Peace

The scriptures referred to are all noted in the sermon.

The deadliest war the US has ever fought is not the second World War, not the Vietnam war, not even our longest war, the still ongoing war in Afghanistan. It was the Civil War. According to a recent study by historian J. David Hacker the previously accepted number of 620,000 dead was an undercount. Using statistical software and the US census records to see what men of military age were alive in 1860 but not in 1870 and checking it against the normal survival rates from 10 years before the war and 10 years after, he calculated the excess death toll to be 21% higher than previous estimates. He says around 750,000 people died in the war. As a percentage of the US population, it would be the equivalent of 7 and a half million deaths today. Our worst war was with ourselves.

In addition, according to the Civil War Trust, 476,000 were wounded. An estimated 1 out of every 13 Civil War veterans went home missing 1 or more limbs.

The casualties were so great that it showed what the army and the nation were lacking. There were no national cemeteries, no burial details and no formalized process to notify families of their loss. These were remedied. It also led to the reorganization of the Marine Hospital Fund into the Marine Hospital Service. Eventually this became the Public Health Service. What our bloodiest war did not do is convince the country to think twice before getting into more wars. The US has been fighting wars for more than half the time it's existed. As of 2019 we have 750 military bases around the world and troops in 140 different countries.

Peace in the Bible or shalom includes the cessation of conflict, of course. Peace between people is something that God puts a high priority on, especially between his people. Psalm 133 says, “See how good and how pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity.” (Psalm 133:1) That is why Jesus says the second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as you do yourself. (Mark 12:31) But Jesus' definition of neighbor is more expansive than just the people who live near you. It is whomever you encounter, especially if they are in need. (Luke 10:25-37) And, of course, Jesus goes even beyond that.

Almost every religion has some version of the “golden rule”: “treat others as you would like to be treated.” (Matthew 7:12) But none has the equivalent of Jesus' most revolutionary commandment: “Love your enemies.” (Matthew 5:44) But it makes sense if all human beings are created in the image of God, (Genesis 1:27) and if God truly loves everyone (John 3:16) and wants to save everyone (2 Peter 3:9). Which is why Paul said, “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” (Romans 12:18)

This is elementary Christian ethics. What it is not is natural. Peace is not the natural order for animals. Conflict, strife and competition are. Peace for prey is the interval between being hunted by predators. Peace for predators is the aftermath of killing and eating prey. Within a troop of baboons peace is being one of the alphas who keep their place by beating down those lower in the hierarchy. Peace for those at the bottom are the moments of grooming a higher up or getting to eat the scraps left over after the others eat. There is no real lasting peace for animals in nature. They are eaters or the eaten, beaters or the beaten.

We are created in the image of the God who is love and so we are capable of cooperation across kinship lines, which scientists are recognizing is what is truly unique about humans. Other animals think, count, communicate, make and use tools, albeit with a lot less complexity. But it is rare to see the higher animals cooperate in the ways we have to build cities and nations. Meerkats and chimps and ants have wars. But they do not conclude peace treaties or trade agreements. Peace is not merely a human ideal; we have made great strides in achieving it.

But we still have wars. Currently there are 4 major wars going on, resulting in 10,000 deaths in the current or last year, as well as 14 smaller wars, resulting in more than 1000 but less than 10,000 deaths, and 22 armed conflicts resulting in less than 1000 deaths, plus numerous skirmishes and clashes. Some wars are fairly straightforward attempts to acquire land or resources or achieve other economic aims. Other warring powers pursue more intangible goals, like enhanced reputation or ideology. And yet ultimately all wars end with both parties sitting down and talking about the conditions of peace. Which makes you wonder why they don't just start with that and save all the death, disease and destruction of their respective countries.

James says, “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don't get it? You kill and you covet but you cannot have what you want...” (James 4:1-2) The image of God that is in us and that seeks peace is at war with our desires that drive us to fulfill them however we can. Thus we seek power in order to do so and we seek control, even over others, and that leads to conflict. As long as human beings can't control their desires and impulses, we will not know peace.

To truly achieve peace among us, we need peace within us. And that peace comes only from God. And that peace with God comes through Jesus. We were all of us at war with God, wanting to do things our way. Even those who say they are trying to follow God often try to do it on their own terms. We are to love God with all our heart and soul and mind and strength. Instead we try to hold back parts of our life that we want to be in charge of and that we don't want God poking his nose into. And they may be things that in fact we put before God, little household gods like money, or power, or sex, that, when faced with a moral dilemma, we will stick with rather than God. Remember the rich young man who wanted eternal life and was following almost all the commandments? Jesus, perceiving there was one area of his life he did not trust to God, told him, “One thing you lack. Go sell everything you have, and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” And we are told, “At this the man's face fell. He went away sad, because he had many possessions.” (Mark 10:17-31) Or should we say, he was possessed by many things that he valued more than God.

Or it may be the second great commandment that we want exemptions from. Jesus told us to love both our neighbors and our enemies. And we say, “Yes,” but in our hearts we still reserve the right to exclude from that command people we just can't stomach: people we think are poor because they are lazy, people who take drugs, people who love people of the same sex as they, people who are trying to enter this country illegally, people who think our political party is evil or stupid or both. But Jesus didn't say, “Love everyone except _______.” He didn't say, “Love those people who deserve your love.” Because he didn't do that with us. Paul says, “But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us....For if while we were enemies we were reconciled through the death of his son, how much more, since we have been reconciled, will we be saved by his life?” (Romans 5:8, 10) God loves his enemies, which included at one time us. And Jesus said, “A new command I give you; Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” (John 13:34) And he said this knowing he would die for us the very next day. God loves us all, no exceptions. We must love all, no exceptions.

When we lay down our reservations and accept God's unconditional love for us and respond by loving him back and loving other people without conditions, we find peace within us. (Romans 5:1) That peace comes from God's Spirit which now dwells in those who trust in him. Paul writes, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” (Romans 15:13) One aspect of the fruit of the Spirit is peace. (Galatians 5:22)

In an X-Files episode Mulder encounters a genie and wishes for world peace. He finds that the genie has eliminated all other people in the world. And, yeah, without other people, there is no war or fighting. It's not really what Mulder wants and his next wish is to reverse it. But that is the peace nations at war, as well as bigots and extremists, somehow hope to achieve: peace by killing all their enemies. But that never happens. And never will. Because in killing people's sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, and friends, they make new enemies of their remaining loved ones. Violence begets more violence. Violence cannot give any peace except the peace of the grave.

And here we come to the other meaning of peace. The peace from God is not merely the absence of conflict but wholeness, complete wellbeing. That's why Jesus was not a warrior but a healer. God's peace leads to people working together in harmony because they have him and they recognize that he is what they really desire and that desire has been fulfilled by him. The gift of Christmas is Jesus, the God who is love, coming to earth, becoming one of us, ending our internal conflicts that we might find peace and end our external conflicts. That is why he is called the Prince of Peace.

Charles Williams pointed out that because we are commanded not to covet anything of our neighbor's, and since God is everywhere and therefore our neighbor, and everything is God's and so we cannot covet anything of his, the only thing that we can covet is God! Real peace comes from realizing that Jesus is our desire. He loves us in spite of our flaws and our sins and our failures and our doubts. He loves us enough to die for us. And he will never leave us or forsake us. Nobody loves us more than he does. And isn't that what we desire above all else: someone who loves us that much and will always love us? And wouldn't being wrapped in his love be all the peace we could ever desire?