LENTEN SERMON SERIES – THE NAMES OF JESUS

Prince of Peace

Isaiah 32:1-2, 16-20 Luke 1:67-79

Lent IV March 2, 2008

Prince of Peace is one of the more familiar names or titles for Jesus, but the New Testament does not directly call Jesus Prince of Peace. We often think of it in the words of the Prophet Isaiah and in the music of Handel’s Messiah.

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father,

PRINCE OF PEACE.

At the same time this title and or Jesus as the one who brings peace is woven throughout the Gospel narratives and the letters of Paul. The father of John the Baptist writes poetic prophecy. His son will prepare the way of the One who is to come, the one who comes,

To guide our feet in the way of peace.

Peace will come on earth

By the tender mercy of our God,

the dawn from on high will break upon us.

To give light to those who sit in darkness

and in the shadow of death.

In those days there was what was called Pax Romana. The Romans ruled the world but their peace was more an absence of conflict than the kind of wholeness, Shalom that Zechariah envisioned for the people of God. And not only the people of God, but all the families of the earth which was the promise to Abraham and Sarah. Peace would not come easy. The prophet’s son would be thrown into prison and eventually executed as a kind of entertainment for a drunken party hosted by King Herod. John, who made the announcement of the one who would guide our feet in the way of peace, gives his life. This continues and a prophet who spoke of non violence and peace is gunned down on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. Archbishop Romero is preaching peace and celebrating communion and he is shot to death at the altar.

The story unfolds; While shepherds watched their flocks by night, there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

Glory to God in the highest heaven,

Peace, good will among all people.

The first announcement of peace comes to lowly shepherds. It is not delivered by diplomats on official business at the ruler’s palace. It is delivered to the least of these, who will later be singled out for special care. This peace has global implications to this day, but it always has a human face. It is the face of a hungry child, an Aids orphan, a war casualty; the face of a victim of domestic violence, a child left behind in school, an aging patient in a nursing home who no longer receives visitors. It is the face of a college student stunned by a campus shooting, a prison population that is the largest in the world, a career man who no longer has a job, and a widow who has lost her lifelong companion. What shall we do, sisters and brothers of the Prince of Peace? In the words of St. Francis,

Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.

After the birth of Jesus his parents take him to the Temple for the purification according to the Law of Moses, to present him to the Lord and be designated as holy to the Lord. It had been revealed to an old man named Simeon that he would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Messiah.

After taking Jesus in his arms he said,

Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace

according to your word.

Luke summarizes the childhood, adolescence and young adulthood of Jesus with the words,

And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine

and human favor.

This is a leap over time from infancy narrative until the day he comes to the Jordan River to be baptized by his cousin, the same John who appears in the poetry of his father Zechariah. Are you curious? What happened during all those years? One thing we can say is that Jesus arrived at the manger like any baby. He had to be taught by parents and others. He learned and grew and gained wisdom. He would be no boy prince of peace. He learned his father’s trade, listened to his mother’s stories, studied the Scriptures, and went to synagogue. And there he would have certainly entered into the regular pattern of discussion and debate among the men of his faith community. There is no accounting that he astounded them all those years accept that one time at the Temple when he was twelve.

When his ministry begins it is one of peace. Almost all of the healings have to do with bringing peace to a troubled person, one whose body and spirit are at war. Forgiveness almost always accompanies healing. Jesus has come that the whole person can finally be at peace.

There is that one time when Jesus says he has not come to bring peace in Luke 12:51. This should not surprise us because the peace he brings is often in opposition to the ways of the world.

Then in the week we call holy he says to his beloved disciples in an extended farewell discourse,

Peace I leave with you.

He is telling them that soon he will no longer be with them as a physical presence. He talks about sending them a “Comforter” the Holy Spirit, which must mean that now the Spirit will bring peace.

In a few short days when he first appears to the disciples after the resurrection he is suddenly with them and his first words are,

Peace be with you.

This is actually a typical Hebrew greeting, “Shalom aleikhem.” It is almost impossible to imagine the disciple’s state of fear and sorrow, loss and regret as they remained in hiding after the crucifixion. Suddenly the risen Jesus appears among them and greets them with the only words they really need to hear.

Peace be with you.

When we are at the end of our rope, and everything we hold dear seems broken around us Jesus comes to us and says,

Peace be with you.

When we have exhausted all human effort to fix what troubles us most deeply Jesus comes to us and says,

Peace be with you.

When two or three are gathered together and conflict is the order of the day Jesus comes to us and says,

Peace be with you.

And when we stand at the bedside of a loved one and life is slipping away Jesus comes and says to both of us,

Peace be with you.

It can fairly be said that the Gospels, especially the synoptics tell the story of Jesus. Paul takes up the task of telling the meaning of Jesus. It is of course more complex than that, but essentially this is true. The Apostle writes to the Christians in Rome,

Therefore, since we are justified by faith,

We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Peace is not of our making. It is the gift of God even as faith itself is God’s gift. The Biblical concept of peace means completion and signifies that things are as God always intended them to be. On a childlike scale we know this is true. Two young sisters are having a fight over certain toys or who started something or other. Mommy steps in and tells them to say they are sorry to each other. With some reluctance they say, “I’m sorry.” Then a few moments later you look in on them and they are playing together, talking and imagining, and all is right with the world. They are at peace.

They are living we could say as God intended them to.

Paul begins every letter with the words,

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

This is a little longer version of,

Peace be with you.

Perhaps it is a fuller expression of what God has done in Jesus. And now Jesus asks us to remember what God has done through him.

Take and eat, do this remembering me.