Luke 3:1-6
Last Sunday I mentioned Jeremiah as the prophet of Hope during Israel’s captivity in Babylon. In today’s reading, the writer of the gospel according to Luke is quoting Isaiah 40:3 and 4. In these verses Isaiah is prophesying the end of the Babylonian captivity, and he describes how God is directly participating in Israel’s return to Jerusalem after seventy years of captivity. Jeremiah’s prophecy was fulfilled.
In verse 3, Isaiah introduces a voice declaring: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” While the recipients of this scripture are likely those in the exile, or those who have been affected profoundly by the exile, the highway is not for them, it is for Yahweh. The conclusion Isarel came when they were taken by the Babylonians is that God has abandoned Jerusalem, leaving it to the hands of the Babylonians. Verses 3-5 seek to assure the audience that the time of Yahweh’s long absence from Jerusalem has come to an end. Yahweh will return to his holy city and again be nearby: “the glory of the Lord shall be revealed” Isaiah says in verse 5. The use of the word revelation in verse 5 is very important. The glory of the Lord needs to be revealed because, from the exile’s perspective, it has been hidden, and a hidden God is a terrifying God. Isaiah 40:1-6 seeks to convince its audience that the season of God’s hiddenness has come to an end and once again peace has been established between God and his people.
Today is the second Sunday of Advent and the announcement for this Sunday is peace. Paul in Ephesians 2:14 reminds us that Jesus is our peace. Isaiah 9:6 describes the Messiah as the Sar Shalom, the Prince of Peace. To understand better what kind of peace we are celebrating today, we must see the difference between peace as we understand it and what Isaiah and Paul mean by peace.
The word peace we use in English, comes from the Latin word “pax.” The Merriam- Webster Dictionary defines Peace as: freedom from civil disturbance, a state of security or order within a community provided for by law or custom. Peace is a state or period in which there is no war, or a war has ended.
Pax according to the dictionary means a cessation of hostilities between the conqueror and the conquered. This peace is provided by a law or custom imposed by the winners. Therefore, it is always temporary because it depends on who is in the position of strength. On the other hand, the Hebrew word Shalom that we translate as peace is much different. This is an ancient Hebrew concept and means more than cessation of hostilities or freedom from civil disturbance. It means wholeness, completeness, soundness, health, safety, and prosperity. Contrary to our concept of peace as we know it that it is temporary, Shalom always carries with it the implication of permanence.
Rabbi Robert I. Kahn of Houston, Texas, explains the difference between Peace as we know it and the Hebrew concept of Shalom, -which we celebrate today- he says:
“One can dictate peace; shalom is a mutual agreement.” “Peace is a temporary pact; shalom is a permanent agreement.’ “One can make a peace treaty; shalom is the condition of peace.” “Peace can be negative, the absence of commotion (no war). Shalom is positive, the presence of serenity.” “Peace can be partial; shalom is whole”. “Peace can be piecemeal; shalom is complete.”
Today we celebrate shalom, we celebrate that Jesus is not only our shalom, but also the source and provider of Shalom. He -as the prophet Isaiah describes- came to remove all the obstacles that separated man and God. The main obstacle of this separation were not mountains, valley and crooked roads as is described by the prophet, but it was our sin, but Jesus with His blood, with His suffering, death and resurrection made the way smoothed and made our salvation, our return to the father not only possible but easier.
Jesus’ Peace is whole and involves God and our neighbors. Ephesians 2:14 says, “For he himself is our Peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility.” Because of Jesus’ peace, the harmony between Gentiles and Jews was possible. Isaiah 11:6-10 describes this same harmony Paul is talking about. Isaiah says, “The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the cobra’s den, and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”
What I really love about this text is that the Prophet’s Messianic vision of peace, of Shalom has nothing to do with being the same or thinking the same to live in peace. He does not foresee a world in which we are all forced to be uniformed. He prophesies the opposite. Isaiah envisioned a world in which opposites live together side by side, a world where natural enemies inhabit the same space, and all these is possible because the “knowledge of the Lord” fills the earth and brings people together in peace.
The Messianic vision of Isaiah should encourage us to think more deeply about what Peace our world and our country are trying to obtain and how we are trying to obtain it and to remember that we don’t have to change other people to live peacefully with them. If the wolf can live with the lamb, if the leopard can lie down with the goat, then human beings of different persuasions and experiences can live together in peace. That’s the Shalom, the peace Jesus came to bring; that is the peace we celebrate today the Second Sunday of Advent.
Our ministry as followers of Jesus is the same as John the Baptist, we must prepare the way of the Lord. We must proclaim peace between God and men by sharing the knowledge of God with those who do not know it; we must bring God’s peace to God’s creation by removing the obstacles preventing God’s shalom and by proclaiming that if the wolf can live with the lamb, if the leopard can lie down with the goat, then Reds and Blues, traditional and conservatives can live together in peace.
However, we cannot accomplish this if we do not have first God’s peace in our hearts and our minds. Jesus said “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” John 14:27. During this time of the year when we, Christians are called to reflect on the coming of the Prince of Peace, it does us good to remember the passage in Luke where the angels and the heavenly assembly sang, “Glory to God in heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors” (2:14). And also, Psalm 133:1, “How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity.”
I would like to end my meditation today with one of the most meaningful prayers for Peace. Saint Francis of Assisi’s prayer: “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon. Where there is doubt, faith. Where there is despair, hope. Where there is darkness, light. Where there is sadness, joy. O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console; to be understood, as to understand; to be loved, as to love. For it is in giving that we receive. It is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.”
Amen.