The things that make for Peace

Palm Sunday Sermon 2007
The Eliot Church
Rev. Adam Tierney-Eliot
Isaiah 50:4-9
Luke 19:28-44

“As Jesus 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.’” 

The things that make for peace. 

Poor Jerusalem, poor us, for this is not the condition merely in one place at one time, but of humanity, itself throughout recorded history.  We have a pretty tough time as individuals and as a group staying on the good and holy and peaceful path, even when we try so hard.  The Apostle Paul described one of the great weaknesses of humanity when he wrote: “I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.”  That is to say that human beings—even when they know what is right—often find themselves (in their worldliness and ambition) doing something else.

To illustrate this point in Romans 7,  Paul makes use of the 10th Commandment. Does anyone know which one that is?  The 10th Commandment addresses covetousness–Not murder or theft–covetousness. To covet something is to possess an unhealthy desire, to wish, long, or crave for something that is not ours.  To take our wants and convince ourselves that they are needs, to turn our privileges into rights.  This human tendency leads us in many ways to break those other prohibitions from Mount Sinai and to turn our backs on those who are poor, helpless, and suffering.

From covetousness stems ambition, competition, a striving that can and does cause hurt to others.  Do we do it? Do we at the Eliot Church put our own needs above the general good to get ahead?  Yes, of course, sometimes.  Sometimes we do it without thinking.
We are like everyone else.  Competition is a part of our culture.  As parents we worry about how our children stack up next to their peers in school and, of course, in organized sports.  In these venues one sometimes has the opportunity to observe grown-ups acting childish.  We carry that competitive nature into our jobs and–as we keep up with the Joneses at home–corporations try to outdo and even destroy each other. Sometimes, as in the case of Enron and WorldCom, they manage to destroy themselves!  So, too, do nations.  So, too do nations strive to gain the upper hand–often for less than completely altruistic reasons.

This is what Jesus saw when he wept at the gates of the city, human nature unrestricted and uncontrolled.

Now, as we have discussed here before, a little ambition (if it is pointed in the right direction) can be a good thing.  Thanks to our natural urge to strive and explore we have, as a culture, deepened our understanding of ourselves and of the environment in which we live.  But we also know, as Jesus knew, how easily things can get out of hand.
So, in his grief Jesus reminds us of The things that make for peace and–as we talked about last week concerning what we need to do for the environment, for the Earth–these things are not all that hard to understand.  They’re not hard to understand.  They just seem hard to do.  So difficult, in fact, that many of those who have tried to call us to our better selves–people like Martin Luther King, Mohanndes Ghandi,  Dorothy Day and many whose names have been forgotten or erased–were rejected by the society they wished help.

The prophet Isaiah put it this way: “The Sovereign God has opened my ear and I was not rebellious, I did not turn backward.  I gave my back to those who struck me and my cheeks to those who pull out my beard.”  Prophets like Isaiah show how to live peacefully in this world and the Eliot Church is meant to bear witness to this lesson.  We do this in many ways but partially through both the ritual of Communion and our observance of the holiday that begins today and ends next Sunday.

In our Order of Service today Communion holds the primary place.  Now, I am not merely talking about the act of taking the bread and wine but instead about what it stands for.  I am also not speaking of the symbolism of that moment–that Passover meal Jesus takes with his disciples that we will commemorate on Maundy Thursday—but also what communion points to concerning how we are meant to live in the world.

At Eliot Church we celebrate an Open Communion. To participate today does not define who is in or out of our community.  For our community extends beyond these doors and beyond our particular expression of faith.  When we participate in this act together here, we are sharing a meal–not just with each other–but with those who have come before, those who will follow, and people, rich…poor, of every race and ethnicity that makes up our global community of faith. Communion reminds us of the lesson that Jesus taught:
“In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.”

Or, if you prefer, you can hear the same from the Chinese Philosopher Mencius writing some 400 years earlier, “Try your best to treat others as you would wish to be treated yourself, and you will find that this is the shortest way to benevolence.”  It is all right here for us to see: the path to peace in this act of communion.  It commits us to the concept of one holy family including all of creation and reminds us that there is no seat higher than another in the Commonwealth of Heaven.

The story of Holy Week also points us toward a more peaceful world.  For most of us here today, we will leave this place and go about our business to return on Easter morning.  However, a great deal happens between now and then and–while it may not be pretty–the story of the Passion and the cross reminds us that life isn’t really all about us as individuals.  At the center of our faith lies Jesus’ example of sacrifice, a sacrifice that tells us a lot about how we are expected to live.

Of the many and varied lessons we can draw from the crucifixion, (I will not try to address them all right now) I would like to lift up three that we may want to keep in mind as we wait for Easter:

First, Jesus suffers, just like the rest of us.  Though he suffers or, in fact, because he suffers, he has time for the suffering of others.  Now, Jesus probably had moments of self-pity, too; that is to be expected. Certainly the rest of us do and sometimes with just cause.  It isn’t easy to turn from our own needs  to those of others, even when their needs are greater.  Still, it must be done.   To see the pain in another’s eyes is, in a very real sense to touch their soul, to acknowledge that shared root of existence.  “Father forgive them,” Jesus says, “for they do not know what they are doing.”  Our suffering can either divide us from others or bring us closer.  So as we go about our business this week, let us try to cultivate the habit of empathy, even for those whose suffering is hard for us to imagine or understand.

Second, Jesus’ act was one of faith and trust.  He had faith that his death wasn’t hopeless, that human beings could change.  He trusted his disciples, flawed as they were, to carry on his message.  Ultimately, though, he had faith in God to whom he prayed on the Mount of Olives, “If you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet not my will but yours be done.”  So let us also try to trust one another, to trust God and act out of our faith.

Finally, Jesus led a life of openness to others, of welcome toward the outcasts.  Many can recall the parable of the great dinner–that other communion story–when the rich man, abandoned by his friends tells his servants “Go out at once into the roads and lanes and compel people to come in, so that my house may be filled.”  Too often our lives and hearts become closed, fearful of change and of the other.  We need to practice opening them, being gentle toward those who need our care and civil and understanding toward those with whom we disagree.

Empathy, Faith, Openness, these are among the things that make for peace.

The Twentieth Century educator Everett Moore Baker once wrote that,
“Religion is a gateway which we can open or close, leading to a city where mothers and fathers and their children live by kindliness and gentleness, feeling responsible for each other, respecting each other, remembering the restraints that make for harmony.”  Let us use the tools we have been given to open those gates and live by the principles of love and respect, Faith and hope.

Amen