Sunday, December 9, 2018

Speak of Peace


Scripture   Luke 3:1-6  The Message

3 1-6 In the fifteenth year of the rule of Caesar Tiberius—it was while Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea; Herod, ruler of Galilee; his brother Philip, ruler of Iturea and Trachonitis; Lysanias, ruler of Abilene; during the Chief-Priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas—John, Zachariah’s son, out in the desert at the time, received a message from God. He went all through the country around the Jordan River preaching a baptism of life-change leading to forgiveness of sins, as described in the words of Isaiah the prophet:
Thunder in the desert!
“Prepare God’s arrival!
Make the road smooth and straight!
Every ditch will be filled in,
Every bump smoothed out,
The detours straightened out,
All the ruts paved over.
Everyone will be there to see
The parade of God’s salvation.”

*******************************
You know, on Peace Sunday, the images typically used to illustrate the message are pretty angels or doves or peace signs, or even a peace sign on a Christmas Tree with a dove on top  . . . not a thunderstorm in the desert. I mean, that’s a pretty radical image for Peace Sunday.  Typically, of course, I select a more conventional translation of the scripture.  But this Advent I am using The Message, and the imagery it brings to mind has nothing to do with peace signs or doves or angels.  Nothing peaceful at all, in fact. 

“Thunder in the desert!”   That line, that image, fascinated me, because the usual translations are along the lines of “the voice of one crying out in the wilderness”  as if Isaiah is speaking sort of generally.  “There will be a voice, a person, who speaks about the coming Messiah and prepares the world for his arrival.”  It’s not really specific or anything.  But this, “Thunder in the desert!  Prepare God’s arrival!”   It is as if Isaiah is speaking directly to John, as if these are not simply a prophesy of something that will happen, but a direct order.   “Thunder in the desert.”  And John did.  He thundered.   He preached “a baptism of life-change leading to forgiveness of sins.”  Not, be baptized and your sins will be forgiven.  But change your life, repent what you have done wrong against God and against your neighbor, and you will be forgiven.  He spoke out against the immorality of the leaders of his time.   He seriously thundered!  

It was the fifteenth year of the rule of Caesar Tiberius  . . . that would be around the year 29 AD, making John (and Jesus) around 33.   There was a lot going on.  It was far from a peaceful time in the province the Romans called  Palestine, the country that had been a united Israel under King David.   It wasn’t one country anymore, and hadn’t been for a long time, but three - Galilee, Samaria, and Judea.   Herod was the king of Galilee, serving at the pleasure of the Emperor.  Pilate was governor of Judea, which included Samaria.  No one liked the Romans.  No one liked Herod, king of the Jews but only nominally Jewish.  There was constant unrest.  Bandits making travel unsafe.  Zealots trying to foment armed rebellion against Rome.   A heavy burden of taxes on the poor.  Soldiers doing whatever they wanted to the people of the land - dragging them out of their fields and workplaces to carry burdens, raping the women and casting them aside, taking whatever they wanted from whomever they wanted.  It was a bad time, a hard time - unless you happened to be rich or powerful.    It was not a peaceful time. Oh, there was the Pax Romana - Roman Peace.  But that was “peace” imposed by the might of the Roman Legions.  That was order imposed by occupying forces on an oppressed population, not actual peace.  

So, what is peace? 

 Jane Addams is known as the Mother of Social Work, and recognized as the founder of the social work profession in the United States.   In 1889 she opened Hull House, the first settlement house - like a community center in a poor neighborhood where volunteers lived, and where opportunities for education, exposure to the arts, and so on were made available to the local residents who wouldn’t otherwise have access to these things.  Agencies like All Peoples Community Center in LA and the Oakland Peace Center are pretty much direct descendents of Hull House.  She fought for justice for all people - for women’s right to vote, for poor people’s rights to an education, for access to health care, and the needs of children.  She helped found the American Civil Liberties Union in the 1920s, and in 1931 was the first American woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.  She was a force of nature.  And she said “True Peace is not the absence of war, it is the presence of justice.”  

Many other people have made similar statements.  A Google search for the phrase “peace is not the absence of war” yields 50,300,000 results with quotes attributed to everyone from Pope John Paul II to Albert Schweitzer to Harrison Ford.   The original source was probably the 17th century philosopher Spinoza.  But Jane Addams spent her entire life working for justice, for an end to oppression, and for equity.  Her goad at Hull House was “to practice social democracy, that is, egalitarian social relations across class lines.”   Justice is everyone being treated fairly - equally - under the law.  Money and social standing should not make a difference in having access to education, health care, and legal representation.   

Yesterday I was blessed with the opportunity to spend the morning registering families for the Reality Tour at Selma High School.  It is a drug prevention event  for youth and their parents that is really quite “in your face.”   I was working alongside Selma School district teachers and administrators and listening to their stories about kids and parents and equity.  Because, you see, registration for this event was online.  And a lot of the kids these teachers and administrators were talking about don’t have access to computers.  They don’t have smart phones.  They don’t have email.  These are the kids who don’t get breakfast at home, and don’t have coats when it’s cold.   It’s easy for an event organizer to say, “If we do it on line we won’t miss anyone.  Everyone has access.”  Except everyone doesn’t.  One of the teachers said, “it’s an equity issue.”  And the conversation turned to “How do we make the playing field level?  How do we give those kids access to events like this?”   No one would suggest that every kid be given an iPhone, but making computer access available at the schools is doable (said the folks I was listening to) - and equitable.  

Issues of equity are justice issues.  Issues of equity are loving the neighbor issues.  Because if I love my neighbor, I want her to have the same opportunities I have, regardless of class or race or religion or whatever.  There is a difference between equality and equity.   It’s illustrated in a cartoon where there are three kids of different heights standing at a fence, and on the other side of the fence is a baseball game.  None of them can see over, so they each get an identical box to stand on.  That’s equality.  But two of the kids still can’t see over the fence.  So each kid is given a box that makes them the right height to see over.  That’s equity.  That’s what Jane Addams fought for.  That’s what Jesus preached.  That’s what John was preparing the way for.

You know, I could take the rest of that Isaiah quote and make it about equality. “Every bump smoothed out, the detours straightened out, all the ruts paved over.”   Except I think that’s a bit simplistic.  Because neither John nor Jesus nor anyone else preached that life was going to be a smooth ride all the way from beginning to end.  There will be dips and bumps, and detours and ruts.     Justice is making sure everyone can get past the dips and bumps.  Justice is making sure there are signs clearly indicating where to go for that detour.  Justice is working together to fill in the ruts in the road, so that everyone can travel along it.   Working toward a just world means working toward a world where all those kids’ families can get on the internet to register for events that could make a real difference in their lives.  Working toward a just world means working toward a world where everyone has access to healthy food.  Some people will still get steak and lobster while others get chicken or beans and rice. But everyone gets fed.  Everyone gets to eat.  

Peace is the presence of Justice.  Peace is not the absence of war, but it might be the absence of oppression.  So go from here, my sisters and brothers, to do as John did.  Thunder in the desert of oppression.  Continue to work and speak for justice for all God’s people.  Comfort God’s people, as John did, with the Good News, that Jesus is coming, and has come, and will come again, to heal our world, to pour justice out upon it, and bring peace to every heart.  

No comments:

Post a Comment