|
Pentecost 7, Proper 11 Lesson: 2 Samuel 7:1-14a
July 19, 2009 Psalm 89:20-29
The Rev. Kirk Lee Epistle: Ephesians 2:11-22
St. James’ Church, Marietta Holy Gospel: Mark 6:30-34, 53-56
In the Name of God: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Gospel starts out today where the apostles, the disciples, have been performing great miracles. They have been working and have had no time to rest or eat. They have been teaching and healing nonstop. So Jesus decides that they have done enough and that they all need a good break. To find some peace and quiet, he books a cruise on the Sea of Galilee.
The need for peace and quiet is something we all need from time to time. However, the peace we seek does take, truly, many forms. Here are a few examples.
I have talked with enough parents with young children to know that one fond wish is a quiet place, a place of peace, a place to be alone. I have known parents who desire peace from the worry about their adolescent children. I have known couples who long for peace between each other. I have known a woman who prays for peace and her prayers are for the relief of the pain of the cancer which is overwhelming her. I have talked with a daughter who wants to make peace with her father and sadly does not know how to. I am sure you know many people just like this, who are looking for peace.
There are so many people around the world and in our community crying out for peace. Quite possibly you yourself and people you love are longing for peace – peace of mind, peace of heart, peace in body.
What do we get so often? We get peace a little bit at a time – here and there – and that seems about the best we can do at times. Here and there by some miracle of good, we see reconciliation, we see healing, and we experience harmony at home, or at work, or here in the church.
So often we use the word peace to mean, “lack of visible conflict” when, in fact, hatred and mistrust simmer just beneath the surface.
We all know what the Pax Romana is – the peace of Rome. That kind of peace is the peace that is enforced by threats of destruction. It is a peace that is enforced through wars, through terrorism, and through endless political negotiation.
We keep peace at home and in other places at times by avoiding scenes of potential conflict – ignoring issues to be dealt with, glossing over strained relationships with a few nice, insincere words, and even with fake smiles. At best, at those times, we pretend there is peace.
Throughout Paul’s writing today, when he refers to peace he is referring to something that is not the absence of conflict. He is referring to something much more meaningful. God’s peace is a different sort of peace. It is that peace which Paul says in another letter, “The peace of God that passes all understanding.”
First of all, the peace of God is an act of grace. It is God’s gift. It is something that is available to all who turn to God. That peace of God is that fundamental sense of balance – balance with ourselves, balance with each other, balance with God. What we find, time and again, the world cannot give that sense of balance.
The Hebrew word “shalom” has been translated as “peace” in English. In the Hebrew and in the Greek form, peace occurs 250 times in the Old Testament and it is found 91 times in the New Testament, 24 of which are in the Gospels. It is an important theological point.
“Peace” in English, however, is too limited a word to translate the Hebrew word “shalom.” The word shalom when used has these facets, this complexity. It means wholeness, completeness; it means well-being; it means prosperity; it means good health. One meaning, which I think we struggle very much with in this country, it has the meaning of contentment, being contented. It also has the meaning of salvation. And, indeed, the Peace of God is a strange peace.
This morning, this Eucharist that we are going to celebrate is a sign of that peace that was won by Jesus on the cross for us. The Eucharist, our celebration today, every Sunday and sometimes during the week, is our place to come and find rest and peace. Here, we, like the disciples, come together in a place set apart from the world for just a while. Here we are taught by Jesus and fed by him, given refreshment, given guidance, and given comfort.
But as the disciples learned through our Gospel reading today, our time here and our time with peace, and the time with peace that we have is all too short. Sooner or later, we have to get out of the boat and go back to life.
There is work to be done in the world where so many people seek peace. As the sign of our Christian call to unity, we share the sign of peace that Jesus established through his cross, and the Eucharist is that expression of it. It is an extension down through the ages of the peace he offered his disciples after the Resurrection. It is that wonderful blessing of communion with God, communion with the world, communion with our neighbors, and communion within ourselves, continually created by the Spirit who dwells among us.
As a sign of God’s gift of unity we share the living bread and the cup of salvation. Jesus’ gift, this Eucharist, sometimes called Banquet of Peace, both fills us and appropriately, makes us hungry. It makes us hungry enough to keep praying for the gift of peace that is constant. It makes us hungry enough to keep striving for peace among all people.
Let us go forth from here to bring in word and deed to those we meet, “the peace of God that passes all understanding.” Amen.
|
Sermons and Lectionary