Sermon: Peace...

First Presbyterian Church

December 10, 2023, Advent 2B

Isaiah 40:1-11; 2 Peter 3:8-15a; Mark 1:1-8

 

Peace...

 

 

The years from 27 BC to about 170 are often loosely labeled in history as the Pax Romana or "Roman peace." That term was most likely invented in the year 55, as a kind of Roman propaganda to encapsulate the order and "peace" found in the realm of the Roman Empire. That empire was fully in charge over a large swath of Europe and the Mediterranean and guaranteed a period of peace and prosperity ... for the right people. If you were well-off, or well-connected, with the right status and the right income and the right place to live and especially the right family, sure, the Pax Romana was a great thing.

If, however, you were someone like these shepherds and other field laborers in this stable over here, that Pax Romana probably didn't feel particularly special. 

It should also be noted that the definition of "peace" involved in calling this era a Pax Romana allowed for a decent amount of violence, as long as Rome prevailed. Depending on whether you hold that the gospel of Mark was written just before or just after the year 70 (and you can get good scholarly arguments both ways), Mark's readers and hearers (mostly in and around Jerusalem and the Roman province called Palestine) were either experiencing the buildup to the Roman destruction of Jerusalem that year or living in its aftermath. Either way, such a "peace" doubtless rang hollow.

The prophetic oracles of the book of Isaiah were written well before any Pax Romana or even any Roman Empire existed. Nonetheless, the conquest of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, and the carrying off of so many of the Hebrew people into exile, left bitterness and sorrow on the hearts of both those who were exiled and those who remained. Pax Babilonia was no more a real "peace" than Pax Romana.

Despite the name attached to it, the letter called 2 Peter was written well after the apostle's death, probably by a student or disciple or follower, maybe one that might be thought of as a "school of Peter," who endeavored to preserve the apostle's teachings and ideas. It's not impossible that 2 Peter was written as late as the middle of the second century, or towards the end of that aforementioned Pax Romana. By this time, the church has experienced full-fledged persecution, is no longer joined in any to the Jewish tradition from which it was born, and is struggling to stay afloat in a world where the Empire itself was starting to see signs of struggle.

In short, "peace" is not really an accurate description of the life of any of these settings. Whether open conflict or increasing persecution or outright conquest, none of these audiences for our biblical writers are experiencing anything like "peace," no matter what Roman or Babylonian propaganda might want to suggest. 

And yet...

In Mark's gospel, reminding us that we are not the first to await the coming of the Messiah, we get just the briefest introduction to John the Baptist (or John the baptizer), appearing on the scene instantly and presented as the one fulfilling Isaiah's prophetic claim of a voice "crying out in the wilderness,  'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight'." It's not as if John was preaching a prosperity gospel or anything so appealing and enticing; his entire message could be summarized "repent" and baptizing those who did so. Nothing fancy, no great deep theological insight, just "repent." For all that, though, there's this thing about repentance; it's a great and even necessary step towards peace within. Unrepented sin doesn't make for a soul at peace. 

As for Isaiah, how often do you hear or see the prophets of Hebrew scripture being instructed to "comfort, O comfort my people"? The prophetic literature is so often stereotyped as judgment and demands for repentance and foretelling of grim consequences for those who don't. But here the prophet is instructed, not do rail against the children of God when they're down, but to speak even tenderly, to offer reassurance that their suffering is not forever. 

This time it's the prophet who pushes back against the words of comfort; people are grass, no constancy, no faithfulness, they wither and fail in even a breath...but in the end, for all of that, the prophet has to acknowledge that the word of God stands forever. 

As an aside, it's little wonder that most of this reading, all but the "flesh is grass" part, got borrowed and written into much of the opening material for the oratorio Messiah composed by George Frideric Handel; it should be noted, though, that the one part not taken up by Handel was lifted by Johannes Brahms, some one hundred-plus years later, and made the central text of the second movement of that composer's most remarkable work, which he called Ein deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem). You are, in some ways, looking at one of the most musical chapters of scripture.

As for 2 Peter, for some reason this author chooses to offer some apocalyptic images not far off from last week's gospel reading. Still, though, it is these authors and their readers and hearers who in all of scripture come closest to our situation; awaiting the promised return of Christ. Admittedly, we've been waiting a lot longer by now than they had. But there are two non-apocalyptic elements of this passage worth considering:

1) That first verse, with its "thousand years like a day" image that gets borrowed and misquoted a lot, puts an interesting spin on the absence of Christ's return that was troubling many churches in this time. The delay is, far from forsaking or forgetting, an act of mercy; God is being patient, wants no one to perish, and all to come to repentance (shades of John the baptizer). Delaying is, in this reading, God's compassion and mercy in action. 

2) the author follows up at the last of this passage with that acknowledgment that the patience of the Lord is our salvation, and also suggests how we ought to respond in this time of God's patience; be found striving for peace. It's not enough to wish for peace, it's on us to work for it.

It can feel like a mockery to speak of peace at a time when war seems to be running rampant in the world, and even our own doorstep doesn't look so immune to such conflict. Yet our call remains; repent, speak words of comfort, and strive for peace. 

Thanks be to God. Amen.

 

Hymns (from Glory to God: The Presbyterian Hymnal): #---, A voice cries out in the wilderness; #106, Prepare the Way, O Zion; #96, On Jordan's Bank the Baptist's Cry; #87, Comfort, Comfort Now My People