July—a time across the Southeastern United States when many families head toward a beach. We were fortunate when our family was young. My husband’s parents lived in Florida and loved the beach. Every year in July we would head south to spend time with them, the sand, and the surf. There is a natural peace about God’s oceans: the sound and pound of waves breaking onto the sand; the pungent smell of salt water; the cool-warm pleasure of dancing, chest deep in water, with God in the waves.
A time to get away. A time to feel God’s sunshine relax stressed muscles and dreams. A time to just be and be together. Good memories. Good, good memories. Memories the word “peace” evokes in me.
God’s Word on Peace
Hopefully, we all have memories of some times, some places, where we have been relaxed and “at peace.” It may have been on a mountain, by a river, or walking through the house at bedtime. We all need to relax in the presence of God and those we love. Such times are healing. They give us courage and strength. They form our mental images of what peace means.
They give us feelings of peace. Is this God’s peace?
Jesus spoke frequently about peace. When he came through the locked doors into the Upper Room after his resurrection, his first words tended to be: “Peace be with you.” In his great Farewell Discourse in the Gospel of John he said repeatedly, “My peace I give you.”
Yet, today, he says, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword.”
And the history of the people of Israel is not a history where Yahweh’s care for them meant that he gave them lives of peace. We see this today as the story of the great Exodus from Egypt begins with a new Pharaoh ordering both slavery and infanticide.
Is God’s Word Divided on Peace?
It’s a fair question, and the presence of different perspectives of what the complexity of peace means in Scripture is a part of what often divides Christians: Is there such a thing as a “just war?” When governments do evil, do we offer resistance or offer up our silent suffering? Is the Kingdom of God in heaven, or did Jesus mean for us to create more just societies and thus begin it now?
You see where this is going: around in circles. Nowhere. It has puzzled me for years.
God’s Word can’t be divided against itself. Our faith tradition tells us to look at context and the bigger picture when it seems to offer competing Truths in a particular sentence. Let’s look a bit more closely.
Today’s Gospel in Context
The three synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) all record both the sending out of the Twelve in Sunday’s Gospel and something similar to this passage. (see also Mark 13 and Luke 21) Mark and Luke put these comments in the Holy Week narrative. Matthew puts it two years earlier–here–as well as in Holy Week (Matthew 24).
Why does Matthew put it here? An answer comes if I put myself in prayer in the shoes of the disciples. This is what might be going through my mind after I came back from my first “internship” as apostle: “Wow. I love listening to Jesus. He truly is a great teacher. He makes sense. And he is so different. He heals people—sometimes one after another for hours and hours and hours. He casts out demons. This Jesus has an authority I have never encountered before. AND he just picked me to be one of his “inner circle.” I am one of the chosen Twelve. AND, when he sent us out to prepare cities and towns for him, I could heal people from fevers. I could enable them to walk. I could give sight to the blind. I could cast out demons. WOW! This is a wonderful, wonderful place to be. The Kingdom of God is at hand and I AM RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF IT. My life will be good from now on. How blessed I am!”
Jesus doesn’t really introduce the concept of “and there’s a cross for you” until after Peter’s proclamation, “You are the Christ.” But Matthew’s narrative begins the mention of crosses here: “whoever does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” Matthew did not join the band of disciples early on. He puts the story of his conversion just a few verses before Jesus sent out the Twelve (Matthew 9: 9-13). Perhaps, because this admonition came so soon after his joining Jesus, he paid more attention.
The Bigger Picture
Reading more of today’s passage gives the bigger picture, though it is clearer in the Beatitudes. If you look at the Beatitudes as a progression in the spiritual life, “Blessed are the peacemakers” is rung seven. “Blessed are you when you rejoice in persecution” is rung eight. How interesting! The crowns of the spiritual life are being so full of peace that you “make peace” AND that you maintain your peace while being humble and open, meek, merciful, mournful of sin, hungry for what is right, pure of heart—even in the middle of opposition and persecution.
Today’s passage begins to create true readiness for the full Good News: God’s Kingdom is about love no matter what. God loves you–no matter what your past has been. God loves you–even if he finds you steeped in sin. You love—even if your family gives you a hard time. You love—even if you are misunderstood. You love—not just with gentleness and kindness, but, sometimes, with the “sword of the Spirit” that cuts through all that is not of God to strike the hearts of those in your life. That may mean rejection. That may mean that you look for people who will receive you—who will even do small things, like give you a cup of water, when you are so very thirsty for being loved by others.
Prayer
Lord, it is good for me to read and pray this Scripture today. The Peace of God is not about relaxing vacations. The Peace of God is a capacity to receive and give love irrespective of what I experience and to find joy in that loving because I am sharing in Your love, Your life. Thank you for reminding me that that capacity to love comes from You, Lord. My primary allegiance is to You, source of my love. You will and do send people with cups of water, open doors, and open hearts when I need them. You will give me what I need. But I must believe I am loved, no matter what. I must love no matter what, if I am going to build the Kingdom of God. That is Your peace, for when I am loving as You love, Lord, how people respond loses its power over me. I must learn to make Your peace into my peace. Help me, Lord. I’m not there yet. Lead me, guide me.
