"What Is This Peace?" Easter 6 May 13, 2007

(First, read the texts for this sermon: John 14:23-29; Revelation 21:10, 22 - 22:5; Acts 16:9-15)

Christ is risen! How, then, are we to live, as Easter people? That’s a theme in the stories we read on Sunday mornings during the Easter season.

Last week, for instance, our Senior High youth led us in thinking about this teaching, as from Jesus: “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

What if we in the Church actually lived according to this teaching? Instead, in church fights – especially, these days, over homosexuality – followers of Jesus are the best in the world at demonizing those who are on the other side of the debate. Many who are not religious are repelled by religious people, who they see to be intolerant and divisive. It’s an ironic tragedy. The first generations of the Christian movement attracted dramatic numbers of followers because they lived according to Jesus’ model. “See how they love each other!” is what outsiders said about the early Jesus people.

This morning, we read more teaching on love. Jesus answered, "Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me.” In the gospel of John, God’s presence is mystical, and non-physical, and non-apocalyptic. (In other words, there is no waiting for a “final judgment.” Eternal life has begun. And it is easy to see those who have received this eternal life: they are the ones who love God!)

Now, here’s the thing. There are two responses to all of this that are easy to fall into. Many either get judgmental, or they get real naive.

Consider a couple of the verses from this morning’s reading in Revelation, a vision of the holy city after the final judgment has occurred: But nothing unclean will enter it, nor anyone who practices abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life. And, we read: Nothing accursed will be found there any more. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him.

It is so easy to take off from verses like this and to use love as a standard for judgment! It’s a judgmentalism that seeks to identify those who don’t love God enough, and who is “unclean,” and who is “accursed”; in other words, who is excluded. What irony: it’s easy to become judgmental over love!

It’s also easy to become naïve. In that case, we imagine that we’re shamefully sinful if we have any disagreements at all about anything. And so, we’re not allowed to get angry in church, right? We’re not “good Christians” if that happens, right?

Is it possible to agree on all things? Of course not! And so I think we’re faithful to these teachings on love when we receive the grace to understand them in this way: in the midst of disagreements, love! (That’s what’s promising about life in a congregation in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, where we try to welcome into community those of diverse political view points and racial and sexual and economic backgrounds, where what unites us are our baptisms, and our gathering around the Lord’s table for his supper of salvation. In other words, it is God who gathers us in faith, and who are we to make judgments about that? It is God who gives us our unity, through the sacraments. What a counter-cultural witness to the world that is! In the midst of disagreements, love.)

In the verses from John we Easter people also hear these words: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.” What is this peace that Jesus gives? Does “peace” mean retreat to a place where all is bliss, with sunny skies and blue birds? Wouldn’t that be nice? Is it possible? Of course not!

Besides, there’s too much work to do! In fact, this morning’s reading from Acts provides a model of the activism we’re called to. There’s no retreat to safety in these words: During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, "Come over to Macedonia and help us." When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them. We set sail from Troas and took a straight course to Samothrace, the following day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. You see the model for Easter people after the resurrection of Jesus. It’s the opposite of hunkering down! It’s moving out, taking risks; it’s bringing into new cultural situations the good news that Christ has entered into our lives of poverty and hunger and death, and now he is risen! Now he brings new possibility, new life!

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.” What is this peace? It is a gift of grace in the midst of activism! It is a sign of the eternal life that has already begun.

For instance, consider the civil rights movement during the years of Martin Luther King, Jr. The movement, of course, grew out of the African-American Christian church. It was nourished by the Hebrew prophets’ calls for justice. The demonstrations that carried power were those modeled directly on the example of Jesus. I am so impressed by movement leaders’ sense, during those years, of receiving the grace of peace from God – which gave them courage, even in the face of intense fear and confusion and violence. Martin Luther King Jr. describes how this happened for him, in a dramatic way, when he was 24 years old and leading the bus protest in Montgomery, Alabama. Here’s what he writes:

"In this state of exhaustion, when my courage had almost gone, I determined to take my problem to God. My head in my hands, I bowed over the kitchen table and prayed aloud. The words I spoke to God that midnight are still vivid in my memory. 'I am here taking a stand for what I believe is right. But now I am afraid….I am at the end of my powers. I have nothing left. I’ve come to the point where I can’t face it alone.'

"At that moment I experienced the presence of the Divine as I had never before experienced him. It seemed as though I could hear the quiet assurance of an inner voice, saying, “Stand up for righteousness, stand up for truth. God will be at your side forever.” Almost at once my fears began to pass from me. My uncertainty disappeared. I was ready to face anything. The outer situation remained the same, but God had given me inner calm.

"Three nights later, our home was bombed. Strangely enough, I accepted the word of the bombing calmly. My experience with God had given me a new strength and trust. I knew now that God is able to give us the interior resources to face the storms and problems of life."

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”

Chances are our houses will not be firebombed because of our activism inspired by God the Holy Spirit. (Who knows?) For us, in our lives, what is this peace that Jesus speaks of, in the gospel of John? It is something that you and I receive as grace from God in the midst of our everyday struggles and conflicts.

And so: Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you – as you struggle to guide a child or a grandchild who is moving in self-destructive ways.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you – as you struggle to lead a work group of people who are divided and conflicted.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you – as you journey through grief, or as you endure a difficult course of medical treatment.

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”

What is this peace? It is a sign of the eternal life that has already begun – because Christ is risen! Alleluia!

In the name of God, who is Father and Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.


Pastor Andy Ballentine
St. Stephen Lutheran Church
Williamsburg, Virginia