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Where on Earth Shall We
Find Peace on Earth? |
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Summary
Where on Earth Shall We Find Peace on Earth? Well, here we are again. How many Christmases does this make for you? Fifteen? Twenty-four? Fifty-seven? Seventy-two? Once again, we have come to the end of a yearly “pilgrimage” of sorts. After all the hanging of greens and choir rehearsals, cantatas and Christmas concerts, caroling and the requisite consumption of tons of cookies and gallons of cocoa, we have finally arrived at this special night (day) ― this one night (day) a year ― when we raise our candles and join what Luke’s gospel describes as “a multitude of the heavenly host,” singing “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace ...”! Yes, here we are again. But ... wait a minute! ... God in the highest? On earth what? Peace? On earth? Where on earth will we find peace on earth? That question burns just as much now as it ever did. Where, oh where, is this “God in the highest” ― is he hiding? Where is he hiding? Where can we find him, so that we may go to him and claim for ourselves this peace, peace on earth, that he promises? God in the highest is here, promising us peace on earth. That’s what we’ve just been told. The power to command But where is he? God has come to earth ― where must he be? Somewhere among the haunts of power, political and military power. That must be it. He must be making quite an obvious presence of himself, in the hallways and passageways and offices where the most powerful man on earth lives and moves, with his retainers, servants, aides and assistants. I’m talking about Emperor Augustus, of course, the emperor passing down his obiter dicta to a populace that can only obey. Of course, that must be it ― where else would we find God on earth, other than amongst the most powerful on earth, those with the power to command, Those Who Must Be Obeyed? A decree has gone out from this powerful man, Emperor Augustus. It has to do with taxes, of course ― taxes, it seems, shall live forever and ever, world without end, amen. All the world ― my empire, the world: What’s the difference? ― shall be enrolled, so sayeth this personage, the emperor. There shall be a census, he says. Every man and every woman shall return to the place where they were born. Up, Joseph, up, Mary! Make ye the 90-or-so-mile journey south to Bethlehem, pregnant or not! Don’t think about it. Don’t ask questions. I need to count noses! Go! Now that’s power! Maybe we shall find God in the highest there, so we may render unto him glory, and receive from him peace on earth. And wasn’t there something about a Pax Romana? Why don’t we look for peace to the man who has the power to order a census, to move armies here and there, to tax the world, to slaughter populations who don’t toe his line? Well ... it makes sense, but something inside me ― some “still small voice” or something like that ― says, “No, not quite.” Something about this Pax Romana business just doesn’t quite come across to me as what’s going to bring peace on earth. Sounds like Emperor Augustus is up to what we’ve all been up to for the thousands of years since he died, and it hasn’t brought peace yet. When was it that he died, this Emperor Augustus? I don’t think I remember that ― do any of you? Anyway he died and was buried ― where was he buried? Augustus? That important ruler of Rome from back in ― what was the year? I don’t know. It was somewhere around the time Jesus was born. Anyway I don’t think he’s the one who will bring peace on earth. Where shall we find peace? Where shall we find it, then, this peace on earth? Where shall we find God, so that we may bring him glory, and receive the promised peace on earth? How shall we even know where to look? Follow the money. Isn’t that how we’re supposed to do it when we’re trying to detect something that’s happening on this earth that God in the highest is in the process of bringing “peace” to? Follow the money ― the money in this story is in the taxes, I think, the taxes that the emperor is trying to raise by declaring this census, this enrollment. So if we follow the money ― aha! ― it leads back to ... wait a minute. It leads back to the emperor, and we just ruled him out, didn’t we? This is getting frustrating, isn’t it? Who needs this on Christmas? What was it we were looking for? Presents under the tree ... no, not yet. We’ll get to that soon, very soon. What we’re looking for now is God in the highest, who is coming to bring us peace on earth. Where are we going to find God, God who has come to earth to bring peace, at long last? Where is God? Not in the person, however exalted, of the emperor. We’ve figured out that the emperor is just bringing what’s already been brought, and whatever that is, it isn’t peace, not on earth, not even back there in Rome, back in ― how long ago was that? I don’t know ― around the time of Jesus. So then we followed the money, and the money just led back to the emperor. I’m starting to get dizzy. If we are looking for God in the highest, who has come, finally, to bring peace on earth ― why don’t we follow the angels? Yeah, that’s the ticket! Looking for God, follow the angels. Angels are going to know something about where God is. Duh! Follow the angels. Kind of have to read backward to do it, but follow the angels. They should take us straight to God. So we follow the angels, and they take us ― to a bunch of shepherds, out in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the night, tending to their flocks. Shepherds. Not exactly respectable, important citizens. Shepherds. Weren’t they kind of like the migrant farm workers of the day? Definitely not rich and powerful and important people. But we’re looking for God in the highest, looking for peace on earth, and we’re following the angels, and this is where the angels have led us. To shepherds. So is God in the highest somewhere in there among the shepherds? No, not exactly. The angels have made their glorious appearance to these shepherds, who are apparently scared out of their wits, but get over it pretty quickly, and then give their attention to the angels, and the angels .... The angels kind of bring us all back to where we started, don’t they? The angels have come to the shepherds to tell these shepherds the same thing we’ve been told. Unto us has been born, this night, a Savior ― the angels told the shepherds, back then, that this Savior was the Messiah, but we have figured out over the years that this Messiah is actually Emmanuel, God with us, the very presence of God, with us and among us. The angels are telling the shepherds where to look if they want to see the very presence of God, on earth; God, who will bring peace on earth. Looking for God? the angels ask the shepherds. Actually, the shepherds weren’t looking for God, particularly. This was just another night for them, out engaged in their shepherdly tasks ― another day, another denarius. But the angels came to them and told them where to find God, where to find peace on earth: “you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth” ― back in those days, “bands of cloth” were what people used for both diaper and receiving blanket ― “and lying in a manger.” A “manger” was a feeding trough. Back in those days, people used feeding troughs for feeding animals. The place where God is found Looking for God? You’ll find God in a diaper and receiving blanket, lying in a feeding trough. We’ll not find God in the power that comes forth from the emperor and his retainers; we’ll find God on the receiving end of that power. God is not in and with the emperor ordering the census; God is with Joseph and Mary as they respond to the emperor’s decree. God is not with Herod’s hit men as they slaughter village infants to keep the fences high and strong around Herod’s power; God is with Joseph and Mary as they flee, with their child, to Egypt to hide from Herod’s power. God is not in and among the wise men following the star; God is in the flesh and the life of the child to whom the wise men are led. Are we looking for God? When will we learn that we will not find God where we think we will find him? When will we learn that we will not find God among those who wield “godlike” power? When, oh when, will it finally register with us that when Tiberius is emperor, and when Pilate is governor, and when Herod is ruler, and when Annas and Caiaphas are high priests ― and when Bush is president and Clinton and Obama are senators, and when Strickland is governor and Giuliani is mayor and Brown is representative [substitute the names of your elected officials], and Benedict is pope and yours truly is reverend ― the word of God comes to a righteous, faithful nobody out in the wilderness? Looking for God? Follow the angels. Follow the shepherds, the plodders, the day-to-day grind-it-out working stiffs, the righteous nobodies ― and, yes, by all means follow the rulers and the priests and the preachers and the soldiers ― some of them, anyway ― but make sure you follow them; don’t look to them for God; follow them to the place where God is found. If they really know where they’re going, they’re going to the same place we’re going, to the place where God is, to the place where we will truly, at long last, find peace on earth ― to that child, born of a woman just as we have been, who grew in God’s presence and who even now, through his life, his teaching, his death and his resurrection, shows us the only way to peace. |
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