The boys are back in town, as Thin Lizzy would say. The last one showed up just yesterday. That’s one of the joys of the Christmas holiday; families getting together. In the Lewis house, if history repeats itself, and it seems we are always doomed to a repeat of history in our house, in no time at all, our precious baby boys will be knocking over tables and lamps and banging into furniture and walls as they wrestle in the living room. Typically, the oldest manages to get his brother in a headlock that cuts off his oxygen supply and yet somehow the head-locked brother manages to scream like a banshee. This banshee-esque call seems to have a maddening effect on the youngest brother. For as soon as he hears it, he is compelled to climb onto the back of the couch and leap like a deranged animal with an elbow aimed at the back of his oldest brother’s skull.
Shock and surprise these boisterous brotherly brawls don’t end well. The little brother has no concept of how much smaller he is and will go toe to toe with a brother 4 times his size. The oldest brother has no concept of how strong he is so when he swats his little brother away, he often sends him flying across the room. The middle brother is the brother in the middle and often finds himself caught in the cross fire of the other two. “Mooooom, Jacob threw Elijah at me!” “I didn’t mean to, Elijah jumped on me!” “I jumped on him because Aidan’s yelling sends me into a homicidal rage.” (The last phrase isn’t spoken but I imagine that is what the sobbing means.)
Oh yes, the boys are back in town. So, you can understand my interest in today’s advent candle. Today’s candle is known as the peace candle. I don’t know about you, but the Christmas holiday, causes me to be intensely interested in peace.
Last week saint Luke’s gospel took us out to the fields nearby the little town of Bethlehem where shepherds were keeping watch over their flocks by night. When last we visited those shepherds, they were standing baffled and bewildered before an angel of the Lord who brought them good news of great joy saying, “11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.” The angel told the shepherds they would find their Savior wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.
Well, apparently that was the signal the heavenly hosts had been waiting for. No sooner had the herald-angel delivered his message when “13 Suddenly, (Luke tells us) a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God” Scripture does not spell it out for us, but I imagine the sky being ripped apart as the glory of the Lord shone around them all the while soaring seraphim, euphoric cherubim, and powerful arch angels combine their voices to sing praises to God.
Now remember, it is not as though the shepherds were in a calm state at this point. They had just had the fright of their lives, and that was the result of but one angel. Can you imagine how they must have felt standing before what Luke calls a great company of heavenly hosts? Suddenly, Luke tells us, a crowd of angelic soldiers fill the night sky. Now remember the angels are not omnipresent like God is. They can only be in one place at a time. I have no concept of how far they traveled or how long it took them to get there but it seems as though the entire army of God reports for duty on this most holy of nights.
And as if the celestial sight is not enough, Luke tells us the heavenly hosts started singing. I have been brought to tears before by a room full of saints singing praises to God. I can only imagine what effect the heavenly hosts had on those shepherds. Only once before had the song of the heavenly host fallen upon the ears of man. That man was the prophet Isaiah. God allowed the prophet the privilege of hearing the heavenly hosts as they sang in heaven’s temple. The prophet tells us, “4At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.” The praises of the heavenly hosts shook the doorpost and thresholds of heaven! It kind of explains why this concert of heavenly hosts is held in the fields nearby and not in the holy city. The heavenly hosts would have likely turned the man-made temple in Jerusalem into a pile of rubble.
Those poor shepherds. This had to be at the same time the worst and the greatest night of their lives. The worst because sinful man is so very ill equipped to stand in the presence of such a sacred assembly, the best because the heavenly hosts sang to them a song of peace. They sang, “14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” The heavenly hosts sang of peace.
I don’t imagine the shepherds were in any condition to argue with the heavenly hosts, at this point I bet their turbans had all but unraveled, but if they were able to muster the courage, I wouldn’t be surprised if they expressed some skepticism concerning this peace. I think I would… Oh, who am I kidding, I know that I do. Don’t judge me too harshly. Did you know that it has been estimated that since the beginning of recorded history, the world has only been entirely at peace 8% of the time? Such a statistic shouldn’t surprise us. We live in a time that God Himself describes as a time of wars and rumors of wars. Now, for the shepherds, the famous “Pax Romana” (Roman Peace) had been in effect for the last three decades, but the absence of war didn’t guarantee the presence of peace. Especially not for those living under the thumb of Roman rule. To the Jews, Rome was an unwelcomed occupying force that disturbed the peace. Life was as difficult under Roman rule as it is today. Taxes were high, unemployment was high, and morals were slipping lower and lower. Even living under a Pax Romana, or Pax Americana for that matter, people are not really at peace.
The Stoic philosopher Epictetus explained why. He said, “While the emperor may give peace from war on land and sea, he is unable to give peace from passion, grief, and envy. He cannot give peace of heart.” We would have to reluctantly agree with Epictetus, would we not? A greater disturbance of the peace comes not from politicians, but from people; people like us. Scripture tells us how we become disturbers of the peace. We disturb the peace by the way we talk to each other. The psalmist describes our throats as “open graves” whose “tongues practice deceit.”[1] He says, “the poison of vipers is on our lips”[2] and our “mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”[3] And we disturb the peace by the way we treat each other. The prophet says[4] our “feet are swift to shed blood;” that “ruin and misery mark their [our] ways”, and the way of peace they[we] do not know.” The way we speak to and treat each other disturbs the peace.
However, in his letter to the Romans[5] saint Paul tells us what causes the greatest disturbance of our peace. The greatest disturbance of the peace comes not form without, but from within. Paul says it is our own sinful minds. He says our sinful minds are “hostile to God”. You see, our sinful words and actions not only create conflict among us, but they are hostile acts against God. Every trespass is an act of aggression against Him, every transgression an assault upon Him, our sinful existence is a declaration of war against Him. Our status as sinners prevents us from being people at peace.
The world we live in, the way we treat each other, our very status as sinners is a disturbance of the peace. But before we scoff at the heavenly hosts, let’s take a closer look at the peace of which they sang. The peace about which the angels sang was about much more than politics and policies. The peace about which the angels sang was about much more than a resolution to the conflicts and clashes that surround us. The peace about which the angels sang was about much more than an attitude within us.
The Heavenly hosts sang of a peace that is a result of God’s “favor”; a peace that God placed upon us. The peace the heavenly hosts sang about was not brought about by any value or virtue found in us. It is a peace that is a result of God’s grace; that is the rich love and great mercy that He has shown to you and to me. In his letter to Timothy, saint Paul describes God’s favor with these words. He says God places peace upon us “…not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace.” God is the one who establishes peace. Call it grace, call it mercy, call it favor, call it whatever you want as long as you understand that because of a desire inside of Him, because He wanted to, God brought peace to the earth.
God brought peace to the earth by surrendering His one and only Son as a casualty of the war. The prophet Isaiah tells us He allowed His one and only Son to be “pierced for our transgression.” He allowed His one and only Son to be “crushed for our iniquities.” He allowed His one and only Son to be “punished” so that we could be at peace[6]. As a result of the sacrifice of that one and only Son we are now at peace with our God.
It is a peace that, as we often say, transcends all human understanding. A peace that we have regardless of the politics and policies placed upon us. It is a peace that we have even when conflicts and clashes the swirl around us. It is a peace that we have even though sin still stains our souls. Because of the Babe of Bethlehem, we are a people at peace with God.
This Christmas season, when you find yourself struggling to be person at peace, I want you to think about the peace that not only burns in the advent wreath here at church, I want you to think of the peace that God wrapped in cloths and laid in a manger; a peace that now exists between the God of heaven and the people of the earth; a peace that by the favor of God rests upon you.
After the heavenly hosts sang their last note and the light faded out of the sky Luke tells us the shepherds said to one another, “15Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” Tomorrow evening I invite you to follow the example of the shepherds as we gather for our Christmas eve service; I invite you to come and see the light that shines in the darkness. I hope to see you here. Amen
[1] Psalm 5:9
[2] Psalm 140:3
[3] Psalm 10:7
[4] Isaiah 59:7-8
[5] Romans 8:7
[6] Isaiah 53:5