This has been a bit of a numbing stretch of time, this physical distancing, this self-quarantine. Time has been different. For years I have weighed myself the first day of every month, and since I have been consulting my calendar so much less often I missed it. I did on June 2, but it's interesting to me that I missed it for the first time in many many months. Despite the lack of activity and not having anxiety about having to get to some location on time, traffic being irritating, stressors of some face-to-face interactions, worry about nobody being at home--despite not having to deal these things that disturb us, while it being a numbing time, this has not been a peaceful time. We often associate peace with quiet--we often use the phrase "peace and quiet". But this time that has been more quiet has not been peaceful. And peace isn't just "calmness" either. Peace is not just the absence of conflict. When we cry out "Give me a little peace" that is often what we mean. But when quiet and lack of conflict are superimposed over circumstances that are unfair, that is not really peace. The calendar I finally looked at reminded me that in our United Methodist circles this Sunday is "Peace With Justice" Sunday. This year, in falls in the midst of a conflict-laden time in our nation, where violence done in injustice has caused protests, many non-violent and yet some indeed destructive. The answer is not that such protesting shouldn't be happening, that we should all just calm down--as Rev. Al Sharpton said at the memorial service for George Floyd, "Some people who say they want peace don't want peace--they just want quiet". The prophet Jeremiah, at a time of significant conflict in his own nation, addressed this. He acknowledged the shameless, perhaps even clueless, mutual complicity of everyone (even religious people) in the injustice: "For from the least to the greatest of them, everyone is greedy for unjust gain; and from prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely. They have treated the wound of my people carelessly, saying, ‘Peace, peace’, when there is no peace. They acted shamefully, they committed abomination; yet they were not ashamed, they did not know how to blush." Peace isn't about calming down, being quiet, not making waves, not protesting injustice. Peace is about making right what is wrong, so that there is no reason to protest. Peace without justice is not peace. Peace depends on justice. And we who follow Jesus, the Prince of Peace who was put to a violent death by a government that wanted to perpetuate injustice, are called to be bearers of peace with justice, and workers towards peace with justice. As the Gospel of Luke tells the story, it was right after Jesus' "triumphal entry" in Jerusalem that he saw the city, and "wept over it, saying, ‘If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace!" The "way of the world" doesn't make for peace. The values Jesus taught and lived make for peace, where the love that recognizes Jesus in everyone and results in justice, righteousness, and equity for all, means that we live in just ways so that there is no injustice to call out.
OLD TESTAMENT Jeremiah 6:10-11a, 13-20, 26
10 To whom shall I speak and give warning, that they may hear? See, their ears are closed, they cannot listen. The word of the Lord is to them an object of scorn; they take no pleasure in it. 11 But I am full of the wrath of the Lord; I am weary of holding it in. . . .13 For from the least to the greatest of them, everyone is greedy for unjust gain; and from prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely. 14 They have treated the wound of my people carelessly, saying, ‘Peace, peace’, when there is no peace. 15 They acted shamefully, they committed abomination; yet they were not ashamed, they did not know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown, says the Lord. 16 Thus says the Lord: Stand at the crossroads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way lies; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ 17 Also I raised up sentinels for you: ‘Give heed to the sound of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We will not give heed.’ 18 Therefore hear, O nations, and know, O congregation, what will happen to them. 19 Hear, O earth; I am going to bring disaster on this people, the fruit of their schemes, because they have not given heed to my words; and as for my teaching, they have rejected it. 20 Of what use to me is frankincense that comes from Sheba, or sweet cane from a distant land? Your burnt-offerings are not acceptable, nor are your sacrifices pleasing to me.. . . 26 O my poor people, put on sackcloth, and roll in ashes; make mourning as for an only child, most bitter lamentation: for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us.
OLD TESTAMENT Micah 6:6-8
6 ‘With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings, with calves a year old? 7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with tens of thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?’ 8 He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
GOSPEL Luke 19:28, 41-44
28 After he had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. . . 41 As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, 42 saying, ‘If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43 Indeed, the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up ramparts around you and surround you, and hem you in on every side. 44 They will crush you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave within you one stone upon another; because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.’