The Tenth Sunday after Pentecost - The Rev. Colette Hammesfahr

 

I was reminded this week of a TV commercial that first aired in 1971. It’s one of the most famous ads in history. The commercial opened with the face of a young girl singing. She sings, “I’d like to buy the world a home, and furnish it with love.” And as she is singing, the camera pans out to show more people standing next to her, singing as well. They sing, “Grow apple trees, and honeybees, and snow-white turtle doves.” As the camera pans out further and further, we see a very large group of people standing in a large field. People of different colors, ethnicities, genders, backgrounds, and ages, all standing shoulder to shoulder. Some of them are in the garments of their home country, smiling, and singing, holding a bottle in their hands with “Coca Cola” written in the language of their country.

The words come from a popular song that hit the charts that same year: “I'd like to see the world for once, all standing hand in hand, and hear them echo through the hills, for peace throughout the land.” These words and images of people standing hand in hand can be comforting to us. “Peace throughout the land.”

When polls ask what people yearn for most in their lives, the most popular answer is, “peace.” We constantly pray for “peace throughout the land” because sometimes peace is difficult to find. We pray for peace in our world – an end to wars and conflicts that kill innocent people. We pray for peace in our country – an end to the conflict between political parties and violence in our streets, schools, and grocery stores. We pray for peace in our homes – peace in our marriages, peace with our siblings, peace between our children. We pray for times when family members can sit together at a dinner table or on the porch without conflict.

I think that if Jesus were on that hillside in 1971, he would have chuckled as he watched everyone standing there singing about peace. Then he would have said, “What a lovely dream…but you skipped the hard part,” because true peace, God’s peace, comes at a cost. Jesus tells his disciples, “I didn’t come to bring peace to the earth! I came to bring division!” People had to choose where they stood. Either Jesus was the Messiah and they followed him, or he’s not the Messiah and they don’t.

The decision to follow Jesus came with consequences. There would be division in families. Family and ancestry were a huge part of the culture at that time. People got their identities from their family. Deciding to follow Jesus meant breaking with traditions and other cultural expectations. Another consequence of following Jesus was the threat of persecution and hardship. Caesar was to be considered “lord”, not Jesus. There was also a loss of security. Following Jesus often meant losing your livelihood, your inheritance, or your belonging to your community.

Our decisions come with consequences, too. We are called to make kingdom-centered choices in our lives. That is, choices that align with Jesus’ values – love, truth, justice, service. It’s saying, “no” to self-centered living. It’s about forgiveness and generosity. It’s doing things that may make us feel uncomfortable. In this way of living and doing things that may make us feel uncomfortable, the consequences we face are not that much different from the consequences the people of Jesus’ time faced.  

The most significant consequence that I have not mentioned yet is not what you lose but what you receive. The consequence of living a life aligned with Jesus can be costly, but it’s also life-giving. When we live compassionately and stand for justice, we protect the vulnerable. When we live free from guilt and fear, we also live with joy. “Life-giving” means living a life of growth and wholeness instead of a life of destruction.

We heard a passage from the book of Hebrews this morning. The Hebrews suffered persecution and heartache for following Jesus. They were at their breaking point and ready to turn away. But they were told, “Run with perseverance the race that is set before us.”

Jesus is our strength because Jesus ran the race ahead of us. He isn’t asking us to do anything that he wouldn’t do. In fact, he did more than any of us could ever imagine doing. Jesus went to the cross for us. He endured the cross for the joy that we receive.

Jesus did not come to make everyone feel warm and fuzzy. He did not come to make the world a cozy little place for everyone. Jesus came to create a transformed world. So, while Jesus may have chuckled at the people coming over the hill singing about peace, the ad does reflect what we long for. It gives us a glimpse of what is coming. Jesus has promised us that after we run the race, after we persevere, after we battle the fire and all the division, we will have true peace – God’s peace.

Each of us gets to make a choice – are you going to stand with Jesus or are you going to go against him?

I will leave you today with the words from Hymn #661, which someone read to us at the Wednesday service. It’s about the fishermen in Galilee living their peaceful lives and the profound impact that following Jesus’ call had on them.

1 They cast their nets in Galilee just off the hills of brown; such happy, simple fisher-folk, before the Lord came down.

2 Contented, peaceful fishermen, before they ever knew the peace of God that filled their hearts
brimful, and broke them too.

3 Young John who trimmed the flapping sail, homeless, in Patmos died. Peter, who hauled the teeming net, head-down was crucified.

4 The peace of God, it is no peace, but strife closed in the sod. Yet let us pray for but one thing-
the marvelous peace of God.

 Amen.