Calvary Episcopal Church
Memphis, Tennessee
March 17, 2002
The Fifth Sunday in Lent

In Pursuit of Peace
The Rev. Dr. Robert R. Hansel

Gospel: John 11:1-45

The New Testament Lesson for this Fifth Sunday in Lent is set between two amazing Biblical stories: Ezekiel's valley of dry bones and St. John's raising of Lazarus. In both stories we are called to recognize that things that are impossible for human skill and knowledge, become wonderfully possible through God's life-giving spirit. The message is clear: our ways lead to suffering and death; God's ways to life and peace. It's right here in the first line, "To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace." How do we move from our ways to God's way? How do we find life and peace?

Peacemakers are, in Biblical terms, not limited to those who try to end violence or seek political calm. Peace is defined as being more than simply the absence of hostilities. Peace is not, in fact, a negative at all, but a positive thing in itself. A peacemaker is anyone who seeks inner, personal serenity, unity with God and harmony with all other people. Such authentic contentment can hardly be said to be the normal characteristic of human beings. We are, more often, prone to be quarrelsome and antagonistic, looking out for our own comfort and benefit far ahead of any concern for others. That's why the Bible presents peace as God's gift that is given only to those who are willing to let go of selfishness and work to put the needs of others ahead of their own. What's involved here is nothing short of a new birth. That rebirth into reconciliation and love is what it takes to be in harmony with God, so it is no wonder that Jesus, in the beatitudes, tells us, "Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God." Jesus himself personifies peace. He is totally identified with peace, as we see reflected again and again in the Holy Scripture.

Think about the Biblical record. You will immediately recall that at the birth of Jesus, angels heralded his coming as the Prince of Peace. The new era to come was to be one in which there would be peace and goodwill among all people. John's Gospel tells us that the very last statement of Jesus to his followers was, "My peace I leave with you." The point is that Jesus was throughout his ministry, promoting the ideal of peace--offering it as the perfect will of God, the fulfilling of every law and commandment, the purpose of life itself.

Notice the three dimensions of peace: there is personal inner peace; there is peace and unity with God; and there is peaceful harmony with there people. What I'd like to do is explore each of these dimensions of what it would mean for a person to have life as a peacemaker, a child of God.

First though, just a little Biblical background. The Hebrew word that is translated "peace"--shalom--occurs more than 250 times in the Bible and it is used in many different senses. There is a richness to it which is similar to the Hawaiian word, aloha. Just to look at a few examples of what I'm trying to say here--the richness of meaning--consider this: shalom can simply be a greeting or even a farewell, meaning what American Indians are saying when they say, "Walk in beauty." It is a prayer for safety, good health or success. Shalom can also describe good relations between people and nations, or may refer to the internal affairs of a nation--having to do with the system of government, domestic harmony and the wisdom of public officials. Shalom is often used to describe interpersonal friendships, loyalty and trust. Of course, shalom always carries the sense of our vertical dimension, the spiritual condition between the Creator and the created. All these arenas are challenges and for each of us to be peacemakers.

Assuming that you want to be a child of God, that you want lo learn and lo live in the peace of God, I think there are three important things you need to hear.

The first thing I want to say about getting started on the road to peace is this: The effort to be a peacemaker always starts with turning to God. No one can work at peace until he or she first KNOWS peace. Peace will come to you only to the extent that you truly want it and to the extent that you make room for it in your own heart. Hearts filled with selfishness, anger and striving, have no room for peace. It's a simple law of physics: two things can't occupy the same space at the same time. God can cast out all those negative feelings and forces if you simply ask. Peace is what will flow in to take their place.

The second thing I want to say about peace is that it is much more effective and constructive when it is preventative in nature. Once the drums of war are sounded and the bombs start to fall, peace is the first casualty and from there, it's all remedial. Peace requires a lot more foresight--a sense of what's wrong and what stands between us and the ideal of fairness. Maybe you've seen the bumper sticker: If you want peace, work for justice. Real peacemakers are those who see clearly the possible obstacles to peace and head them off by doing the right thing today, not having to have a crisis in order to get the picture. As long as there is hunger, resentment and depression, there cannot be peace. If you would be a peacemaker, look around you to identify the inequities that exist, and do something about them. The fertile ground in which peace blossoms is the soil of justice for all.

Finally, let me say that all of us have opportunities every day to make peace. Every word and every action involving our family, friends, co-workers and those we know in this community and this church, present another chance to build peace and goodwill. As simple a thing as asking pardon or forgiveness can re-knit the torn fabric of human community. How much effort, really, is involved in that little note or phone call to say that you understand or that you care? Maybe it's just asking someone to help you understand why they think or feel the way they do. You can be a peacemaker simply by letting yourself feel what's going on inside the people all around you and caring enough to let them know that you care.

Three arenas: Peace within your own heart. Peace with God. Peace with other people. Those are the dimensions of being a child of God, and all of them are possible and attainable right here and now. That's why I have one last thing to say about peace. Notice who is the primary beneficiary of peace? It is YOU. The happiness of peace extends worldwide and even into the hereafter, but nowhere is it felt more strongly than within your own heart and mind. The happiness of peace is God's most wonderful gift. All it takes is asking for it and making room for it
in your heart this morning. What have you got to lose?

Let us pray:

Gracious God, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ came to us from heaven that we might know true happiness through his great gift of lasting peace, evermore grant to us the humility and trust to receive and to share that same gift for the welfare of all people and our own comfort and blessing, that Christ may indeed dwell in us and we in him, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, now and forever. Amen.

Copyright 2002 Calvary Episcopal Church

Gospel: John 11:1-45
Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, "Lord, he whom you love is ill." But when Jesus heard it, he said, "This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God's glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it." Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Then after this he said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again." The disciples said to him, "Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?" Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world. But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them." After saying this, he told them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him." The disciples said to him, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right." Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead. For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him." Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him." When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him." Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day." Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" She said to him, "Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world." When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately, "The Teacher is here and is calling for you." And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there. When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Lord, come and see." Jesus began to weep. So the Jews said, "See how he loved him!" But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?" Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, "Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days." Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, "Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me." When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go." Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. NRSV

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