Peace in the Midst of Violence [i]
By Charles Rush
January 4, 2009
[ Audio
(mp3, 5.7Mb) ]
 |
h |
en
When I was young and the Viet Nam war was in full swing,
seeming as though it would never end and never reach any definitive juncture,
there was a song released at the holidays that featured possibly Paul Simon and
Art Garfunkel singing 'Silent Night' in the background, very gently and evenly.
Over the top of their singing, was the evening news reporting, "Twelve
soldiers were killed today in Kwan Do province in the midst of a fierce firefight
that downed one American helicopter… On the national front, a man in Brooklyn shot his wife and two small children before
turning the gun on himself once he was confronted by the police in a standoff
that lasted half an hour. The police were unable to convince the man to give
himself up to authorities. As of this reporting, no motive for his actions has
been ascertained." On and on the stories of tragedy and
woe. At the very end the reporter gives the temperature and then wishes
everyone a happy Christmas eve. I'm pretty sure that
when the piece was originally released, it meant to highlight the irony of our
world and it did it in a fairly moving way. Over the years, as I've reflected
on the Christmas story, I think the song gets it about right.
It is true that
we all want, at some deep level, a picture post-card Christmas. We want the
silent snow fall, the trip out to Grandma's house in the sleigh, if that were
possible… We want a family that gets along and rallies around the cause of Tiny
Tim. A season doesn't go by that I don't watch Jimmy Stewart in "It's a
Wonderful Life". I have no idea why I never get tired of that movie, the
aw shucks 't's all about
people' at the end of the film and the angel earning his wings when the bells
ring. (And now I also watch “Love Actually” and “Family Man”.) We have a deep desire for things to work out,
for people to get along, and peace to settle upon the land.
If you have been
listening to the texts that we have been reading in Church, the texts that we
have been singing in the Messiah, this theme of peace is continually lifted up.
When Luke and Matthew wrote the stories of the birth of Jesus, they had all
those texts from Isaiah and Micah in their mind, and they wrote the story with
the profound hope that the birth of this child would bring about an era of
peace that only the Messiah can initiate- a time when the Lion shall lie down
with the lamb, a time when 'nation shall not lift up sword against nation and
neither shall they learn war any more.
And they tell a
story of angels appearing to shepherds, keeping watch over their flock by
night, singing glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill to all", It is a moment of peace in the evening
country side, and we are all blessed by God. It is a signature human hope. The
image is profound, beguiling, but it is not sentimental. It is not a Hallmark
card, sweet gushy butter.
Nowadays we tend
to romanticize the image of the country side at night a bit, since we no longer
have to actually live there. But the story, in it's
fullness, is about a couple that stayed in a barn because there was no room in
the Inn. It is a push and tumble world, no one gave up their room for the
pregnant lady. And they were actually traveling because the Romans were
fleecing everyone in the country, exacting as much tax money from them as they
could to support the Roman army that could stop them at any time and make them
do just about anything the soldiers needed to have done.
And then we get
this morning's text and you know that the warm memories of the party are over.
The wise men come from the East. They are symbols of the universal appeal of
the message of Jesus, that priests from other religions will recognize
intrinsically the spiritual gravitas of Jesus' message. And they consult Herod,
who pretends to be interested in their quest, but who actually would only use
the information that they could provide him, to ruthlessly cut down any threats
to his power. When the wise men out maneuver Herod, Herod simply has all
children under the age of two murdered in the area. We do not have independent
confirmation of this story but it certainly rings consistent with what we do
know of Herod.
He was a man who
had rivals murdered when he was seeking to become king of Judea. Of his ten
wives, we know that he murdered two of them for suspected betrayal. Of his
fifteen children, it appears that he murdered several of them. On one occasion
he had a son murdered when he uncovered a plot that the son was trying to
poison his father in order to gain his position.
He really did have a step-daughter named Salome. It is likely
that she really did dance for him one night when he was drunk and he beheaded
John the Baptist simply because of her whim.
One time Herod had to acquiesce to one of his powerful Mother-in-laws,
who wanted one of her nephews appointed to be the Chief Priest of Israel. The
Chief Priesthood was a very important political appointment and Herod did not
want him to be Chief Priest, not least of which, he was only sixteen years old.
But he had to let his Mother-in-law have her way. What was worse, the kid shows
up and does his job very well at the outset. Herod had assumed he would flop as
a youth and it would be over. Herod was incensed and invited the nephew over
for a holiday party at a large family gathering. In the middle of the
afternoon, when they were all playing in the pool, Herod held the kid under
water until he drowned and sent a note to his Mother-in-law about the pity of
the accident that he didn't realize the boy couldn't swim. It was said of Herod
that it was more blessed to be one of his pigs than one of his children, your
chances of a full life were much better.
Since he treated
his family with such ruthlessness, little surprise that once after the generals
from an opposing army offered to settle a battle with a truce, Herod had them
captured when they met to sign the final papers and publicly tortured them,
killed them, and had them unceremoniously hung in public for a many days on end
for everyone else to see. At the time I was reviewing some of the gory details
of his infamous career, some European editorials were criticizing the United
States for releasing a video image of Saddam Hussein being checked for lice
right after his capture from a hole under a farm house. I couldn't help but think, humiliation? We don't hold a candle to Rome. These
people majored in humiliation. Herod was just one small regional governor of a
not so important part of the world. His rule was standard fare, not atypical in
the least.
It was into this
world that the Christ Child was born, the prince of peace, born amongst
principalities and powers. It was into this world that the Christ Child was
born, the light of love in the midst of dark foreboding terror and might.
And what a vulnerable and risky project for the Almighty to engage
in as well... All of the hopes and promises of the world born by a
teenage girl, her young husband, nearly penniless, without guard or protection,
with only a stable for a birthing room, witnessed by only ordinary peasant
shepherds, in the back quadrant of the far edges of the empire. God takes
risks, particularly when it comes to believing in us. Every year, I am more and
more impressed with that when I look briefly into the mirror and reflect on
really how little I bring to the table and how compromised that I am, I marvel
that God would actually bother to invest in me at all and when I think about
how much actual good is accomplished through the whole church, compromised as
it is, it is apparent that God leads with a light rein.
As Bill Coffin has noted. "According to a Mormon myth,
at Creations start Christ and Satan were each requested to submit to God a plan
for dealing with the infant human race that already was showing signs of
delinquency. Satan's plan was simple (the kind that secretaries of state and
defense frequently come up with): God has armies of angels at his command; why
not assign an angel with punitive power to each human being? That should keep
the human race in line, and thing moving along nicely.
"In other
words, Satan was the first 'hard-liner" urging upon God the virtues of
force. And isn't that what we all do? When things go badly for us personally-
or nationally- don't we expect God, rather than ourselves, to straighten out
the mess? Shouldn't God at the very least keep our children safe and sound, no
matter how fast they drive; and shouldn't God keep the human race from
annihilating itself, no matter what the fiendish weapons we invent and insist
on deploying. If ultimately children and the human race can only be saved by
force, then so be it, by force- 'But save us, God'.
"In
contrast to Satan's, Christ's plan was extraordinarily imaginative, and implied a regard for
humanity so high that Satan must have mocked it. 'Let them have free will and
go their own way,' Christ proposed to God, 'only let me live and die as one of
them, both as an example of how to live, and to show them how much you care for
them. The only answer to their delinquency is for them to realize that there is
more mercy in you than sin in them."[1]
Jurgen Moltmann is probably right
that the hope of the gospel resides for us like a light in the night, beckoning
us towards our future which is ultimately peace and love. But within the
confines of history it remains on the horizon "as a sign and the choice
remains ours to journey towards it or stay stuck wherever we are."[2]
Before we wax
nostalgic about having Jesus in our hearts, as though it were a simple
possibility to follow after his way, it is worth reflecting on the fact that
there was no room for him in the inn when he was born. And during his life,
when he was no doubt tired one day, he remarked out loud, 'the birds of the air
have nests, foxes have holes, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.' This is the
one who, when he preached his first sermon in Nazareth, was surrounded by a mob
and threatened with his life. He is the one that his disciples naively asked 'O
Lord, when you come into your glory, which of us is worthy to sit upon your
left and your right?' Jesus could only respond, 'you do not know what you ask'.
And years later, when he does come into his glory, there are two criminals on
his left and on his right. Finally, the only place that he really does lay his
head is on a cross.
Through him, we
get a glimpse of God's care for us, God's unwavering love for us. And it is
peaceful but it is a peace in the midst of violence, a light on the edge of the
horizon that beckons us towards our collective future the Kingdom of God, what
God wants for us, however fragmentary and evanescent it might appear within the
confines of history. Understanding the threats around us and the compromise
within us, let us nevertheless keep our sights fixed, remembering that it is
God healing us quite in spite of ourselves and our limitations. My brothers and
sisters, this day, I invite you to the table to share together the healing
grace that God has to offer us and to draw strength from each other as stand
together in community. Amen.
[1] William
Sloane Coffin, Living the Truth in a
World of Illusions, from his sermon, 'Christ's Plan', p. 10. (I do not have
the publication date or place as this is only a Xerox of a few sermons from the
collection.)
[2] ibid. p. 20.
[i] A
version of this sermon was preached by Dr. Rush on January 4, 2004
© 2009
Charles Rush.
All rights reserved.
