Matthew 5:1-9 April 1, 2007
The Beatitudes #6:
“Palms of Peace”
Rev. Meagan M. Boozer
Matthew 5:1-9
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.” “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”
Peace. We all want peace. Peace in our home. Peace in our workplace. Peace at school. Peace in our neighborhood. Peace in our church. Peace in our mind. Peace in our heart. We all want peace.
When God created the world, he created it good. It was a place of peace.
Not anymore.
One of the most quickly growing professions these days is the massage therapist. People will pay $50, $60, $100 for a person to try to get the peace back into their stressed out muscles – a quiet room with soft music, low light, no phones, no talking, no demands.
Those of you who hunt – I’ve heard you say how peaceful it is in the tree stand in the early hours of the morning, not a sound but the sounds of nature.
We all want peace. We all need peace. Peace in our home. Peace in our workplace. Peace at school. Peace in our neighborhood. Peace in our church. Peace in our mind. Peace in our heart. We all want and need peace.
But here’s the thing. There’s a false peace, and there’s a genuine peace. False or bogus peace is full of deception. Genuine peace is full of truth.
Most of you know I grew up in a broken home. My parents separated when I was 10 years old. In the years leading up to the separation, I know now that we lived a false peace kind of life. We lived a deception. To the outsider, we looked like a happy family. But my parents were at war, and the kids were the everyday casualties. It was a bogus peace – and it was destructive to everyone.
Then there are the people who live in the same house who may not be at war, but they are completely disconnected with one another. Now, to the outsider, and maybe even to them on the surface, this looks like peace. But, it too is a deception. You cannot be disconnected from a person in your own household and be at peace with them at the same time.
Young people struggle with this all the time, because they haven’t learned how to have true peace. Many, if not most young people have grown up believing the lie that it is best to not speak the truth if that truth is going to cause a ruckus. They have
seen and heard how speaking the truth comes with punishment instead of resolution. And so, our kids learn to filter what they say and how they say it to “keep the peace.” They learn it from the adults around them. The problem is, it is a false peace and it keeps people enslaved in the opposite of peace – enslaved by a battle that wages within.
I remember one of the things I did as a young girl at my house that I thought would help make things more peaceful. On my own, I would go make everyone’s bed and clean up everyone’s room. I would hang up their clothes, fold everything, straighten everything up – because I had grown to believe that if everything was “neat and tidy” on the outside, then perhaps everything would be peaceful on the inside. As it happened, when everyone would discover their clean rooms, there would be a few moments, or hours, of happiness. But, it only gave me a false hope in a false peace. It was nothing but deception all the way – and the devil really had his way with us.
Genuine peace can only come hand in hand with truth. Jesus told his disciples, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” Jesus is the WAY to genuine peace, through living real TRUTH, which gives abundant LIFE. Genuine peace is deep. It is rich. Genuine peace is the kind of peace that Jesus told his disciples about in John 14:27, “Peace, I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not be afraid.” Genuine peace allows people to be free to be the people God made them to be, participating, interacting, not fearful but joyful, not walking on eggshells but dancing in the streets.
The Old Testament vision of peace, of shalom, is all about the well-being of God’s people, of all God’s people, from the richest to the poorest, from the most active to the lame, from the brilliant to the slow of mind. Genuine peace has nothing to do with the circumstances going on around you – genuine peace remains steady and true.
There was a ship wrecked in a furious storm and the only survivor was a little boy who was swept by the waves onto a rock. He sat there all night long until, the next morning, he was spotted and rescued. “Did you tremble while you were on the rock during the night?” someone later asked him. “Yes,” said the boy. “I trembled all night – but the rock didn’t.”
If God is our rock, Jesus becomes our peace.
Let’s take a look now at Luke’s account of the Palm Sunday events, beginning in Luke 19:29-48.
“When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, saying, “Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it.’” So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?” They said, “The Lord needs it.” Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, saying, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!” Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.” He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.” As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. Indeed, the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up ramparts around you and surround you, and hem you in on every side. They will crush you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave within you one stone upon another; because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.” Then he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling things there; and he said, “It is written,‘My house shall be a house of prayer’; but you have made it a den of robbers.” Every day he was teaching in the temple. The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people kept looking for a way to kill him; but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were spellbound by what they heard.”
Why were they spellbound? They were spellbound because they had been fed a pack of lies over the years by both the religious leaders and by the political leaders. The Pharisees had taught the Jewish people that the only way to have peace was to dot every ‘i’ and cross every ‘t’ just right – and if you didn’t get it right today, you can try harder tomorrow. The pax romana, the peace that was slammed down over the empire during the reign of Caesar Augustus was a political, forced peace at the point of swords and spears. The people were spellbound to hear a teacher speak the genuine truth. They were shocked and relieved to hear someone take on the Pharisees and take on the political leaders. Just like us, they wanted and they needed peace.
I hope we don’t miss it like they missed it. “If you only had recognized on this day, the things that make for peace,” Jesus said. I pray we can recognize the difference between the false peace and the genuine peace in our own lives and begin to be courageous enough to be peacemakers in our home, our workplaces, our school, our neighborhood, in our church – bringing peace to our hearts and to our minds.
There’s a friend of mine who was concerned about some language that was being spoken in her home. Well, she had two choices. 1) Don’t say anything to “keep the peace,” even though it would be a false peace, or 2) speak the truth in hopes of genuine peace. She chose the easier way – she spoke the truth. Now you might have said that speaking the truth was the harder way – but see, that’s what the devil wants us to believe. The easier way is always the way of truth in the long run. The person received my friend’s words, and the language has been better!
When you take your palm frond home today, may I suggest you put it in a place to remind you of Jesus’ words as he prepared to ride on to the way of the cross.
“If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace.”
What are those things that make for peace? We’ve been hearing about them for 6 weeks now. They are those things that are revealed in the character of those Jesus says are blessed:
Blessed are the poor in spirit – those who know in the core of their being that there is nothing good within themselves apart from Jesus. It is not the way of pride. It is the way of humility. It is the way of peace.
Blessed are those who mourn – those who know the filth of their own sin and who mourn it; those who mourn the state of the world and who are willing to do something about it. This is the way of peace.
Blessed are the meek – those who stand up for Jesus while bowing to him as the One who must lead the way. This is the way of peace.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness – those who are not satisfied with only the exterior robe of righteousness that Jesus places around us, but who hunger for an inner righteousness that honors Jesus’ gift. This is the way of peace.
Blessed are the merciful – those who choose to look at the world with the eyes of Jesus, willing to be the healing hands and feet of Jesus to those around them. This is the way of peace.
Blessed are the pure in heart – those who so want to see God that they are willing to strip off those things that separate them from God’s best plan for their lives. This is the way of peace.
May we be way more than spellbound by Jesus. (To be spellbound means to be staring and still.) We need to be captivated, motivated, and committed to be peacemakers, so that we may be called genuine children of God and give glory to our Father in heaven.
Amen.
