† In Jesus Name †
May Grace, mercy and peace be yours, true gifts from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
The signs of Christmas are upon us! You see it as life begins to slow down, at least the traffic, as you approach a mall, or a target or a walmart. It also slows down as you stand in line in any of those stores, even if you are not buying presents!
You hear it on the radio, if not in the occasional santa clause jingle, then in the advertisements, suggesting how to be the perfect husband, don’t you know, all it costs is somewhere between $399 and $899, which gives your wife “that” diamond pendant. Or the perfect father, who buys his children that new, hard to find Elmo, or the even harder to find Playstation III. Same thing, as Miracle on 34th street and a Charlie Brown Christmas share time with Victoria Secret Models, seductively selling lingerie or perfumes. Truly, the holiday season is among us.
For the first time, you mailbox is full, as the ads from rite-aid are dominated by other JC Penny and Walmart flyers, and pleas from every charitable organization, no matter whether you have ever heard of them or not! Everyone is sending you Christmas cards, whether they are friends from your past, relatives you haven’t talked to since “that” fight, decades ago, or the insurance company.
It is hard for me to set aside my cynicism and sarcasm at this time of year. To focus in on the what is very real - the celebration of the incarnation of God, to realize, that if we were on the road from Galilee to Jerusalem 2010 years ago, we might encounter a young pregnant lady, in who’s womb was God.
To realize that the occasional Christmas Card, with it’s red background, and three words in white and gold, is more meaningful and indeed more truthful than all the cartoons, all the movies, all the ads, all the --- stuff.
Perhaps you have received such a card. The top word is Peace, in the middle, with all sorts of flurries, the word Love, and the bottom word joy.
As we look at the epistle text for this day, that outline shall suffice.
Peace, Love, and Joy
• Peace,
I have to wonder if the world any longer knows how to define the word “peace”. As I look at the online dictionary/encyclopedia Wikipedia, the first entry regards the Nobel Peace Prize. Then starts a list of 10 different versions and theories about peace, numerous quotes, even some of those quotes with the actual recorded audio! The first several definitions and versions do not define peace, as much as say what it is not. No war, no violence, no narcissism, no dissension or arguing, or definitions that are only personal – inner peace for example.
One of the things that amzaed me, was one of the quotes, from a very famous pastor a few decades back. He said, "True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice." ( Martin Luther King, Jr.)
It is hard for me to think, that a pastor would come up with such a statement, even in view of injustice occurring. For if I consider true justice, where penalties for wrongdoing are enforced, that does not bring me peace, but fear, and horror. For no one is truly innocent, all of their lives. And if we demand true justice, we condemn ourselves as well as those who we would like to see condemned.
Yet, in our epistle, the blessing is peace, peace that surpasses all understanding, all comprehension. That is a promise of Jesus as well,
26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. John 14:26-27 (ESV)
But if peace, the peace that we are promised by Jesus, a peace that leaves our hearts without fear or stress, if that peace is not based in justice, then where does it come from?
Love
If it is not justice that is the requirement for peace, it must be what in Hebrew is referred to as “cHesed”, or in Greek “agape”. In olde English, the KJV used “charity” or often loving-kindness or simply love. It is also translated as mercy, and should you consider the commonality between love and mercy, you get a good picture of our hope, that is found in God.
For His care for us, is such that He was desirous to send Jesus to us, to die as a servant – to free us from that which kept us in bondage, to free us to everlasting life with Him. Consider these words of Jesus, which speak so clearly of the love of God towards His people…
37 "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! Matthew 23:37 (ESV)
God’s desires to gather his people, us, to shepherd, them, to call them out of the world of sin and damnation, and make peace with them. To live at peace with them, in such a way that there is nothing that would unsettle us. Consider these passages,
22 Cast your burden (anxiety) on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved. Psalms 55:22 (ESV)
6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:6-7 (ESV)
3 Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established. 4 The Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble. Proverbs 16:3-4 (ESV)
Even in our epistle, there is a command to not be anxious, backed up not by some logical explanation of why we shouldn’t be anxious, but by another series of actions,
In prayer, an in supplication, give thanks – as you make your requests known to God.
Prayer, is simply, as in the children’s sermon, invoking God’s presence into our lives, into the very situations that cause us trouble. To invite His presence, His guidance, His care. It’s an open invitation to walk with God in life, trusting in Him. I love the small catechism’s explanation of this, when talking of the Lord’s prayer. It’s not because God won’t act in love and mercy towards us, but that in praying so, we realize that a) we are in His presence and b)He is acting, and we therefore can be patient.
That is why, we can do as Paul says, an invoke God, and ask Him to act, and even in the asking, be giving thanks and praise to Him.
Joy!
The Lord’s Presence
Rejoice always…my friends – rejoice..
Our peace is not as the world knows peace, that peace is not lasting, and often is a sham, hiding other issues. It is based in God’s love and mercy for us, and to be honest, realizing that is where we find our joy, and why we can continually rejoice.
Here is how one pastor, a guy named Martin Luther, put it,
This is the indescribable and infinite mercy of God which Paul would like to spread abroad with an enthusiastic and generous flow of words; but the human heart is too limited to comprehend, much less to describe, the great depths and burning passion of divine love toward us. Indeed, the very greatness of divine mercy produces not only difficulty in believing but incredulity. Not only do I hear that God Almighty, the Creator of all, is good and merciful; but I hear that the Supreme Majesty cared so much for me, a condemned sinner and a child of wrath (Eph. 2:3) and of eternal death, that He did not spare His own Son. HE gave Him up into a most shameful death (Rom. 8:32), in order that He might hang in the midst of thieves and become sin and a curse for me, the sinner and accursed one, and in order that I might be made righteous, blessed, and a son and heir of God. Who can adequately proclaim this mercy and love of God? Not even all the angels. Therefore Holy Scripture speaks about other things than a political, philosophical, or even a Mosaic book; it speaks about the indescribable and utterly divine gifts that surpass not only all human and angelic understanding (Phil. 4:7) but everything else as well.
My friends, we have been given God’s promise of peace, it was sealed to us, in our baptism. We celebrate that peace every time we share in His Body and Blood, the very offering given, which resulted in that peace. Given in love, it is accompanied with a promise, that every burden, every anxiety, every struggle, we can just hand over to God.
That is why Paul can say Rejoice always! Be in great joy always, and again Be in joy!
For God has given you everything in Christ Jesus.
A divine gift of peace that is so beyond understanding, that we or angels cannot describe it accurately, but may be best realized in the opening words of our Lord’s prayer.
Our Father, our Father..
May His peace,a peace beyond all understanding, guard our hearts, and minds, in Christ Jesus. AMEN?
