Peace to You

Peter Fitch, St. Croix VineyardSunday, December 20, 2015

Christmas Service

Professor Moltmann’s Question

• With an awareness of the inherent difficulties, let us speak about Peace

• Is it possible to embrace a perpetrator?• Is it just to do so?• Is peace possible where there has been

significant hurt?(Question taken from the Preface to Miroslav Volf’s Exclusion and Embrace)

Peace as a Biblical Theme

• Peace Offerings• Absence of War• Sense of Shalom (well-being, prosperity)• What Jesus seems to promise: the Presence of

God in the midst of life, even war

John 14:27-29

27 Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. 28 You heard that I said to you, ‘I go away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 Now I have told you before it happens, so that when it happens, you may believe.

John 16:33

33 These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”

Philippians 4:4-7

4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! 5 Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. 6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Augustus and Jesus

Already discussed ancient inscriptions that declare Augustus, adopted son of Julius Caesar, as Son of God, Saviour, Fullness of God, whose reign began the beginning of Good News for the World

There’s more . . .

• Both the Hebrew and the Greco-Roman world spoke of a baby boy who was to come and change the tone of violence and wickedness to one of peace

• We remember passages from the Old Testament . . .

Isaiah 9:6-7

6 For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;And the government will rest on His shoulders;And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6-7

7 There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace,On the throne of David and over his kingdom,To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousnessFrom then on and forevermore.

But there’s also Virgil

• 4th Eclogue• Embossed in the floor of the Cathedral at

Siena • Idea shared in the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel

Siena Duomo (AD 1215-1263)

Floor Panels

Sistine Chapel (1508-1512)

Who is Virgil speaking about?

• Augustus?• A child of Augustus?• Someone unknown?• Is it possible, as medieval Christians believed,

that God breathed through Greek and Roman prophets, leading them to say true things they did not understand?

Zechariah 9:9

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem!Behold, your king is coming to you;He is just and endowed with salvation,Humble, and mounted on a donkey,Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.(connects in word usage with Psalm 72, about the Son of the King who will bring peace from the River to the ends of the earth)

So there is a war . . .

• Between the traditions of humans and the promises of God

• Between the ways of humans and the ways of God

• Even the writers of Scripture struggle to understand it, but all the hints are there

The Son of God

• Comes in humility• Establishes Peace• Forgives Perpetrators• Restores Justice

And we can be like Him

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

Matthew 5:9