watch it here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H54szh1HFZA
Second
Sunday of Easter, April 11, 2021
What God has done? I’ll
tell you. Jesus crucified for the sins
of the world? That was God’s doing. Then, he rose on the third day. Resurrected! So what? Does it make any difference? How does the
resurrection – what God did – define your life?
Theologian Stanley Hauerwas writes, “Through Jesus’
resurrection, we see God’s peace as a present reality. Though we continue to live in a time when the
world does not dwell in peace, when the wolf cannot dwell with the lamb and a
child cannot play over the hole of the asp [as imagined in Isaiah 11], we
believe that peace has been made possible by the resurrection.”[i]
Hauerwas believes that because of the resurrection of
Jesus, peace is inevitable in God’s kingdom, and God’s kingdom has begun
breaking into this present reality. We
can be sure of both – peace and the inbreaking of God’s kingdom. Count on it.
However, there’s the
rub. The world does not know peace right
now. The Bible is full of war. Last century saw two massive world wars. Local, enduring conflicts seem ubiquitous and
unending.
I think of the January 6, 2021 storming of the U.S.
Capitol which ended in bloodshed and death. We Americans can no longer brag
about transferring power peacefully. We
can no longer wag disapproving fingers at other nations we deem not democratic
enough. We saw deadly violence in the
very heart of our democracy.
I think about Honduran immigrants moving across Mexico to
the southern U.S. border. Homicidal
gangs vying for control of the illegal drug trade and a corrupt government
unwilling to confront the gangs make life in Honduras unlivable. Honduras has the fourth highest numbers of
murders per 100 people in the world.
Neighboring El Salvador is number 1 on the list, Guatemala is 14th,
and Mexico is 16th.[ii] Also, the region is often battered by
hurricanes. The masses to enter the U.S.
aren’t “migrating.” They’re desperately
fleeing death.
I think about the trial of Derek Chauvin, the white
Minneapolis police officer whose killing of a black man, George Floyd, set off
protests and riots last year. The crime
and the trial is emblematic of how violent racial tension in America is. So too is the recent spate of hate crimes
committed against Asian Americans.
Whether it is political division, immigration and
nationalism, racial strife, or something else, hate and violence are the
flavors of the day in America. We love
Easter. We bask in the light of the
empty tomb. We believe God is all
powerful and we follow Jesus. But, how can
possibly we see God’s peace as a present reality? When we read “he commanded peace to the
nations,” don’t we assume that’s some distant, future thing that we won’t see
in this lifetime?
That quote is Zechariah 9, 9:10 to be specific. Zechariah chapters 1-8 are attributed to the
prophet. He and the prophet Haggai were
late 6th century BC peers who heard God’s call to rebuild the temple
as a catalyst to reestablish Israel’s God’s people after the Babylonian exile
ended.
Zechariah
9-11, Zechariah 12-14, and Malachi 1-4, three distinct units probably written
in the 400’s, the 5th century BC, close out Old Testament
prophecy. Through these anonymous
prophets, God offers a special insight into his future promises. In Zechariah 9 we hear God’s command for
peace, Because the resurrection has
happened, we can begin living this peace even in a violent world.
The Gospel accounts of Jesus riding to Jerusalem on what
we call Palm Sunday, refer to Zechariah 9:9. “Rejoice greatly, O Zion; … your
king comes to you triumphant and victorious, humble and riding on a colt, on
the foal of a donkey.” Matthew and John
quote this directly; Mark and Luke allude to it. Entering
Jerusalem prior to his crucifixion, Jesus fulfills the unknown prophet’s
prophecy.
These promises come from Israel’s story. Read about Samson and the other Judges. Read about Israel’s greatest Judge-Prophet,
Samuel; and the first Israelite king, King Saul, and the greatest, King
David. Each of these notable Old
Testament figures fought the same enemy, a persistent foe who dogged Israel
relentlessly: The Philistines! After
Solomon’s reign, as Philistia’s international influence diminished, a greater
empire arose to threaten God’s people: Assyria!
Zechariah 9:1-8 along with a prophet from a few centuries
earlier, Amos, 1:3-8, name Syrian and Philistine cities. Relating God’s vision through prophetic
poetry, Amos and Zechariah recount God’s response to the Philistine and Syrian
threats.
Syria: “The word of the
Lord is against Damascus.” The capital
city of Aram belongs to the Lord. The
island city-state known as Tyre was thought to be impenetrable, but the prophet
says, “The Lord will strip it of its possessions and hurl its wealth into the
sea.” The Philistine: Ashkelon shall be
afraid, Gaza shall writhe in anguish, the hopes of Ekron are withered, and God
will make an end of the pride of Philistia (Zechariah 9:5-6). This prophet never bothers to tell us his own
name, but repeats Amos’ condemnations of all these Syrian and Philistine cities. Why? Why
tell us about the downfall of Israel’s oldest, fiercest rivals?
After describing how God will humble the enemies of His
people, in verse 7, the perspective changes.
“I will,” God says, “take away … [the] abominations from between [the
Philistines’] teeth.” Is God going to
wash Philistia’s mouth out with soap? God
says Philistia will also be a remnant for God.
God has always promised to save a remnant from Israel. Since when did those cursed Philistines who
cut Samson’s hair, harassed Samuel, and intimidated Saul get to be God’s
remnant? They aren’t us! But God cares about Philistines and Syrians,
Iraqis and North Koreans, black people from Alabama and white from
Alabama. Peace comes because of what God
has done, not because we learn to be peaceful.
Verse 7 says Philistia
will be like a clan in Judah. Just as
God ushers in justice and peace for the Chosen People, God brings a new,
peaceful age for all people. What
difference does the resurrection make? The
prophet of Zechariah 9 paints a picture of a united Israel with former enemies
now a part of God’s community.
It’s because of that king
who rides in on the donkey. He will reign from “sea to sea and from the River
to the ends of the earth” (Zech. 9:10). He
commands peace to all nations, and He has defeated death. Jesus Christ, the resurrected Lord, fulfilles
this prophecy.
Time out, Pastor! Where’s peace?
I hear your
objection. Our political division is as
bad as ever, the poor souls at the Mexico-Texas border are living in anything
but peace, and the Derek Chauvin trial is a powder keg that should drive all to
our knees. Where is this promised
resurrection peace?
It began with what God
did: he resurrected Jesus. New creation
began, an age in which all sins are forgiven, and all who follow Christ will
have eternal life. It grows as we – God’s
church – begin living the new creation reality today, even in the midst of a
murderous, violent world.
When we live the peace God
commanded, we don’t let politics determine who are enemies are. We may doggedly fight over policy differences
with someone or a group from a different political party or persuasion, but when
fight for our case, we do it with kindness, manners, and recognition of the
other’s dignity. We don’t hate Biden
supporters or Trump supporters. We give
grace and love to all, as our Lord commands.
When we live the peace God
commanded, we recognize the plight of the immigrant fleeing death and seeking
hope in America. These are children of
God. Because we are in Christ, we do not
act on some selfish desire to preserve an impression of what America is
supposed to be. We don’t fear how new
arrivals change America. We’re not
driven by fear at all. When we react to
what God has done in the resurrection, we welcome people in distress just as
Christ welcomes us.
When we live the peace God
commanded, we stand with the victims of prejudice and systemic injustice. Those privileged to be in the dominant group
don’t fight to protect what they have.
They share it. Defending white
privilege is akin to fighting to hold onto our share of stale crackers while
ignoring the resurrection feast God offers to share. When we throw down our old loyalties and insecurities,
and accept God’s invitation, we discover that the joy of God’s table is not
found only in the endless delicacies we eat, but also in eating those heavenly
foods alongside our black brothers and Chinese sisters and African friends and arab
friends and white cousins and Mexican neighbors.
We begin anticipating that
grand banquet by making space in our lives for black, white, Native, Arab, Asian,
and Latin people right now. God
commanded peace. That same God defeated
death. Can we see that this God has
absolute authority to command peace?
Will we trust that in the risen Christ, this promised peace has come, is
coming, and as his return will come in
full?
Jesus has risen. God has done something. Will we live in God’s new reality, or hold on
to our old rivalries and hatreds? Go out
this week, and share resurrection peace with someone who looks and thinks
differently than you. Ask God to put someone
like that in your path.
AMEN
[i]
Hauerwas, S (1983), The Peaceable Kingdom: A Primer in Christian Ethics
University of Notre Dame Press (Notre Dame, IN), p.88-89.
[ii] https://www.indexmundi.com/facts/indicators/VC.IHR.PSRC.P5/rankings
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