Readings:
Is. 5:1-7; Ps. 80:1-2, 8-19; Heb. 11:29 – 12:2; Lu. 12:49-56
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| Sr. Debra |
This
morning I am going to reflect upon one verse in our gospel reading. I
have used this gospel reading this week in my lectio. This is the
verse that I was drawn to over and over again. Jesus said, “Do you
think that I came to bring peace to the earth?”
I
don't know about you, but I was sure hoping that Jesus came to bring
peace to the earth. In fact Jesus did bring peace to the earth. In
order for our Lord’s peace to have an effect however, the peace
offered needs to be acknowledged, accepted and received. This is not
something that just happens once and we’ve got it for all time. I
believe that it is important that we ask for Christ’s peace on a
regular basis. Sometimes several times in the day. I admit that for
sometime now I have forgotten that. Even though we say it daily, I
had not taken it in.
In
the message translation, Peterson translates this verse with these
words, “Do you think I came to smooth things over and make
everything nice? Not so. I have come to disrupt and confront.” While
I don't find Peterson’s interpretation of this passage much more
comforting than the NRSV I do find it more understandable. I learned
a long time ago that keeping peace for the sake of keeping peace,
ultimately does not lead to peace. In fact this stance, often
produces the opposite effect, greater turmoil.
No
where is this better understood than with family members and friends
of substance abusers. Those addicts who have kept their sobriety have
had family members and friends who realized that 'keeping the peace
for the sake of keeping the peace often lead both to further
substance abuse and relationships that were codependent'.
Subsequently the very loved ones who hoped they were helping and
protecting the one in trouble were in fact enabling the destructive
behavior to continue.
Maintaining
the status-quo rarely leads to change when change is what is
required. Sometimes it is both necessary and vital to ones health to
disrupt and confront. Often the sooner this can happen, the sooner
effective healing can begin. I believe that this is what Jesus was
getting at in our gospel reading today.
Having
said this, I don’t want to give the impression that everyone should
just run out and challenge and confront, willy nilly as a way of
effecting change. In order for one to attain the desired life
changing outcome, 'confrontation and disruption' takes a lot of
genuine empathy and love as well as well thought out strategic
planning. Jesus is our best example of how to do this.
Jesus
challenged different people at different times. He called different
people to accountability for their actions or inaction at different
times and in different ways. He used stories and examples that the
people he was talking to could relate to. He gave those who came to
him and those waiting on the fringes all they needed in order to
choose. In the end he also knew that the peace he offered could not
and would not come about through force. It had to be by individual
free choice.
I
have to tell you, this whole issue of individual free choice has been
a bit of a problem for me. I think if I had been standing in the
crowd and Jesus said, “Do you think that I have come to bring peace
to the earth?” In my own desperation for peace in the world and in
my desire for those I love also to have Christ's peace, a peace I
have known, I might have been bold enough to yell out, “Yes Lord! I
thought you came to bring peace, and frankly I need you to have come
to bring peace yesterday!”
I
expect Jesus might have responded to me compassionately and probably
with some firmness, with another question. “Do you know the kind of
peace I am talking about for yourself?” “Do you have this peace?”
Actually I am pretty sure Jesus would have asked this question of me.
I
don't believe we can offer to others what we ourselves either have
forgotten or don't yet have. Earlier this week I was recalling a
personal incident that may be a good example of what I am getting at.
When my twin sister Denise and I turned 40 we decided to take a trip
to Disney World in Florida. It was not until we were boarding the
airplane that I realized that Denise had never flown before. She
looked terrified. What I suspected was confirmed when the stewardess
was going over the pre-flight safety instructions. I actually thought
Denise might get out and walk when the stewardess spoke about what to
do in the case of a water landing. The illustration I am getting at
came when the stewardess said, “In case of a drop of air pressure
in the cabin masks will be released, put your own mask on first
before you try to assist someone else.” I realized that I would
first need to look after myself by putting on my own mask if I had
any hope of helping Denise put on hers. We were fortunate, the flight
both there and back was smooth.
I
believe that we are invited daily to acknowledge, accept and receive
Christ’s peace. I believe that individual acceptance of Christ's
peace will be the forerunner to any kind of world peace. Sometimes we
are so frightened, disillusioned and angered by what we see happening
in the world around us or by what has happened in our own lives that
we fail to pay attention to what God is trying to do within us. If we
don’t have peace within we will have a difficult time showing the
peace of Christ to others.
I
believe this inner gift of Christ’s peace was what that the great
cloud of witnesses spoken about in our Epistle reading had. D.L.
Moody said, “A great many people are trying to make peace, but that
has already been done. God has not left it for us to do; all we have
to do is enter into it.”
I
believe that this is the one thing that the great cloud of witnesses
had in common, they individually had entered into the peace of
Christ. It was from their personal acceptance of this peace that they
wereable to do the incredible things they did and were able to endure
the situations they witnessed. So
Therefore,
since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also
lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us
run with per severance the race that is set before us, looking to
Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. May Christ's peace
enfold us, all dear to us and all who have no peace. Amen.
