The Festival of Light

Epiphany

Today is the Second Sunday after Christmas. Next Sunday is the first Sunday after Epiphany. Epiphany occurs on January 6, 12 days after Christmas Day. What does “epiphany” mean? The online Encyclopedia Britannica gives this answer: Epiphany is the celebration “commemorating the first manifestation of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, represented by the Magi, and the manifestation of his divinity, as it occurred at his baptism in the Jordan River and at his first miracle, at Cana in Galilee.” We focus today on the first of these aspects of the Epiphany. 

 

We read the Scripture from Matthew 2, in which Jesus was manifested (or made known) to the Gentiles, represented by the magi. These oriental scholars had been studying the stars, which told them that “the king of the Jews” had been born somewhere east of where they lived. They followed the star, which led them to Bethlehem and to the house where Mary and Joseph and Jesus were. There Jesus the Messiah was revealed to them, and there they worshipped him. 

 

Consider the light of the star. At one level, Epiphany – indeed, Christmas as a whole – is our festival of light. Many religions have festivals of light – I checked Wikipedia out of curiosity and found the following (among others): 

·         Diwali in Hinduism, Sikhism, and Jainism. 

·         The Lantern Festival in China, originating in Buddhism. 

·         Hanukkah, a Jewish holiday. 

·         Not to mention festivals held in various countries and cultures – from Canada to the United States to various countries in Europe and Asia.

 

And, of course, Christmas. Light is a basic theme throughout the Christmas season, and it comes to a glorious climax with the light of the star over the house in Bethlehem. We use this theme of light, then, to look at the Scriptures we read this morning. 

 

Isaiah 60: 1 to 6 

The passage from Isaiah forms one of the best known and moving parts of Handel’s Messiah: “For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people; but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee.” (vv 2 and 3) 

 

Consider what Isaiah has to say: 

Verses 1-3: The light of God’s glory has risen on God’s people. They were lost in the darkness of exile from their homeland, refugees trapped in Babylon. There, in their darkness, God appears with a salvation so great, so wonderful, that the rulers of the world come to see what is happening. 

 

Verses 4-6: God’s people are called to look up and see how God has set them free, as even their enemies bring good things to them. They have been scattered, but now they are being gathered together and brought back home to live in peace and light. 

 

You can see how the theme of light speaks to us today. Like God’s People in Isaiah, we live in darkness. We struggle with personal and public problems. A cloud of Covid-19 hangs over our heads, so that we wonder if there is any hope in life. The darkness of failed relationships drifts between us, isolating us from other people. Imaginary fears and all too real problems threaten us, and we wonder how we can make it. 

 

Into our darkness comes light. God’s light. The light of God’s salvation. We find that God can restore relationships that we have given up on. We discover that God heal diseases of the body and of the soul – through medical science and therapists and directly through the touch of God’s Spirit. Light sparks and grows around us and drives away the darkness! 

 

Matthew 2: 1-12 

The book of Matthew has several basic themes. One of them is the way that the gospel appeals to Gentiles as well as Jews, to the ultimate outsiders as well as the complete insiders. The Great Commission (as we call it) at the end of Matthew’s book states it clearly: “Go into all the world and make disciples of all people” – Jews and Gentiles, men and women, rulers and peasants, the most woke generation ever and their boomer grandparents. The light Isaiah describes is not just for the Chosen Few. God’s light shines on the whole world. 

 

Another basic theme in Matthew’s Gospel is the rule of Jesus as the king of the universe. In chapter one, Jesus is identified as the son of David, the king of Israel. Again, at the end of the book, Jesus begins the Great Commission with the words, “All authority in heaven and on earth is given to me.” Jesus is the supreme ruler, the creator of all that is. 

 

Both themes are in Matthew 2. The conflict between Herod King and Jesus King is clear. The magi come looking for Jesus. They ask King Herod the way. He directs them to Bethlehem and tries to enlist them as his spies to help him get rid of the competition. Then they meet Jesus, and they worship him. After they worship King Jesus, they do not return to Herod. In fact, they never call Herod “King” again. Herod has been dethroned. Jesus is the King of the Universe. 

 

The theme of inclusion is clear in the identity of the magi. They came “from the East” – not Ontario, but what we would call Iran today. They were not Jews. They did not know the Torah. They were not part of the Chosen People, but God called them and brought them by the star to worship Jesus. Jesus is their saviour as well as the saviour of the Jews. The gospel is for everyone. God includes everyone who responds to God’s call on their lives. 

 

These themes are presented through the star – the festival of light. There is plenty of light throughout the birth narratives of Matthew and Luke – especially the bright angels coming to the shepherds in Luke 2. The star that led the magi was quieter and steadier than the angels of Luke 2. It was also a source of the light that showed them the King of the Jews and the Saviour of the world. The festival of light. 

 

Light in our World 

The basic idea is clear enough. We live in difficult dark times. God comes into our darkness with light. The way that John puts it is this,

⁴ In him was life, and that life was the light of all humankind. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. … ⁹ The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. ¹⁰ He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognise him. ¹¹ He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. ¹² Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God – ¹³ children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. (NIV)

 

Isaiah and Matthew invite us to “believe in his name” and become God’s children. They invite us to shine the light of God’s salvation into the darkness of our lives. What does that look like? Let me tell you two stories that illustrate light shining in the darkness and bringing new life where we might think it is impossible. 

 

The Axe and the Tree 

In June 1978, a group of missionaries were holding on at a school named “Emmanuel Secondary School”, just outside the city of Mutare in Zimbabwe. The Liberation War was going strong. Government forces brutalized people in the countryside, and the men and women fighting for majority rule in Zimbabwe also committed their own atrocities. 

 

One of these terrible events was the killing of some missionaries who worked under the Elim Mission from England. A group of combatants, probably from ZANLA, came at night and killed seven missionaries and their five children. One of their co-workers who survived was a man named Peter Griffiths, who was on home assignment in England with his family when the attack came. His son (Steve Griffiths) has written up the story in a book called The Axe and the Tree. 

 

After the war, Griffiths returned to Zimbabwe and moved to Harare. One day he heard that one member of the group who had killed his co-workers had become a Christian and was studying at a Bible School in Harare. He went to visit the man, who called himself Garikai. Over time, they became friends, and Garikai told him the full story of what had happened that night. It was a hard friendship, as they acknowledged the darkness that made their memories so painful. It was also a good friendship. 

 

Eventually, Garikai joined Griffith’s church. As they learned to trust each other and live in the light of the gospel, Griffiths recommended Garikai to the elders of the church to become a deacon. The story is much longer than I can tell this morning, but it illustrates God’s light breaking into human darkness. As the missionaries were dying, they prayed aloud for God’s salvation to come to their attackers. Garikai was one of eight members of the attacking party who came to faith in Christ and learned to love the Prince of Peace. 

 

This same darkness threatens all of us. There was a former soldier from the Rhodesian Army in their church. The army and the liberation forces were deadly enemies. One evening, as they had supper together, he asked Griffiths, “Do you believe this fellow will be in Heaven?” Griffiths replied, “Yes, I do.” The former soldier said, “Then I don’t want to be there. I’m not interested in sharing heaven with the likes of him.” Griffiths replied, “Then you don’t yet fully understand the depths of your own sin or what Jesus achieved through his death on the cross.” 

 

Christian Aid Mission 

Last October, 16 missionary adults and children, along with their driver, were abducted in Haiti by a gang called 400 Mazowo. We have followed the story – how the gang kidnapped the 17 people from Canada and the USA; the demand for US$1,000,000 per person; the initial release of the first five people; and finally the escape of the remaining 12 missionaries and children. 

 

The story makes for interesting reading, but I notice especially how the Christian party acted. The news reports tell how they prayed and sang at regular times, three times a day. Now that they are finally free, they have spent more time calling for forgiveness than for revenge. They found themselves in darkness, and they responded by looking to the light of God’s presence. 

 

They were conservative Mennonites, and we might find their choices a little over the top. We don’t adopt a curious form of dress as they do. We don’t avoid the world around us with the care that they do. But we do share their commitment to peace and reconciliation. Their example of bringing light into darkness is one we also share. God’s light shines into the darkness of this world in and through God’s People, through you and me. 

 

One More Story? 

I could tell more stories, but these stories have a danger. We hear about a massacre in Zimbabwe, and we may think, “Of course, Africa is a violent continent.” We hear about a kidnapping in Haiti, and we may think to ourselves, “Of course, Haiti is corrupt, a failed state.” We may think that we are different, but of course we are not different. That’s the danger. We may think that the darkness of this world lies in other people, when in truth darkness is close to all of us. Canada is no better than Haiti. North America is no better than Africa. The darkness of human sin and brokenness comes in many forms and covers all of us. God’s love also comes in many forms and shines “far as the curse is found”. 

 

The last story that we must tell is our own story. We look inside ourselves and acknowledge the darkness around us and within us. We discover God’s light shining around us and within us. The star shining over Bethlehem shines over our own homes as well, and the Saviour of the world has come to you and to me as well. 

 

Conclusion 

Our theme throughout Advent has been to imagine God bringing peace and hope and joy. Today the conference theme is “Imagine God dancing.” When we see the darkness, we may think that God is weeping. Indeed, God does enter the heart of darkness and weeps there with us. But God does not remain in darkness. God cannot remain in darkness! God is light! God brings light! And one way to see that light is to imagine God dancing. Dancing with joy, spreading peace and hope not just as far as the curse is found, but further, much further.

I danced in the morning when the world was begun. 

And I danced in the moon and the stars and the sun, 

And I came down from heaven and I danced on the earth. 

At Bethlehem I had my birth.

Dance, then, wherever you may be, I am the Lord of the Dance, said he, And I’ll lead you all, wherever you may be, And I’ll lead you all in the Dance, said he.”

 

Two final thoughts. What does this all mean? More than these two thoughts, but at least this much: 

1)      We cannot make the light that we need in our darkness; only God is light. Only God can save us. 

2)      When God shines the light of salvation in our lives, that does not mean there are no more problems, no more darkness. We live in mingled shades of light and dark until Jesus returns or we die. It means that God shines light into our darkness, and the darkness cannot defeat it. 

 

 

Steinbach Mennonite Church 

2 January 2022 

 

Focus Statement: Many religions have festivals of light. "Epiphany" is one such festival with the star over Bethlehem. The star reminds us that light has come into our darkness and that darkness can never overcome the light. 

 

Texts: Isaiah 60: 1 to 6; Matthew 2: 1 to 12. 

 

“Thinking Ahead” Questions: We sing “joy to the world” and say that the joy goes “far as the curse is found.” Which is stronger in your life – the joy or the curse? And why? 

 

“Going Deeper” Questions: 

·         What do you think of the different “festivals of light” found in different religions of the world? How is Epiphany like them? How is it different? 

·         “Light” and “Lordship” are connected in our texts. How do you see the connection between God’s light in our darkness and God’s reign in our lives? 

·         Which is stronger in your experience – darkness or light? Why do you answer as you do?

How can we let God's light shine in?

Dare to Imagine God’s Embrace!

Advent

Several weeks ago, Lee and I went to a seminar on “preaching on the last things” – eschatological sermons (if you like). The speaker noted that in the church’s teaching of the first centuries after Jesus, there were four “last things”: Death, Judgment, Hell, and Heaven. He organized his remarks around these four headings, but he also added something about them that surprised me.

Today is Second Advent. We have four Sundays in Advent, and each Sunday has its own special theme. This year the four themes are hope (which Pastor Lee talked about last week), peace (our theme today), joy, and love. These four, or some variation of them, are the usual themes for Advent, but they are not the original Advent themes. Guess what the original themes were: Death, Judgment, Hell, and Heaven.

These four original themes – dark and foreboding – lie behind our contemporary emphasis on peace and joy. It makes sense really. Think of our four themes. Why do we need hope? Because we are afraid of the problems and struggles that we face in this life. Why do we long for peace? Because we live in a world of hurt and conflict. Why do we celebrate joy so eagerly? Because we see so much grief and sadness around us. Why do we rejoice in God’s love? Because we have experienced the hatred and anger of a world without God.

The message of Christmas, to which all four Sundays of Advent point, is that God enters our death-filled world and uses what we call the judgment to get rid of all evil in what we call Hell, making you and me able to live forever with God, a state that we call Heaven.

Peace

Our focus statement this morning is, “Imagine the wideness of God’s embrace of all creatures and creation! It will widen our hearts to do the things that make for peace.” Consider where this peace comes from. It sure does not come from the world around us. Looking around our world, we see people in conflict with each other. I have lived a third of my life in Canada, a third of my life in the USA, and a third in Zambia and Zimbabwe. Four countries, and in each country, I have seen how the power of Evil corrupts people and breeds conflict.

There are good people everywhere, and I love the people in each of these countries. There is so much that I love about Zimbabwe – such as the idea of “ubuntu”, the way that we become fully human in community. An Ndebele proverb says that we become fully human in and with other people. I love it! But I have also seen how people in Zimbabwe can shut out people who don’t fit in their group. I grew up as part of a White minority, only four percent of the population, who held complete political and economic control over the whole country. This is the precise opposite of wide-open hearts that make for peace.

I love the USA. In Canada, we are ready to point out the problems of our southern neighbours, but the truth is that Americans can be remarkably helpful and friendly. But we also see how they can turn against each other, fighting against each other over an amazing array of issues. Their gun culture, for example, makes many of us walk a little more carefully when we cross the border.

I love Canada. Canada has become home, and Manitoba is a wonderful place to live. But we have our problems, and we see people turn against each other and shut each other out. Every place I have lived has this mixture of good and bad. I have avoided specific examples because I think you can provide your own illustrations better than I can. We see the problems all around us, and it takes a lot of imagination to think of God embracing the whole of creation. The Advent idea of judgment is not so far-fetched!

How do we move from the problems we see to the vision of God’s wonderful, saving embrace? Let’s look at the Scripture texts that we read.

Malachi 3

The book of Malachi is set in the period after the return from Exile in Babylon and Persia. The Jews had experienced great distress, being carried off into exile by the Babylonians a few hundred years before. Now they have been back in their own home for perhaps 200 years – long enough to have fixed the political and economic problems that they had faced. But life is still hard. They live with constant danger and problems. There was a growing expectation that God the Lord would come to God’s people – what we refer to as the coming of the Messiah.

The prophet speaks to the people about this expectation of God’s coming. “The Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming.” This is good news! But then the prophet changes his tone. “But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?”

Before joy comes judgment. Before we can realize our hope, we must be purified – made right with God and with each other. Before we can walk in the way of peace, we must look squarely and honestly at all that we do that destroys peace.

That is where Malachi leaves us: Hoping for the coming of God who makes all things right, but recognizing that we need purifying before we can stand in God’s presence. We are broken people, and we need fixing.

Luke 1

Often during Advent, we listen to and preach on Mary’s Song: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God, my Saviour.” Mary sang this song when she visited her cousin, Elizabeth. They had both been visited by an angel telling them that they would have a son. Now birth announcements are cool, but these two were unusual. Elizabeth was “barren and getting on in years” (1:7), and Mary was a young woman who was still a virgin (1:27). One guesses that the young woman looked up to her older cousin and went to visit her when she discovered that they were both pregnant. Mary’s song is her response to Elizabeth’s celebration of her pregnancy.

A few verses later, Elizabeth gave birth to John, and in response, his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and sang his own song of joy, a prophecy about his baby son’s life.

·         Verses 68-71: He gives praise to God for saving them from their enemies. This sounds like he thinks that John will be the Messiah who sets Israel free from their enemies. In their time, the primary enemy was the Roman Empire.

·         Verses 72-75: He thanks God for the mercy of salvation, which restores God’s covenant with Israel and makes them able to live rightly with God and with each other. It may still sound like he is talking about his son, John, but the next verse makes it clear he sees that John’s birth actually means that the Messiah will follow him.

·         Verses 76-78: John will be “the prophet of the Most High”, who “will go before the Lord to prepare his ways”. The Lord – that is God, in the person of the Messiah – is coming to guide God’s people “into the way of peace”.

We see the same progression as we noted earlier – from death and judgment to mercy and hope, from conflict and despair to peace and joy. It is notable that when John comes, he preaches, “Repent, for the kingdom of God is near.” In the same way, when Jesus comes, he has the same message, “Repent, for the kingdom of God is near.” “Repent” is actually a simpler word than we might think: It means simply “turn around”, go in a new direction. But it is harder to do than we often realize: We are really stubborn; it takes a lot to make us change direction in our lives.

Death and Peace

I’ve been thinking a lot about death and dying recently. The seminar Lee and I went to was actually a seminar on how to talk about death and how to prepare for funerals. It’s just over a year ago that I spent 10 days in the hospital, wondering if I was on the verge of major heart trouble. Then, yesterday, a friend sent me an article from the Atlantic magazine by Tim Keller.

Keller is the founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, New York. He has been ordained in the Presbyterian Church since 1975. He recently wrote a book on his experiences walking with people near the end of their lives. Then, a month after the book came out, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

As he wrestled with the diagnosis, here is part of what he writes in the article:

Our beliefs about God and an afterlife, if we have them, are often abstractions as well. If we don’t accept the reality of death, we don’t need these beliefs to be anything other than mental assents. A feigned battle in a play or a movie requires only stage props. But as death, the last enemy, became real to my heart, I realized that my beliefs would have to become just as real to my heart, or I wouldn’t be able to get through the day. Theoretical ideas about God’s love and the future resurrection had to become life-gripping truths, or be discarded as useless.

Keller notes that as death approaches, Christians and non-believers alike struggle with the reality of our own end. There is no panacea or simple strategy to make death easy. As Christians, however, we have the opportunity to discover the reality of our relationship with God. As Malachi puts it, God comes to us, even though we are afraid of God’s approach.

The Hope and Joy of Peace

Where in this struggle with death – which is really the struggle that we all have with life itself – where in this struggle is peace? Tim Keller describes his own experience this way: “I found that to embrace God’s greatness, to say “Thy will be done,” was painful at first and then, perhaps counterintuitively, profoundly liberating.”

That is, the path of peace is repentance – repentance in the sense of turning around, re-orienting our lives to God’s life, seeking God’s presence, walking in God’s will. My Dean at Providence has described something that he learned through his wife. She was taking a course on spiritual formation, and they talked each day about what she was learning. From their conversation, my friend said that he has adopted a simple yet profound spiritual discipline. As part of his prayer every night, he asks two questions: “When today was I most aware of God’s presence? When today was I least aware of God’s presence?” (These are adapted from the Examen in Ignatian spirituality.)

These are useful questions. Reflecting daily on how we have lived in God’s presence can reveal what the true goal of our lives is. When we realize that our true goal is anything other than God and God’s reign in our lives, we repent. We turn from the deepest goals we have that take us away from God, and we pursue God. That is what Mary did. That is what Elizabeth and Zechariah did. They experienced the presence of God and knew the promise of salvation and the paths of peace.

Conclusion

The truth is that God wants everyone to turn and follow God. God wants us all to know the peace of life in Christ and the peace of living with each other in true community. We also want that peace and security – at least, most of us do. But we often think that we can create peace on our own. We can’t. We live in a world that is fundamentally crooked. Until the second advent, when Jesus returns in power and great glory, our world makes real peace impossible.

Advent is the reminder that our impossibility is God’s possibility. Where we cannot make peace, Jesus does. Where our ability to embrace others runs out, God’s saving embrace stretches wider and wider. God purifies “the children of Levi” – that means the priests, and we are “a kingdom of priests. Purified by God, we find ourselves able to join Jesus in his wonderful saving embrace of the whole of creation.

Last week we heard that beyond our fears lies God’s hope. Today we hear that beyond our conflicts lies God’s peace. We look forward to the coming of the Lord, even if it means that we fall down before him, overwhelmed with his greatness and goodness. As Paul puts it, “What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? … Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? … No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Focus Statement: Imagine the wideness of God’s embrace of all creatures and creation! It will widen our hearts to do the things that make for peace. 

Scriptures:

Malachi 3:1-4

The Coming Messenger

3 See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. ² But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?

For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; ³ he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. ⁴ Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.

Luke 1:68-79

Zechariah’s Prophecy

⁶⁷ Then his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke this prophecy:

⁶⁸ “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them. ⁶⁹ He has raised up a mighty savior for us in the house of his servant David, ⁷⁰ as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, ⁷¹ that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.

⁷² Thus he has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors, and has remembered his holy covenant, ⁷³ the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham, to grant us ⁷⁴ that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies, might serve him without fear, ⁷⁵ in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

⁷⁶ And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, ⁷⁷ to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins. ⁷⁸ By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, ⁷⁹ to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

Thinking Ahead Question: How do you connect the birth of Christ and the return of Christ in your own thinking? Today's advent word is “Peace” – what does the path to peace look like as you read today's scriptures?

Steinbach Mennonite Church

5 December 2021

Peace Sunday 2021: Defending Hope

We live in a world of despair. You can read and see it in the media. Stories from North Korea tell us of continuing despair in the face of an unacknowledged pandemic, combined with hunger for food and hunger for power. Stories from South Sudan tell us of continuing ethnic strife, so that help provided for marginalized people is eaten up by warlords. Stories from Palestine tell us of the continued struggle to hold on to ancestral homes. Israelis and Palestinians tell competing narratives that leave no room for compromise. Stories from Colombia waver between the hope of a country searching for peace and wealthy people using their power to dispossess the marginalized. 

 

Of course, you don’t have to go so far away to find despair. What do we make of the news in our own backyard, when we hear of a double homicide and a third person who lies in critical condition? As the news trickles out, the despair deepens. We find that the victims are known to some of us – good friends and neighbours. 

 

How can we defend hope in a world of despair? How can we live with the terrors of our world and sing the songs of Zion? “We are people of God’s peace” – sure, but how do we get there? 

 

Romans 12 

The passage we read from Romans 12 reminds us that we are responsible for our part in the various activities of our world. In verse 18, Paul says, “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” This verse summarizes a series of statements that Paul makes: Bless others; care for them; live in harmony; don’t repay evil with evil; always do what is right. Then he adds this summary: In your relationships with others, so far as your part is concerned, be a person of peace. 

 

This is incredibly difficult advice, but Paul meant it, just as Jesus meant it when he preached the Sermon on the Mount. We want to water it down and make it practical. Don’t be a doormat, we say. If someone attacks you, you can fight back and defend yourself. But that’s not what Paul says. 

 

He continues, “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good.” Wow! This is a radical take on “live at peace with everyone”. 

 

What it means, I think, is this. We live in a world where despair lurks around the corner all the time. Hope is a candle that seems on the verge of going out. We are the defenders of that hope. We are the ones who keep the candle burning. We keep it burning by being people of peace in every situation. 

 

How? When someone treats you unfairly, of course you defend yourself, but you refuse to treat them the same way. When someone acts out their hate in relating with you, you respond with love and care. The only way to end the despair that comes from the violence in our world is to end the violence. And the only way to end the violence is to end it in ourselves. Which brings us to Psalm 23. 

 

Psalm 23 

I have often been troubled by one verse in this well-beloved Psalm: “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.” I like how it continues: “You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” But that one verse sounds as though it is having my enemies on the outside looking in that makes the meal God serves me really satisfying. “You feed me, and they have to watch unfed!” 

 

That’s not the only way to read it. What if David (assuming David wrote the twenty-third Psalm) meant something else. What if the enemies are present because they are invited to the feast? What if God wants to restore those who hate me – not just to restore me, but to restore my enemies to life in God’s presence? What if God wants everyone to be at the marriage supper of the Lamb (as the book of Revelation calls it)? 

 

If that’s what God wants, then God is going to have to do the heavy lifting. I can’t make my enemies into God’s friends. I can’t bleach the hatred and anguish out of their lives. But God can. That’s what the cross and resurrection are all about. God taking broken and hurting people and restoring them to life. God taking people trapped in violence and making them people of peace. 

 

Synthesis 

The reason that we keep our candle of hope burning is that God is at work in us and in our world. God is making peace where we can’t. I think of an old friend of mine. He used to be the bishop of my church in Zimbabwe. In the early 1980s, his father owned a store out in the country in the south of Zimbabwe. Some drunken soldiers came in one day and ordered him to give them beer. He didn’t sell beer, so they gathered up discarded bottle caps from the soda bottles and stuffed them in his mouth. Then they beat him around the mouth with their rifle butts and left him. 

 

He ended up in the hospital in Bulawayo with gangrene in his mouth, which in the end took his life. Before he died, my friend visited him one last time. As he stood there, looking at his father, dying from violence endemic in the poverty of the countryside, he imagined in his mind taking those soldiers’ children, lining them up against a wall, and machine-gunning them. His father saw what was in his eyes and said to him quietly, “Don’t, Dan. Don’t.” 

 

Dan listened to his father and set hatred and revenge aside. He taught his own children to love and not to hate. His son now lives in Winnipeg, where he is the director of CHAI, a ministry to immigrants in Winnipeg. Our world is filled with fear and hatred, but my friend chose peace and love. He is a defender of hope in a world that tilts towards despair. 

 

God is calling you and me and our families and our friends to be people of peace, keeping our candle of hope burning in the winds of hate that blow around us. Join me in following God’s call, so that we also can eat at God’s table in the presence of our enemies. 

 

 

 

Focus Statement: As a people of peace, we defend Hope in a world that specializes in Despair. 

 

Scriptures: Psalm 23; Romans 12: 9-21 

 

Thinking Ahead Question: Think of places around the world where violence is common – such as South Sudan, Colombia, or Palestine. How can we continue to hope in the face of such violence? 

 

7 November 2021 

Steinbach Mennonite Church