The Advent of Peace

On the second Sunday of Advent, we turned our attention to the theme of peace. It’s sadly an evergreen theme as the news is always filled with wars and rumours of wars somewhere. No matter the grand claims made by the world’s powers after the Second World War and the good goals of the United Nations, our world is still beset by war, invasions, and terrorism, to say nothing of the everyday violence (physical, psychological, emotional, and economic) in our streets, boardrooms, classrooms, and homes. And so, the theme of peace is just as relevant today as it has ever been. It should come as no surprise then that peace has always been understood to be part of what God was doing in and through Jesus of Nazareth. Today I’d like to explore some of the many ways our tradition teaches us God did just that.

As we saw last year, much of our messianic language and expectation comes from the book of Isaiah, a collection of oracles that address Judah’s political, social, and religious life from about 735-539 BCE, the period from the Syro-Ephraimite invasion, through the Babylonian Exile, to the Persian Emperor Cyrus’s proclamation allowing their return and rebuild Jerusalem. The messianic themes start in the earliest part of this tradition, with the mysterious Immanuel (’God-is-with-us’) oracle in Isaiah 7 and the more fulsome development of its themes in Isaiah 9, best known today from its use in Handel’s Messiah. In this text, the coming saviour-king is described, among other things, as “the Prince of Peace.” Isaiah definitely has a specific, political bent to its message of peace, with a vision of the nations coming to learn from Israel’s God, “beating their swords into ploughshares” (2.4) and throwing their blood-soaked uniforms into the fire (9.5). But, once again we need to remind ourselves that the biblical understanding of peace goes far beyond an absence of violence, but involves the presence of healed and whole relationships with God, creation, each other, and within ourselves. And so while Isaiah definitely has a political message, it’s one that encompasses leopards snuggling up with baby goats, lions with calves, and all of them playing happily with children (11.6), and desert lands being filled with new life (35.1-2).

For us as Christians, the full revelation of what this kind of peace looks like is Jesus of Nazareth. Paul goes so far as to say that “He is our peace” (Ephesians 2.14). The passage is worth quoting in full:

For he is our peace, the one who made the two [i.e., Jews and non-Jews] into one and broke down the dividing wall, the hostility between us, in his flesh, by nullifying the Law, with its commandments and decrees, so that he might build in himself the two into one new humanity, thereby making peace, and reconcile both to God in one body through the cross, killing in it the enmity between us. Indeed, he came and proclaimed the good news of peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near, so that, through him, we both have access to the Father in one Spirit. So then, you are no longer aliens and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, with Jesus Christ being the cornerstone, in whom the whole house holds together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are built together into God’s dwelling place in the Spirit. (2.14-22)

The specific focus of this passage is how Jesus broke down religious barriers, tearing down designations of religious ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’, and re-envisioning holiness as something that has nothing to do with a legalistic list of ‘dos’ and ‘don’ts’ and everything to do with how our actions impact those around us. But of course, ‘Christ our Peace’ goes beyond this, as he lived his life fully in accordance with God’s peace, in his incarnation, ministry, teaching, death, and resurrection. And not only this, but he also made us partners in his ministry of reconciliation in and for the world, and empowered us to live this out. In the Beatitudes, his exploration of what it means to be blessed by God (despite what social media may try to tell us, it has nothing to do with a big house or mimosa-fueled brunches!), Jesus calls those who are agents of peace in the world blessed. So, inasmuch as we are living out our calling, all who consider ourselves Christians should be known as peacemakers. (Not warmongers, pot-stirrers, bear-pokers, or oppressors.)

All told, Christians have done a pretty spectacular job of not living this out over the centuries. Even monasteries and communes, those places most intentional about trying to live out the ways of shalom have been riven by division and interpersonal strife. None of this means those values aren’t good, or right. It just means they’re difficult. It’s hard (likely impossible) to show up faithfully in all of our relationships in a world that is grounded in such different values and where inequity is built in to ‘how the world works.’

But, as we approach Christmas, the celebration of the in-breaking of God’s peace in and through Jesus, we are given an opportunity to reflect on how we can do this more and more, whether through avoiding negative behaviours (this is particularly relevant as many of us are approaching time with family — when we often regress to childhood ways of interacting!), or through promoting and supporting positive ones.

And this is the question with which I’ll leave you (and myself) today: How can I be a peacemaker this season?