LIVING SHALOM

A Sermon for the Sixth Sunday of Easter
May 13, 2007
by Pastor Laura Gentry

John 14:23-29
Jesus answered him, "Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me. "I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. You heard me say to you, 'I am going away, and I am coming to you.' If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe. (NRSV)

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

In the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, there is a wonderful scene where One day Calvin and Hobbes come marching into the living room early one morning. Calvin’s mother is seated there in her favorite chair, sipping her morning coffee. She looks up at Calvin—amused and amazed at how he is dressed. Calvin’s head is encased in a large space helmet. A cape is draped around his neck, across his shoulders, down his back and is dragging on the floor. One hand is holding a flashlight and the other a baseball bat. “What’s up today?” asks Mom.

“Nothing, so far,” answers Calvin.

“So far?” she questions.

“Well, you never know,” Calvin says, “Something could happen today.” Then Calvin marches off, “And if anything does, by golly, I’m going to be ready for it!”

Calvin’s mom looks out at the reading audience and she says, “I need a suit like that!”

Some days feel like that, don’t they? Life can be so difficult and chaotic that we need a suit like Calvin’s in order to be ready for it. In our stressful world, where violence, prejudice, anger, poverty, hatred and war pervade, we need something to be ready for it. And Jesus knew this. That’s why he gave the disciples a very special gift before he left them to ascend to the Father.

In this morning’s gospel, we hear part of Jesus’ farewell address to his followers. He knows that he will soon leave them and he needs to get them ready for his departure. Jesus explains that he will ask the Father to send them the gift of the Holy Spirit to lead them and remind them of all Jesus taught them. Then, he said to them, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”

What an amazing gift he gives to the disciples and to all of us—peace! In Greek, the word is Shalom, which means peace beyond anything we could desire or imagine. It is a peace that encompasses justice and peace among all people. It demands respect for the dignity of every human being. Shalom, God’s peace, means becoming a people who seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbors as ourselves.

So as Jesus gives us this Shalom, this peace, he makes us stewards of it. We are responsible to share this Shalom with the world. Next week we will celebrate Ascension Sunday—reminding us that Jesus has returned to the Father in heaven and so it is up to us, with the Spirit’s power, to carry on his vision of Shalom for all people.

This vision runs all the way through to the very end of the Bible in the Revelation of John of Patmos: There will be a New Jerusalem whose gates are open and never closed to anyone or anything. It is a vision of opening our doors to peoples and nations beyond ourselves. And through it all runs the river of the water of Life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb.

Beside this river is a tree with all kinds of fruit. And the leaves of this tree are for the healing of nations: for the healing of nations—no HMOs; no co-pay policies; no troop deployments; no suicide bombers; no coercion by violence, no threats of domination. Just pluck the leaves of the tree and be healed. It is a new kind of healing. It is a new kind of reconciliation. It is a new kind of health care delivery system. It is a new kind of Peace. It is God’s own Shalom. What a marvelous vision!

When Jesus says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you,” he is commissioning us to be those who bring this vision of God’s Shalom to all people and to all the nations. In giving us this parting gift, Jesus invites us to bathe in this river that flows through the New Jerusalem.

Do we come here today to bathe in this river bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb?
Lydia does. She who sells purple cloth, expensive, royal, purple cloth, sold only to those who can afford it. Our lesson from Acts this morning tells us about Lydia who is a successful merchant. Lydia and the women of Philippi are down by the river at a “place of prayer” outside the gates of the city.

God opens Lydia’s heart, just as we pray for God to open our hearts. Yes, Lydia’s heart is opened, and Paul helps God to pour in this love. Lydia and the women welcome this foreign missionary who interrupts their prayers and shares with them the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They are baptized in the river. Lydia and her entire household are baptized.

This is significant because Lydia is the first European to be baptized. Lydia’s may be the first gentile house, that is non-Jewish, that Paul has ever entered. Paul had read the Bible and had been taught to avoid any contact with people like Lydia. Paul had been instructed and believed he should bar the gates and shut off the flow of the water of life to any and all gentiles. Paul had been taught not to be seen in public with women, let alone gentile women.

So Paul is making a leap of faith. Paul is entering into a life of Shalom, God’s peace that passes all understanding. Contrary to custom, Paul is welcomed into Lydia’s household. Thus, Lydia makes a leap of faith in offering this Jewish missionary the hospitality of her home.

All distinctions of clean and unclean, acceptable and unacceptable are passing away. Healing is indeed taking place, down by the river. God is doing new things through Paul and Lydia. This healing and these new things exceed all that we can desire or even imagine!

All of this comes about because Paul has a dream, a vision. He imagines he can go to Macedonia. He goes expecting to find a man there, but surprise: he finds Lydia. And as a result, the world is changed down by the River of the Water of Life.

Down by the river of the water of life, all things are possible. It is even possible that we, too, can be changed. We, too. can lay aside long held assumptions, preconceptions and prejudices. Like Paul, we too can lay aside old understandings of the Bible that limit God’s love and power. Like Paul we too can have the vision to go to people beyond the four walls of our church, beyond the boundaries of our community, beyond state lines, beyond the United States of America, and let God’s ways be known upon the earth, God’s saving health among all nations.

We may notice the location of all this activity: Jerusalem and Macedonia, two pieces of God’s real estate still under dispute and heated contention. We are invited to imagine God’s Shalom, God’s peace, even in such violent places as Jerusalem and Macedonia.

 We are those people who can imagine all of this and more because we have these stories. Paul and Lydia had to be frightened to death to be breaking with all convention. Lydia is baptized only because she and Paul were able to suspend their understanding of what their cultures and the Bible had taught them. They were willing to  suspend all the rules, regulations, and customs that governed their world in order that God’s greater Shalom might rule.

They had to let go and sing the new song God was calling them to sing. And they had to open their hearts and minds to see everything in a new light. That light is the light of the Lamb. John of Patmos in the book of Revelation imagines a day when “the nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring it glory.”

Don’t be fooled, though, Paul and Lydia were not extraordinary people. They were just like us. Can we imagine all of this and more? Can we see ourselves opening our hearts and minds to strangers? Can we imagine old hurts and old wounds being healed by the banks of the river of the city of God? Can we open our hearts to let the Light of Christ shine into all its dark corners and drive all fear and anxiety from our midst? Can we allow ourselves to be drawn closer and deeper into the world of God’s Shalom?

Jesus wants to give us all of this. Jesus wants to give us all of this and more than we can either desire or imagine. Listen as he calls us: My own Shalom I give to you; I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. Peace I leave with you. It is yours to have and to give to the rest of the world. Amen.

And now, may the peace which passes all understanding keep our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

© Laura E. Gentry 2007