Reflection on Mark 16:1-8 (Easter Sunday)

 

Mark 16:1-8

1When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint [Jesus’ body]. 2And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. 3They had been saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” 4When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. 5As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. 6But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. 7But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.” 8So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

Reflection

“They went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid” (NRSV, Mark 16:8).  And, that is how Mark’s gospel ends.  It ends in fear. 

On a day when we shout “Alleluia,” and sing loudly songs of joy to our triumphant Lord, Jesus Christ, who laughs in the face of those who put him in the ground, and who overcomes death itself…on a day like that, we have an Easter story that abruptly ends in fear.  Fear.  “They were afraid.”  It is a jolting reminder that even though Jesus overcomes sin and death for our sake, fear still shows up in our lives and causes us to flee, just as the women fled the tomb.

Maybe, it was the sight of the heavy stone, already rolled away from its resting place.  Maybe, they feared that their Lord’s body had been stolen from it resting place.

Maybe, it was the unexpected jump scare of the teenage boy, sitting in a tomb, dressed in white, which made them flee in fear.  Teenage boys can be very scary, and I know many young women who have run away from them.  I know.  I was one of those teenage boys. 

Maybe, it was the message itself, “he has been raised,” that has caused amazement and fear to overtake their hearts.  After-all, we have heard this story, many, many Easter mornings, but for these women, this is the first time they have encountered the idea that someone who is supposed to be dead, is not dead. 

After-all, the dead are supposed to stay dead.  That is the thing about them.  They do not come back.  Death gets the last word, always. 

What would they be like if they could come back, anyway?  Would they be horror shows with two legs?  Would their wounds still seeping blood?  And, how does reality work, anyway, if the dead do not stay dead?  How are enemies defeated if the dead do not stay dead?  How does life move forward if the dead do not stay dead.  There are too many questions, and the questions alone can send a person into a sleepless night of anxiety and fear.

The teenage boy says that Jesus did not stay dead; distorting the very reality that we have always known in a warped version of life that the human mind just cannot comprehend.

Maybe, it was that.  Or, maybe, the women run away in fear simply because the writer of Mark wants us to understand that fear is still a part of life, even after the promise of eternal life is shared.  Maybe, they run away in fear so that we do not feel so alone when we secretly harbor fear and doubt rather than trust. 

We fear the diagnosis.  We fear the next day after the terrible break up.  We fear what the world will look like after the disaster.  We fear it all, and we join the women in running away.  “No more,” we shout to the world.  “No more.”

But, where will we run?  Where are we to go?  Where are we ever to go?  And, what will we ever do once we are there?  Where are we to go where fear, uncertainty, and death still do not linger?

Remember that teenage messenger in white?  That heavenly presence has an answer for us. But, it is the sort of answer that you need to ponder.  It is the sort of answer that will only make sense after you run away, stop, sleep through the night, and consider all that happened as the events replay again and again in your head.  Here is what he said:

“Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him.  But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you” (Mark 16:6-7).

Joining the chorus of heavenly messengers throughout the ages, the messenger tells the women to not be terrified, because they clearly are.  Then he announces the amazing news that Jesus has been raised.  But, here is the promise whose meaning can only sink in after lots of reflection and sleepless nights, “he is going ahead of you to Galilee, there you will see him” (Mark 16:7).

But, the meaning comes.  Wisdom comes in an instant, as wisdom usually does.  Suddenly you realize that if Jesus has risen, then Jesus can be found “ahead” of you, just as the messenger promises.  No matter where you end up after running away, you will still see Jesus.  “He is going ahead of you to Galilee, there you will see him” (Mark 16:7).

Biblical scholar Audrey West remarks, “If that is true, then death is stripped of its power. There is nothing Jesus’ followers will endure, no place they can go, that Jesus isn’t already there.”

“I never realized that I would find Jesus,” the man remarked.  After losing a child way too early, the man was devastated.  He holed himself up in the attic, building long neglected airplane models in an attempt to get away from the world; to get away from the pain, and to build something in a world that was falling apart.  But, under the stack of models, he found a children’s Easter book.  He opened up the old book and instantly saw Jesus standing with the disciples as they were locked away in their own room, with pain and fear on their faces.  And, it was at that moment that the man realized that though he may have lost a child, he seemed to have gained Jesus, who, the story promised, was up in that attic of grief and pain with him.

“I may have lost a child, which I would wish on no one.  But, I never realized that I would find Jesus” the man said, with a newfound faith starting to stitch together his broken heart.  Jesus was there, in that attic, waiting, ahead of him.

That is what happens when Jesus goes ahead of you.  Wherever you go, Jesus is there.  Wherever you cry out in pain, Jesus is there.  Wherever you find yourself lost and all alone, you will discover that Jesus has already paved the way.  You will not be lost and alone for long.

It is the promise of the ancient funeral prayer that shouts, “We go down to the dust; yet even at the grave we make our song:  Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.” 

Death cannot hold us down!  Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!  Our desire to run away in fear is not the last word, Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!  Jesus Christ is with you no matter where you go, Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia! 

Into new and scary ventures in life, Jesus Christ is already there.  He is with you, Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!   Facing the death of those we love, unable to figure out how to move forward, Jesus Christ is leading the way, Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!  Learning to lead a new way of life when the old, destructive one must be abandoned, Jesus Christ is beckoning you forward right this instant, Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia! 

“I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also,” Jesus declares to us in John 14:3 as he promises that he will always be ahead of us.  Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia! 

So, no matter where we have run in fear, Jesus will be found right there, risen, full of life, and full of God’s redeeming love.  And, for that holy surprise in the face of fear, doubt, and pain, we shout: “Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!”

Reflection on John 18:1-19:42 (In Seven Sentences)

 

They found Jesus in a garden.

Gardens, and the life and abundance that they bring, have long been seen in the Bible as the place where heaven touches earth.

God walks and talks with Adam and Eve in the garden.

And, tonight we hear that the soldiers came to arrest Jesus in a garden.

They did not realize that the garden is where God meets us, to walk and talk with us.

They did not realize that when Jesus says, “I am,” he is telling them that God is right there, with them.

God is right here, with you, as Jesus comes to you in this garden place, with flowers, and life and the love of Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us.

Reflection on John 13:1-17, 31b-35 (Maundy Thursday)

 

John 13:1-17, 31b-35 (NRSV)

The story of the last supper in John’s gospel recalls a remarkable event not mentioned elsewhere: Jesus performs the duty of a slave, washing the feet of his disciples and urging them to do the same for one another. 

¹Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. ²The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. And during supper ³Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, ⁴got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. ⁵Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. ⁶He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” ⁷Jesus answered, “You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” ⁸Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.” ⁹Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” ¹⁰Jesus said to him, “One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you.” ¹¹For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
 ¹²After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? ¹³You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. ¹⁴So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. ¹⁶Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. ¹⁷If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.”

 ^31b“Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. ³²If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. ³³Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ ³⁴I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. ³⁵By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Reflection 

As they eat supper, dipping bread into olive oil, the disciples look up to see Jesus rising from the meal.  He goes and grabs the bowl and towel used by the servants of the house to wash the dust off of people’s feet as they are welcomed into the home.  Setting the bowl down behind one of the disciples who was reclining on his stomach, facing the food on the low table, Jesus takes off his nice, outer robe, as if he is about to get dirty, ties the towel around his waist, and begins to wash the disciple’s feet.  The water runs down the feet, and any remaining dirt from the road drips into the bowl.  Jesus goes around the table, to each disciple, washing their feet.

As he comes closer to Peter, Peter instinctually pulls his feet closer to his body.  He looks at the other baffled disciples.  Why is their master doing this?  This is a servant’s job.  At most it is the job of the owner of the house.  If anyone should be doing this, it should be a servant, or the owner of the house, or even one of them, one of the lowly disciples.

“’Lord, are you going to wash my feet?’” 

Jesus answered, “’You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.’” 

Peter said to him, “’You will never wash my feet.’”

Jesus answered, “’Unless I wash you, you have no share with me’” (John 13:6-8).

The entire thing is baffling.  Jesus needs to wash their feet.  Why?  Who knows? 

They need to have their feet washed to be with Jesus.  Why?  Who know?  Later, Jesus says that it is only their feet that needs washed.  That too is as clear as mud.  As I said, the entire thing is baffling to the disciples, but Jesus promises that later they would understand.

And, later, understanding does come.  It is found in these words of promise from Jesus: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also” (NRSV, John 14:3).

Do you know the first thing that the master of a house made sure happened to those who stepped inside the home?  The guests’ feet were washed.  It was the ancient equivalent of, “Make yourself at home.  Do you want something to drink?”

And, for Jesus, it is literally that: making these guests a part of his home; a part of his family.  When Jesus washes the disciples’ feet, he is saying, “Welcome home.  You have a place here.  You have an eternal family with us now.  Where I am, there you are also.” 

Can I just stop right there and sit with that idea?  When Jesus bends down and washes feet, he is welcoming people into his family.  Notice that even Judas (the one who will betray Jesus…and Jesus knows it already), even he has his feet washed.  There is no prerequisite needed to get your feet washed.  There is nothing that anyone needs to do or not do to be welcomed into God’s family, except for allowing Jesus to wash you, welcoming you in. 

Jesus instructs his disciples to do the same.  Wash more people.  Welcome more people.  Do the same as Jesus did, with no prerequisites; no requirements.  “You also should do as I have done to you.” Jesus says.  “Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them” (John 13:15-16).  We do not know better or understand more than Jesus.  If Jesus welcomed and washed the feet of dirty, unworthy people, then we do the same.

Jesus is interested in getting into the griminess of our lives.  Jesus desires those who are dirty, with stained lived, to be washed clean and given a good home. 

You deserve a good home, according to Jesus.  You deserve to be welcomed, washed, and given a place, according to the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  If Judas was valued enough to be invited in and washed, even though he betrayed our Lord and caused his death, then so are you valued enough to be given a place in Jesus’ family.  We have a lamb, whose blood washes us clean.  We have a host who welcomes us in. 

We have been given a way of life that causes us to look at dirty, stain-filled people’s feet, and instead of turning away in disgust, seeing those dirty feet causes us to say to ourselves, “I bet they need washed.  I bet they need a good home.  I bet they need Jesus to wash them clean, just like he washed me.

Then the bowls and towels will come out and the washing will begin.  Then the lost and despicable will be made clean and will be given the home they never had.  Then they will all know we are Jesus’ disciples, because we are loved, we love, and we welcome even them (John 13:35).

Reflection on Matthew 5:13-16 (Lent)

 

Matthew 5:13-16

¹³“You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot. ¹⁴“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. ¹⁵No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. ¹⁶In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

 

Sermon

“You are the salt of the earth” (Matthew 5:13).  Jesus says to that rag-tag group of people on the side of the mountain.  As he makes the proclamation, he looks into the eyes of those who are powerless, those who are grieving, and those who have no social influence.  Those people, standing right there, are salt of the earth people.

 

I do not think that we appreciate today just how important salt was to ancient people.  Today, I love it because it really brings out the flavor of my steak.  And, pasta is just bland if not for a little salt.  And though it did enhance flavor in the ancient world, it also did something that we rarely think about today.  It preserved food.

 

Just as wine is a long lasting, bacteria impenetrable preservative for water, salt was similarly used as a preservative for food.  Beef jerky is a convenience store snack today, but in the ancient world, it saved lives.  Salt allowed people to live with protein long past the expiration date of their meat.  Salt sustained life.  Salt saved lives.

 

“You are the beef jerky of the world,” Jesus says to the people standing in front of him.  Well, not really, but that is what he is getting at here.  These people right here, standing in front of him, are the people that God chooses to sustain the goodness of life in the world.  These powerless people are seemingly the people who are in the best position to trust in God and follow God’s ways.  They are the people who clearly see that there could be a better life and trust that Jesus will be able to lead them there.  God’s idea of the good life will be preserved through them.  They are the salt of the land.  They are the beef jerky of the world.

 

All of this salt talk is ancient covenant language, going way back to the days of Leviticus where God commands, “With all your offerings you shall offer salt” (Leviticus 2:13).  For a long time, God has used salt in the temple sacrifices as the symbol of God’s long lasting promises of life to God’s people.  It is a promise that does not go bad. 

 

And on the mountain, Jesus too promises to preserve the life of those people standing before him.  But, Jesus is also going to use those very life-filled people to spread the word of God’s good life.  They will be salt for the world.  They will provide the beef jerky in dark times of famine.  They will be the bringers of life to the world that desperately needs the reality of God’s good life rather than the reality of death. 

 

You are God’s salt.  You are God’s preserver of life in this world.  In a world that chooses again and again to not care and chooses again and again to allow death and destruction, you are given as God’s gift to be a preserver of life instead. 

                                                    

But, Jesus’ vision for the world and for his people does not stop there.  Jesus goes on to say that, “You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14).  This is an extension of the same idea; Jesus just uses a different biblical metaphor: “light.”  A prophet that Jesus loved to quote a lot, Isaiah, used the language of “light” all the time.  In Hebrew, the word for “light” sounds a lot like “or.” The “or” sound is right in the middle of the word, “Torah.”  It is a word play.  It is a type of rhyme, with a purpose.  Torah, of course, means instruction, and Isaiah says that God’s instruction is God’s light.  Torah is “or.”  God’s instructive ways of peace and right relationships, Isaiah imagines again and again, is light that spreads goodness, love, and life everywhere.

 

Now, just as it would be ridiculous to light a lamp and then put it under a basket where it could do no good, so too would it be ridiculous to have God’s instruction and hide it where it would do no good.  “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).

 

Jesus has a vision of what God’s good life could look like here on earth.  Jesus has a vision for what it would look like if the peace and goodness of the Garden of Eden was able to descend onto the world through his people.  

 

Jesus looks into the eyes of these “salt of the earth” people standing before him, and in them he sees the beginnings of peace, goodness, and love starting to shine in the world around them, just the way God had hoped that it always could.  They are the salt of the earth.  They are the light of the world. 

 

You are God’s light of peace, goodness, and love, shining in a dark world.  You are chosen to be a people of preserving and shining Jesus’ light and Jesus’ love.  May those around you experience the good life as envisioned by Jesus, because Jesus has set you apart to be a gift of salt and light to all those whose lives are dark.

Reflection on Psalm 51:1-12 and John 12:20-33

 

Psalm 51 is attributed to King David, and it portrays the time after David has ordered Uriah to be killed in battle so that he is free to take Uriah’s wife for himself.  The prophet Nathan confronts David with the truth of his actions, and this sends David into a heart wrenching period where he agonizes over the state of his own blackened heart; a good heart that had somehow become rebellious and horribly twisted, causing it to miss the mark, to miss its goal, to fail in accomplishing what it was created for. 

He describes himself as being filled with “offenses” which literally means being filled with “rebelliousness.”  David sees himself as rebelling against God and all that God had hoped for in his life. 

He asks to be washed clean because “wickedness” sticks out of his heart like twisted branches on a thorn bush.  “Wickedness” here literally means “bent and twisted.”  He has become twisted and gnarled, with a heart that is unrecognizable when compared to its younger self. 

He cries out to be washed of his “sin.”  He wants all that drags him away from his God-given goal to be washed away in the same way that God flooded the earth in order to wash away the evil that had attached itself to it.  He no longer wants to “miss the mark.”  He no longer wants to miss the goal of his God given life.

“Have mercy,” he cries.  “Blot out my offenses,” he begs.  “Wash me,” he asks.  “Cleanse me,” he calls.  “Create in me a clean heart,” he sings.

“I don’t want to be forgiven,” the young man pleaded confusingly.  The young man had hurt his mother deeply.  He had stolen his mother’s wedding ring.  Each night, his mother would crawl into bed and kiss her ring “goodnight” in the same way she had kissed her husband each night before the cancer stole him away from her.  Then, she would bring the ring down from her lips, place it in a small bowl on her nightstand, turn toward where he used to lay, and she would go to sleep. 

It was the same ritual of love every night.  Her son had seen it a thousand times. 

So, when he had run out of funds to pay for his addiction, and he found himself in a life-threatening situation of debt, he snuck in quietly one night, took the ring, and sold it.

His mother was heartbroken.  Not only had she lost her husband.  Not only had she lost her wedding ring.  Not only had she lost the one ritual that kept her broken heart from falling completely apart each night.  Now, she had lost her son, and he knew it.  He saw it in her blank face.  He saw it in her emotionless eyes.  He saw the ties between their hearts snap right in front of his face, and he was ashamed.  Like David, he wondered how his heart had become so rebellious, and twisted, and broken.

“I don’t want to be forgiven,” the young man pleaded.  “Forgiveness is not enough.  I have been forgiven a million times and it hasn’t done any good.  I want a new heart.  I want a new life.  I want things to be completely new between us,” he said of his relationship with his mother.  “I want God to make for me a completely new heart.”

One day, some Greeks, some people who knew little about the Jews and their religion and their ways, but obviously wanted to know more because they attended a Jewish festival, asked if they could, please, talk to Jesus.  Philip, who knew how to speak Greek, told Andrew of these Greek people’s request, and they both went and told Jesus.  Apparently, Jesus’ vision of “drawing all people to himself” was starting to come true, and he had not even placed a hand or foot on the cross (John 12:32).  Even before he had spread wide his arms on the cross in a tortuous, self-giving love to all people, people were being drawn to him and to his message.

Jesus taught things that spoke to their hearts.  Jesus taught in ways that they could understand.  He taught that, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:23-24).

Jesus taught that grain must fall to the earth and die.  If it gets stuck in the air, attached permanently to the plant, it will be good for nothing.   If it is eaten, it is just a single morsel of life for the one who eats it, barely sustaining any life at all.  But, if the grain falls into the ground and dies, buried in the tomb of the soil, it will become alive, grow, and bear so much more fruit and life than it could have ever done if it had not died.

Sometimes things need to die completely before something new can grow up.  Jesus says, “Those who love their life lose it,” those who like their life just as it is in its broken form will get lost in their life and lose all purpose, “and those who hate their life in this world” those who let it go and let it die as it is, “will keep it for eternal life” (John 12:25).  This seems like a message that the shame stricken young man needed to hear.  It seems like a message that King David was finally realizing.  Sometimes hearts need to break and die, before God can give them new life.  Sometimes people’s hearts require more than forgiveness, sometimes hearts need to be created again from scratch.

“And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself” (John 12:32).  This is Jesus' promise to us; who have hearts that have faltered and failed. 

Those who struggle with hearts that are rebellious and broken, come to the outstretched hands of the one who will still accept you in an embrace.  Though you may have burned all other bridges in your life, you cannot possibly burn this bridge.  Allow Jesus to create a new heart.

Those whose hearts have become twisted and unrecognizable, understand that the pain of burning those twisted branches and burning away that old life is not your heavenly condemnation.  It is not the beginning of hell, though it may feel that way.  Rather it is essential to clearing the space for a new heart of love and a new life.  Those who have been through the flames understand that Jesus arms are outstretched even for you.

Those who have fallen short of who they had hoped to be and have painted a life that is not as beautiful as God had likely hoped, know that you can still find your rest in the outstretched arms of Jesus, who welcomes the failures and doubters and strugglers and dead.  Know that Jesus holds you close as he rises out of the ground to new life, creating a new heart even in you.

Have mercy on us, O God.  Wash us.  Restore joy and wisdom deep within our hearts.  “Restore to [us] the joy of your salvation and sustain [us] with your bountiful Spirit” (Psalm 51:12).

"Create In Me"

Words and Music: Jira Albers; © 2010 by Jira Albers. Posted with Permission. All Rights Reserved.

Reflection on Matthew 5:9-12 (Lent)

 

Matthew 5:9-12

9“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. 10“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Reflection

Jesus continues the beatitudes with this notion: “The good life belongs to the peacemakers, for they will be called God’s children.”

Peace.  When I think of peace, I think of solitude in a cabin, far away in the woods.  I think of deer grazing nearby as I sip some warm coffee.  I think of gentle breezes against my face while watching flowers rustle slightly, dancing in the morning sun.  In other words, when I think of peace, I think of separating myself from others in order to find solitude.

What I usually do not think of is jumping in the middle of two angry parents, fighting in the parking lot, over the custody of their children.  But, that is exactly what my wife, Randele did a few years ago when we walked to the car, only to find a man and a woman screaming obscenities at one another while one child sat fearful with tears, and the infant cried as a result of this moment of temporary neglect. 

Randele stepped into the middle of the angry words and reminded both parents that their children were right there.  She stepped into the middle of the battle and told them to take a breath.  She stepped into the middle of the battle and helped them to talk about, not what would happen to the children over the next 10 years, but what should happen between them and their children for the next 10 minutes, and then the weekend.  Randele was moved by the Spirit of Jesus to be a peacemaker in that moment.

Our English translation of “peacemaker” is exactly the same as Jesus’ words in the Greek.  A “peacemaker” is literally someone who actively “makes peace.”  They step into situations of tension, conflict, and war, and intentionally strive to bring people into right relationship once again; to make peace.  “The good life,” Jesus says, “belongs to the peacemakers.”

As you can see, Jesus’ notion of peacemaking has nothing to do with trying to get away from it all.  There were religious folks in Jesus’ time who tried to do just that.  They would go live in the wilderness, away from others, and find a life of peace.  Maybe, they found some quiet, but they did not “make peace” come about in anyone’s lives but their own.  They were peace seekers, but they certainly were not “peacemakers.”  Jesus lifts up those who actively seek ways of peace between people or groups of people in conflict as being “children of God.”  Seekers of solitude are not “peacemakers.”

Nor are those who seek to create long-term peace through short term battle considered peacemakers.  There were those in Jesus’ time, the Zealots, who sought to destroy their Roman occupiers through violence in the hopes of creating a lasting peace after the Roman’s defeat.  Peace through power.  That is exactly what the Romans did.  They created peace through power.  Neither the Zealots nor the Romans, nor anyone who seeks peace through power are who Jesus is talking about when lifting up the “peacemakers.”  The world has given Nobel Peace Prizes to people who have created peace through power in the past, but Jesus would not.

There are also those who actively ignore the injustices of this world and simply try to work with the broken systems of this world.  They seek peace by simply making the best of things.  They too are not who Jesus envisions as makers of peace. 

Peacemakers inherently put themselves in the middle of conflict in order to bring people, or groups of people, or nations into a good relationship once again.  They are peacemakers.  They are the children of the one who actively created a peaceful garden in the beginning of time.  They are children of the one who actively seeks to live with all of creation in that peaceful garden way once again.  Those who actively stick their necks out for the sake of peace are children of God.

Being one of God’s peacemakers does not mean that you will find peace within your own life though. 

Notice that Jesus immediately continues with these words: “The good life belongs to those who are persecuted for trying to create right relationships, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  The good life belongs to you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5:10-12).

To this day, you can hear peacemakers being denigrated as “pansies,” “wimps,” and “snowflakes.”  They are told to keep their noses out of other people’s business.  They are called “weak” and “cowards,” because they refuse to give in to violence.  Peacemakers upset those who want to clutch and maintain power over a situation or a people.  Peacemakers upset those who seek to use violence in order to get peace.  Peacemakers are accused falsely of many things in order to discredit their words and circumvent their peace-seeking ways. 

Randele was able to deescalate the hatred in that parking lot and was able to bring those two parents to an agreement about the children and the weekend.  She was able to create something that resembled “right relationships” again between the estranged parents.  But, it might not have gone that way.  They could have both turned their violence on her.  They could have directed their hatred in her direction. 

Those who seek to live in Jesus’ kingdom of peace, and who seek to bring others into those kingdom ways, will undoubtedly find hardship, persecution, and evil directed against them. 

After-all, people who thrive in the dark do not want to come into the light.  Those who hold onto the power do not want to release their grip. 

Peacemakers, builders of right relationships, forgivers, and generous givers can all find themselves with targets on their heads as they seek to live Jesus’ vision of the good life which includes upholding the powerless, the grieving, and the afflicted. 

So, how do the peacemakers and builders of right relationships not lose heart as stones of hate are thrown their way?  They listen to Jesus and “rejoice.”  They are members of an exclusive group of people who have all been persecuted for striving towards God’s vision of the good life.  They join with the prophets and with Jesus himself as people who believed in God’s vision for the good life and were spit upon for it, or worse. 

Jesus says they should, “Rejoice and be glad!”  They should sing their praises to God and celebrate.  They should join in the chorus of those who sought right relationships in the 1960s, whose voices sang out above the heads of those who would persecute them, based on their skin color:

“This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine. 

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine. 

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine,

let it shine, let it shine, let it shine. 

 

Jesus gave it to me, I’m gonna let it shine.

Jesus gave it to me, I’m gonna let it shine.

Jesus gave it to me, I’m gonna let it shine.

let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.”

And, that reminds me of the conclusion to the beatitudes.  It goes, “You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.  “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid.  No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:13-16).

But, we will talk about that more next time.  In the meantime, know that the children of God are you who actively seek peace.  The good life belongs to you.