2021 Advent 2 - Peace

Peace

SCRIPTURE READING

Luke 3:1–6 NIV

1 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene— 2 during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3 He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 4 As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: “A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. 5 Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. 6 And all people will see God’s salvation.’ ”

INTRODUCTION

In a few weeks, we’ll consider the birth of Jesus story in Luke 2, but for today, we read Luke 3 - this story of John the Baptist is most appropriately told as the story that comes before - John is the one who is calling out in the wilderness, “Prepare the way for the Lord.” God sent John to get the people ready to hear Jesus.

Knowing that Jesus is coming again, we have the same job today - to prepare the way for the Lord - Advent is this season of anticipation - preparation! We have this yearly reminder that Jesus not only came once - He is coming again, and just like his first arrival - the world is in so many ways not ready to receive Him.

So, this text seems appropriate for the season of Advent, but it may seem an odd one for a week in which we talk about peace.

Perhaps instead, we should consider a passage like 2 Peter 1:1-2 “1 Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith as precious as ours through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: 2 May grace and peace be yours in abundance in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.”

Simon Peter had been called to follow Jesus while he was on the deck of his father’s fishing boat. David Graves says in Life is a Journey, “Christ’s righteousness became Peter’s righteousness, and he was given a right standing before God. Just like Peter, when we trust Jesus as our Savior, we receive His righteousness. When we join Jesus on a journey of discipleship, we receive God’s grace. God, in His mercy, does not give us what we deserve; God, in His grace gives us what we do not deserve. Our God is “the God of all grace, and He channels that grace to us through Jesus Christ. As a result of putting our faith in Jesus, we also receive peace. Peace with God and the peace of God.”

John the Baptist isn’t the picture of what we think of when we think of peace - I mean, he wore strange clothes - and lived as a wild man in the wilderness. His diet was a bit strange as well. I mean, who doesn’t like honey covered locusts? And on top of that, his most famous line was him crying out “repent for the kingdom of heaven is near.” That doesn’t exactly bring to mind the picture of a baby who doesn’t cry while lying in a manger among the cattle, sheep, and shepherds. Loud cries for repentance don’t quite fit in with our manger scene.

Yet John the Baptist in Luke 3 paints a picture of a time of peace that is borrowed from the prophet Isaiah. He describes a time when crooked paths are made straight and rough places made smooth. It’s an image of the day of the Lord, a day longed for by the people, a day when all will be made right. A day of peace. But this picture of peace that John paints is not one of silent babies and softly bleating sheep; it’s a picture of a hard journey - it takes a lot of work to fill in the valleys and make the rough places smooth. Yet, that kind of work and repentance is the only way to ultimately lead to the peace of Christ. It’s the kingdom of God coming to earth in unexpected ways.

BODY

1. THE KINGDOMS OF THE WORLD are a contrast to THE KINGDOM OF GOD

a. Luke sets the stage by describing the current kingdom and political powers at play. The list that I would have liked to have left out this morning as I read the text - these hard to pronounce names - includes the emperor, the governor and other political leaders, and even the religious high priests of the day—because it was into this world of political/kingdom power that people thought the Messiah would come. They thought peace on earth would come through the powers of the elite: through warfare, through the law, or through having the most firepower or the most clout.

b. After this list of political rulers and powers comes a simple line in verse 2: “God’s word came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness.” In this line, we see the the very different kingdom God is creating.

i. The kingdom of God is not entering through the political center but seems to be coming from a wilderness place.

ii. The kingdom of God is not entering through those with power but through a prophet with little clout.

c. Although Luke 3 doesn’t directly talk about the birth of Christ, the chapter that comes before Luke 3 is the best known story of Christ’s birth, which means that this list of political leaders and powers—read directly after the story of Christ’s birth and childhood—highlights this contrast of kingdoms even more. God’s kingdom is not operating in the ways of the world with shows of military power, violence, money, or control; it is operating very differently.

2. JOHN IS BAPTIZING PEOPLE INTO A NEW KINGDOM

a. The hearers of the original text would have been familiar with the idea of baptism because when Gentiles converted to Judaism, they were baptized, and there were other religious ceremonies that involved cleansing with water.

b. The radical part of John’s message wasn’t in the act of baptism but in what he was asking of those who came to be baptized. John called the people snakes (verse 7) and told them to stop relying on their heritage (verse 8) for salvation. He told them they needed to repent—to completely change their hearts and minds.

i. This act of repentance would lead to great change in the ways people lived (see verses 11, 13, 14). This change was not based on their family history or their place in the hierarchy.

ii. He is calling them to a life of discipleship like Peter refers to in the passage I read in 1 Peter 1. He is calling them to a life that leads to grace and peace.

iii. When we look at the list of those who came to be baptized, we also see something interesting: in the crowd were tax collectors and soldiers. Tax collectors controlled much of the economy at the time, and were known to cheat people for personal gain. John commanded them to stop collecting dishonestly. Soldiers were the powerful arm of the Roman government, so when John commanded them to stop harassing others, he was tasking people employed to be the violent instigators and force of Roman law to act in ways that didn’t really seem to fit for a soldier.

c. God’s kingdom, as described by John is so very different than the kingdoms of this earth. The message John preached and the expectation of this new kingdom is vastly different than the way earthly kingdoms work. It is not the powerful who are victorious in God’s kingdom, it is not those that hold political and kingdom power - it is those that align their lives according to the peace of Christ.

3. A VOICE CALLING OUT IN THE WILDERNESS, PATHS BEING MADE STRAIGHT, VALLEYS RAISED UP, AND MOUNTAINS MADE LOW IS A CALL TO ACTIVE AND DIFFICULT PEACEMAKING

a. When we think of peace, we don’t usually imagine earthquakes, but that is the type of image we get from verse 5 in today’s scripture. Things are being shaken up.

b. When we think of peace we don’t usually imagine earthmovers and heavy rollers, but that is the type of image we get from verse 5 as well: the rough places will be made smooth. Things are being refined and smoothed out.

c. These images of the kingdom of God—a kingdom of peace being brought about in the world—are ones of action and movement. It is obvious that the kingdom of God is not going to come in the ways people expected. We already noted that repentance and baptism are odd ways to build earthly kingdoms, which are usually formed by money, power, and control. But even so, the kingdom of God is not breaking through with gentleness. There is force, power, and movement behind the kingdom of God.

d. Peace is not passivity, and the peace of God is coming through in sometimes painful ways because the powers of the world have to be dismantled in order for peace to reign.

i. When the ground isn’t level, that means injustice is happening, and where there is injustice, there cannot be peace. The kingdom of God creates a level playing field, which means justice for people. A kingdom of peace is one in which people have what they need and justice reigns.

ii. Crooked paths being made straight - I learned to drive in an area where there were quite a few straight roads - not as straight as the flat lands of northwest Ohio or across Indiana & Illinois - but they were not near as crooked as the roads around here. But the crooked roads in John’s time would have meant dangerous roads, and they didn’t just blow past the danger in their cars. Lurking around every corner, there could have been robbers waiting to reek havoc or soldiers waiting to harass and require payment. To straighten out the crooked paths was a way to bring peace and hope to the people of John’s day.

iii. Rough places being made smooth might be an image we can better grasp. We talk often about going through rough patches, or having a rough time. But the smoothing out process is not an easy or quick process. It is even sometimes very painful.

iv. A kingdom of peace is one that moves in action toward others, looking out for the interests of others, instead of solely ourselves. This type of peace is a painful process. It takes sacrifice, repentance, and a complete reorientation of life.

4. THE GREAT HOPE OF THE IN-BREAKING KINGDOM OF GOD AS A KINGDOM-OF-PEACE WORK IS THAT IT ENTERS INTO THE WORLD THROUGH ORDINARY PEOPLE

a. John the Baptist was not a ruler; he was a wild man in the wilderness preaching repentance and preparing a path for Christ.

b. The crowds seeking baptism were ordinary people looking for more.

c. The tax collectors were viewed as some of the worst sinners—yet they were called to a new way.

d. The soldiers were caught up in the Roman Empire yet sought something new.

e. Peter, as we referred to earlier was going about the ordinary task of repairing the fishing nets on the deck of his father’s boat.

e. Even the Messiah himself entered in an ordinary and unspectacular way.

f. We too are called to this work—to repent and be transformed, that we might participate in the kingdom of God, in the kingdom of peace, and in the world around us.

CONCLUSION Peacemaking is not an easy task. It is not an image of babies who don’t cry or of sheep resting in quiet fields. I’ve seen enough fights to know that often times, the peacemaker ends up being the one that is blamed. Peacemaking Is the image of a parent who breaks a cycle of abuse by doing the hard, smoothing work of therapy so that their child can grow up in a better home. It’s the image of civil-rights activists sitting at counters and singing “This Little Light of Mine.” It’s the grandmother on her knees night after night, praying for her neighborhood. It’s people who wash graffiti off walls without expecting or requesting recognition. It’s church members opening their homes in hospitality toward others. It’s the hard, everyday moments of working for justice in a world that is so far from it.

Rev. Olivia Metcalf says in Come Peasant, King, “The path toward peace isn’t easy. The path toward peace isn’t smooth. The path toward peace is risky, takes courage, and challenges the broken realities of the world. For peace to come, we must get to the hard work of aligning a world made crooked by sin with the straight paths of the kingdom of God. For peace to come, there is creative work that makes valleys of despair into mountaintops of hope. For peace to come, there is repetitive work that sands away injustice to bring about the smoothness of equity. Without the work, without the challenge, and without upsetting the status quo, peace will not come” (pp. 36-37).

And so we work. We work to see the kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven, and to see peace in our lives and in the lives of those around us. We work so that the world might know the ultimate peace that comes not from the kingdoms and powers of the world but from the very heart of God. And from a little baby - born of a virgin - and placed in a manger.