gotten increasingly polarized, and hence increasingly divisive. The gap between rich and poor has gotten increasingly huge, such that those two groups live in drastically different day-to-day realities. Mass shootings, in schools and other public places, just keep happening. Deaths from suicide and opioid addictions continue to be major issues. Life continues to cost more each year, and wages for the most part have not even remotely kept up—in particular with the costs of healthcare and higher education. Families struggle to stay together, and to be agreeable even when staying together—witness all of the “advice” on how to have civil conversations at the Thanksgiving table. No wonder we long for peace. It indeed is elusive.
Jesus came into a world also deeply in need of peace. His own people had been conquered time and time again over the last several centuries, by Babylon, Syria, Persia, and Rome—even taken off in exile. Currently they were occupied by Rome—in fact, the reason that Jesus was born in Bethlehem rather than in Nazareth, where Joseph and Mary lived, was the census forced on them by Rome where they had to go to their ancestral family home to register. Rome collected taxes from them to support Rome, and the only result they saw from those taxes were more Roman soldiers to keep them in check, and their fellow countrymen who collected those taxes getting rich off of them. Granted there was not open conflict—they had “lost”—but can it be called “peace” if it’s only submission?
The peace that the Messiah was to bring wasn’t just “everybody just get along”—that’s what they already had, with Rome in charge and them “kept down”. The peace was a restoration of their nation, and justice for those who had experienced injustice. It was the poor being lifted up, and the rich not getting rich at the expense of the poor. It was corruption and hypocrisy being lifted away, and love being the foundation for all human interaction. It was indeed what has been called “the peaceable kingdom”—as Isaiah proclaimed (Isaiah 11:6-8):
“The wolf shall live with the lamb,
the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
the calf and the lion and the fatling together,
and a little child shall lead them.
The cow and the bear shall graze,
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,
and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.”
It was not just a peace that meant I personally have no hassles. It was a peace that meant that, as Julian of Norwich proclaimed, “all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well”. It was for everyone, not just for those who could afford it, or thought that they deserved it, or had earned it. It is the restoration of all things, under God’s guidelines for how to live. It is peace that is more than just the absence of conflict.
Part of how we experience that peace is to slow down and actually reflect in the reality that this is GOD’s world, and that GOD has ideas about how we are to live in it, with the others whom GOD has put in the world. Then it is to believe that it is possible to live in such a world. Then it is to live as though the world already is that way—wise as serpents, but innocent as doves.
OLD TESTAMENT Isaiah 11:1-10
1 A shoot shall come out from the stock of Jesse,
and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
2 The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
3 His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide by what his ears hear;
4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
5 Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist,
and faithfulness the belt around his loins.
6 The wolf shall live with the lamb,
the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
the calf and the lion and the fatling together,
and a little child shall lead them.
7 The cow and the bear shall graze,
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,
and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.
9 They will not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain;
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
10 On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious.
OLD TESTAMENT Micah 5:2-5a
2 But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah,
who are one of the little clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
one who is to rule in Israel,
whose origin is from of old,
from ancient days.
3 Therefore he shall give them up until the time
when she who is in labor has brought forth;
then the rest of his kindred shall return
to the people of Israel.
4 And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the Lord,
in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they shall live secure, for now he shall be great
to the ends of the earth;
5 and he shall be the one of peace.
GOSPEL Luke 2:22-32
22 When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the law of the Lord, ‘Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord’), 24 and they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord, ‘a pair of turtle-doves or two young pigeons.’
25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. 26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. 27 Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him what was customary under the law, 28 Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying,
29 ‘Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace,
according to your word;
30 for my eyes have seen your salvation,
31 which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles
and for glory to your people Israel.’