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Serving
the Peace
August
18-19, 2007
Luke
12:49-53
There
are difficult words from Jesus in today's gospel. In the gospel
it seems that Jesus is speaking against peace. Our favorite
images of Jesus are peaceful images: Jesus surrounded by the
children or holding the sheep which had gone astray. These
peaceful images attract us. So what are we to make of these
harsh words in today's gospel where Jesus says that he is
not about peace, but about fire and division? Have we perhaps
misunderstood Jesus' message? Are we wrong to say that Jesus
is the Prince of Peace? We are not. Jesus is the Prince of
Peace. But he is so because one day he will reign over God's
kingdom, and in that kingdom there will be complete goodness
and peace. One day. But not yet.
Peace
is the goal of our relationship with Jesus. But getting to
peace is not always peaceful. True peace is more than the
absence of hostility. It is a life that is built on goodness
and justice. As long as we live in a world where injustice
and evil are present, then opposing that evil and injustice
is necessary. And opposing evil is hardly peaceful. Jesus
does indeed call us to peace, but getting to peace is often
disturbing and painful.
As
we try to make sense of Jesus' words in the gospel, an important
distinction should be held in mind: the difference between
keeping the peace and serving the peace. We are not called
to keep the peace. We are called to serve the peace. If we
make keeping the peace our highest priority, we will never
allow ourselves to upset or disturb anyone. We will always
be moved to maintain the status quo, always afraid to rock
the boat. Such an approach runs the risk of covering over
the injustice and evil which are present among us. When it
hides and supports evil, keeping the peace is contrary to
God's kingdom.
If
we make keeping the peace our highest priority, we will never
permit ourselves to say that a particular relationship is
abusive, and I need to change it. We will never face the reality
that this marriage is destructive, and I need to walk away
from it. If keeping the peace is our highest priority, we
will never have the courage to confront a family member about
his or her alcoholism or speak out about verbal or sexual
abuse in the workplace. It was a misguided desire to keep
the peace that led certain bishops in our church to cover
over the sexual abuse of children by priests. They knew that
with the truth people would be enraged.
We
are not called to keep the peace. We are called to serve the
peace. Now of course this does not mean that upsetting people
or making them angry is somehow valuable in itself. Upsetting
people's expectations is often unwise and counter productive.
But in a world where evil exists, opposition and confrontation
are sometimes necessary, necessary to serve the peace. We
might be called to serve the peace by marching against an
unjust law or an unjust war. We might be called to serve the
peace by standing against someone in authority who ignores
the rights of another. We might be called to serve the peace
by speaking the truth in our family, in our workplace, or
in our church, even if speaking the truth makes waves and
risks division.
The
question which comes to each of us today from the gospel is
this: In your life are you serving the peace or are you keeping
the peace? That is a crucial question. If we end up covering
over evil in an effort to keep the peace, we will in time
be living a lie, and that lie will in the end destroy us.
But if we can, with prudence and strength, oppose the evil
that we find in our family, in our workplace, in our country,
in our church, and in ourselves, we will be serving the peace.
With that service we will someday enter God's kingdom. And
there through God's grace we will be able to reign with Christ
who is the Prince of Peace.
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