Second of Advent (Peace)
Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton VA
Isaiah 11:1-10
1 A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. 2 The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. 3 His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear; 4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. 5 Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist, and faithfulness the belt around his loins. 6 The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. 7 The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder's den. 9 They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
10 On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious.
It was one of those images that remains burned in my mind’s eye.
It was, if memory serves, the fall of 1985. The news story on Spanish Television was on unrest in the Philippines, specifically, Manila. President Ferdinand Marcos was attempting to maintain control of a population that was finally, finally ready and willing to do what was necessary to make him leave. There had been widespread calls for his resignation, and massive street demonstrations had been going on for several weeks.
Marcos had, in response, called out the military to break up the demonstrations and consolidate his power. The problem was, not all the military commanders were in agreement that Marcos SHOULD remain in power, not at the top levels of command, and much less at the rank and file level.
The video footage was of a soldier, brandishing his automatic rifle, walking towards a small group of anti-Marcos demonstrators. Though some in the group did start to break off and walk away, one of them, an older man, did not. He turned and, spreading out his hands, he began walking towards the soldier, who could not have been past his early 20’s, if that. As he drew nearer to the soldier, you could tell that the man was talking to him, imploring.
The soldier once began to raise the weapon, but then, as the man kept talking to him, the point of the rifle faltered, then dropped to level, then dropped down altogether, and as the man spread his arms and walked up to the soldier, the soldier broke down, and he ended up with his arms around the older man, crying.
There was no audio of the conversation that took place, since the camera that was recording it was a block or more distant from the event, but I can just imagine what the man might have been saying to the soldier.
Israel was, in a way, dealing with similar national dynamics.
Let’s review for a moment the history of Israel. The very term “Israel” can be confusing because it applies both to the one united kingdom and to the northern kingdom. Only David and Solomon ruled over the united kingdom. After Solomon’s reign the kingdom split into two.
Solomon, for all his wisdom, had created dissent through strenuous taxation and enforced labor among the tribes. When his son Rehoboam succeeded him, the northern tribes rebelled, leaving only Judah and Benjamin, which had already been absorbed by Judah. The northern kingdom became known as Israel and the southern kingdom as Judah. The two kingdoms never reunited. Israel lasted a little over two hundred years before being conquered by Assyria in 722 BC and, through mass deportations, ceased to exist as a nation. Judah continued for about another 150 years before the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC, when much of the population was exiled to Babylon.
David’s lineage, then, continued only on the throne of Judah. Israel’s history is of one king after another being overthrown. But though these two kingdoms went their own ways, and the house of David never again ruled the northern kingdom of Israel, there was always the understanding that both were under God, and that someday they would reunite under God’s anointed king who would be from David. Out of the remnant remaining from the two kingdoms, he would resurrect the one kingdom of Israel, establishing it as God’s great kingdom forever.
In our passage Isaiah foresees the destruction of both kingdoms. Israel has been deported and Judah conquered, the last king from David’s line taken to exile to Babylon where he dies. Only a remnant of the people remains. A stump is all that is left of Jesse’s tree of kings.
But wait. A shoot appears out of the stump of Jesse. There is still life in that lineage; a king from the same stock will arise. Note that the stump is described as being of Jesse. That is actually an unusual description of the royal line. Only here and in verse 10 is the royal line referred to in the context of Jesse. Jeremiah’s prophecy of the Messiah addresses him in terms of being of David. "The days are coming," declares the Lord, "when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch (23:5)." The royal line is always in connection with David. David is the first king, and all other kings derive their authority through him. But this shoot rises out of Jesse. Isaiah seems to be teaching that, though the Messiah is a descendant of David, he should be seen as another David himself. All the kings descended from David were measured by the standard he set. Far from having to live up to David’s standard for a king, he will set a whole new standard.
The images beginning in verse 6 in the text are familiar. “The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them”. We’re familiar with them if we’ve spent any time listening to messages about peace, and biblical images of what that peace might look like.
We can imagine that, but is that all that we’re supposed to do?
I was picking Hannah and Caleb up from school on Friday, and was looking around the gym at Richmond County Elementary as I was waiting for them to get out of class. There were several banners hanging up on the wall above the doors that lead into the gym from the hallway to the school – one stood out. I’d seen it before, and you’ll probably recognize it – it said
“If your mind can imagine it, you can achieve it.”
I’ve always thought of that as a basic, self-help, pump-you-up kind of bumper sticker phrase. In its best sense, it encourages you to work towards goals – hopefully realistic goals- that will then give you a sense of fulfillment and accomplishment that you can’t find anywhere but in yourself.
What does that mean for Jerusalem Baptist Church in Emmerton, VA?
Being a people of faith, we have the added benefit, no, the DISTINCT advantage, of not being solely dependent on ourselves for the outcome of our efforts. We can count on among others, the support and encouragement of our brothers and sisters in the faith – not only here at Jerusalem, but across our Rappahannock Association. We can count on support and guidance and encouragement from the staff and resources of the Virginia Baptist Mission Board. We can also count on the support of friends and family in our community who are fellow Christians who happen to belong to other traditions, but share our goals.
Oh, and we also have the Lord God Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth, telling us that our responsibility is to help usher in the Kingdom that Isaiah is describing. Guess it would be good to not let that one go by without mentioning.
Wolves and lambs, lions and calves, toddlers playing around a snake’s den, those are all good images, but let’s look for some images that are a little more immediate.
What is a picture of peace for you?
Here’s one: a committee meeting that is remembered not for the disagreements that were expressed, but for the fact that, in spite of those disagreements, the overriding memory was that the members in attendance cared deeply for each other, and didn’t let disagreements stop that care and love from being expressed.
Here’s another: after years of silence, and if not silence, tension, a long-estranged friend is warmly and kindly welcomed on a return visit to a sister congregation. Whatever issue had initially separated the two, though still ‘there’, stopped getting in the way of sharing Christ’s love and peace in the utterance of a kind word of appreciation and welcome.
Today we celebrate the second Sunday of Advent – the Sunday of Peace.
We’ve moved from the Hope of the coming of a Savior to the expression of the fulfillment of that hope – in the form of peace. I read somewhere that in the last 2,500 years of recorded history, as a whole the planet has enjoyed a total of 286 years of peace. That is, if you put the periods of time when there haven’t been wars of one sort or another raging or simmering end to end, that amount of time adds up to 286 years. Something tells me that those numbers may be off – that it has been longer than 2500 years, and that there have been LESS than 286 years of peace.
Where does peace begin? Outside us? Does peace come about because of the absence of weapons? I think I can safely say that humankind is inventive enough to be able to make a weapon out of just about anything. After all, we already use something as … harmless … as words, tone, and inflection to tear gaping wounds in each others’ souls, what more can we come up with?
Peace begins at home – and I don’t ONLY mean in your dwelling place – but I mean your dwelling place the one that goes everywhere YOU go – peace begins inside your own skin, your own head, your own heart – and we are getting closer and closer to welcoming the Prince of PEACE – that very peace we all long for, strive for, crave, and can every so often, get a taste of.
May we, in our reaching for and drawing in the Kingdom of God, become purveyors of that same peace – that peace that passes all understanding, that calms all fears, that stills all dissatisfaction, and draws us - in one sweeping motion – into the presence of the Loving, living God, who calls us and challenges us to be HIS peacemakers.
Let’s pray.
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