Courage for Peacemaking

A reflection on the lectionary readings for the tenth Sunday after Pentecost.

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What on earth is Jesus talking about in our gospel reading today? Is he having a bad day, is he drunk? How can he contradict all that he teaches and preaches elsewhere about peace?

Jesus, as he often does, is intentionally causing us to say ‘whaaaat?!?!” He isn’t contradicting himself, he’s teaching; us what true peace MAKING is and illustrating the difference between peacekeeping and peacemaking. Jesus knows that sometimes you have to completely shake up the status quo in order to create actual peace. Not the kind of peace thought of only as the absence of conflict but the Kingdom peace that even in conflict provides courage and wisdom to keep following Jesus toward equitable justice and mutuality.

In the Roman occupied Jewish culture of first century Palestine, the Pax Romana was a artificial peace. To keep this peace, everyone had to know their place and stay in it. If, for example, a daughter decided to step out of her defined place in the name of justice or compassion, this would impact the whole family. And those who were more concerned with keeping the artificial peace would do what they could to keep her in line with the status quo, even if it meant causing harm.

Jesus’ own mother and siblings attempted to do this with him. Mark tells us of a time when Mary and Jesus’ siblings came looking for him because they thought he was out of his mind. Why on earth would anyone risk everything by shaking up the status quo? Because the peace of God’s Kingdom-on-earth-as-in-heaven is continuously created and nurtured, not kept under threat of harm. Kingdom peace is created by undoing the systems that keep certain people marginalized and oppressed, even if those systems are our families of origin or our religious institutions.

If our family of origin is an abusive system that requires everyone to tiptoe around the least emotionally intelligent person or to protect the abusers, it is not congruent with the good news of God’s love. If our church community isn’t lead by the love of Christ, it is not congruent with the good news of God’s love. If our political leaders promote hate and demand loyalty above all else, we cannot follow them and Jesus at the same time. If the societal systems we are in seek to control who’s first and last they are not kingdom-on-earth-as-in-heaven systems, regardless of the name on the building. Just because something holds the label of family or charity or church doesn’t mean it functions with God’s love.

To love God and our neighbor and ourselves requires that we strive together with God to love honestly, authentically, and equitably for the building up of the kingdom. Sometimes to make room for the building up of the kingdom we have to stand up to who or what is counter to the kingdom. We have to speak truth against lies. We have to call out people who are self-serving instead of other-focused. We have to stop participating in the abusive and oppressive cultural, societal, and family systems. And when those who are living counter to God’s Kingdom choose not to see the light of God’s Love we can’t compromise the Kingdom characteristics to maintain anyone’s comfort zone. We have to disrupt the status quo just as Jesus teaches us.

My core identity, your core identity begins in who we each are as beloved children of God. We are all made in God’s image. If I find my core identity in my family of origin, or my role in my family, or the country of my birth or choice, or any human made institution or club or group, I am not grounding myself in who and Whose I truly am.

And, yes, we also have to be careful that we aren’t throwing the baby out with the bathwater or disrupting things just to be disruptive. Jesus shows us how to look at the internal motivations of our own hearts and the family and societal systems we are in and bump them up against the good news of God’s love to discern what we are to do because of who and Whose we are. Just like when we look at the sky and honestly name what is happening, we have to be honest with ourselves and how we witness others behaving.

So often we think we are being nice when we turn a blind eye to other’s harmful behavior. The abusers and oppressors count on those who say things like “be the bigger person” to keep their control. Ignoring abuse and oppression does not make it stop. The only way to stop abuse, be it at the family level or by the government or any system in between, is to name it for what it is and hold those responsible accountable, without becoming abusers or oppressors ourselves. This is what Jesus teaches us by his own behavior and ministry on this earth. This is how we light the path into the Kingdom for others to know they are God’s beloved, too.

Our prayer for today asks that we be empowered to “follow daily in the blessed steps of his most holy life.” Jesus didn’t settle for a status quo just to be comfortable. He showed us how to live into the Kingdom characteristics that see the image of God in all people. Jesus knows that peacemaking is hard and often disruptive and he promises that when we follow him into the Kingdom-on-earth-as-in-heaven we will have the true peace of living as who and Whose we are, beloved children of our loving God. Instead of settling for being comfortable we will know the comfort and courage of our true selves that grow from the image of God within us. Amen.