Sermon: Roots of Peace – Second Sunday of Advent (Isaiah 11:1-10)
There is a heated holiday debate that rages each year from offices, bar stools, dinner tables, and on the Internet – especially the Internet. It is a debate about something fundamental to the nature of Christmas. The question is this: Is Die Hard a Christmas movie? For those of you unaware of this controversy, Die Hard is a 1980’s action movie starring Bruce Willis. Willis plays John McLean, a New York police officer who is estranged from his family, who now live in Los Angeles. So, McLean goes to LA to surprise his wife at her office Christmas party. This is where the trouble begins. The attendees at the party becomes hostage to thieves pretending to be terrorists in order to steal a bunch of gold located in the building. Willis’ character spends the rest of the movie fist fighting bad guys, dodging bullets, running over broken glass, and escaping explosions on the way to saving his wife and the other hostages. And all this in an undershirt and no shoes.
That the movie takes place at Christmas is the main and, to some people, only argument for why it is a Christmas movie. Despite the fact that the movie takes place on Christmas Eve and has a few Christmas songs on the soundtrack, many others fall on the side of the argument that says Die Hard is not a Christmas movie. Sure it takes place at Christmastime, but lots of movies do, that does not make them Christmas movies necessarily. It all depends on how Christmas is used. For some movies the holiday can simply be used for the atmosphere, the vibes, but nothing particularly “Christmasy” is happening. While other movies use the Christmas setting for its themes, and if the themes match up, then it is a Christmas movie. For example, It’s A Wonderful Life is considered an all-time classic Christmas movie, and yet, the Christmas-set part of the story only happens in about the last 20-minutes of the movie. However, the themes of finding joy and gratitude in your life and caring for the people around you, line up with the Christmas spirit.
With that in mind, it’s hard to argue for Die Hard as a Christmas movie because it lacks a key theme of the Christmas season: peace. Where is the peace on Earth, or the silent night? An action, thriller movie depends on building tension and then giving that tension a release – usually violently. This principle of tension and release is fundamental to making an action story like Die Hard. So, fundamentally can Die Hard be a Christmas movie? I bring this up because today is the second Sunday of Advent, when we light the Peace candle on our Advent wreath. Today we try and prepare ourselves as we await peace – with ourselves, with others, with the world. The peace that we find in Christ. How do we do that though? How do we prepare ourselves for peace in a tense, stressful, violent world that makes the search for peace so difficult? How do we deal with things that keep us from being at peace? The things that create tension for us?
In Die Hard, that tension is a man who is trying to be with his family for Christmas but is confronted by increasingly dangerous and deadly obstacles. Rather than a moment of peace the holidays can create tension for many of us, as well. Personally, I find a lot of tension and anxiety around gift giving. I just never know what to get people. What might be creating tension for you? An end of year deadline at work, perhaps? Or worrying about family or friends at the holidays? Thinking about how you’ll spend Christmas? Maybe you are one of those people that just doesn’t really like Christmas music, and the fact that you can’t get away from it is causing some tension to build. Could be anything, but, if I were to think of something that makes it almost impossible to feel at peace, the thing I would name is fear. Fear can create that tension that keeps us anxious and worried rather than resting in the peace of Christ. We let that fear motivate us, and this often leads to finding decidedly un-peaceful ways to resolve the tension.
In the passage we heard this morning from Isaiah 11, the prophet is speaking to people experiencing tension and violence. People waiting in fear. The people of Israel had been taken from their home and relocated to Babylon. They were experiencing fear caused by the uncertainty that comes with being in exile. Fear of foreign armies. Fear of the mistakes of the past coming back to bite them, or worse, repeating. They lived in a state of heightened tension, which needed a release. So, Isaiah foretold of a king, a future leader from the house of Jesse – which was the line of King David. A “shoot” that would sprout up from the stump. The spirit of God would be upon this person and peace would begin to grow in their world. This person would be wise, generous, a trusted counselor, strong, righteous, fair-minded, a leader that would “decide with equity for the meek of the earth.” Indeed, these prophesies from Isaiah are the inspiration, and lay the foundation for the hope of the Messiah.
This poem from Isaiah probably qualifies as a Christmas poem. With all of its talk about peace and hopefulness for the future of Israel. Plus, this scripture reading frequently comes up during Advent because Christians associate it with the anticipation of Jesus. Still, even this reading is not devoid of violence that might seem antithetical to the peace of Christmas. Verse 4 of Isaiah chapter 11 says that this ruler the people are hoping for will “strike down the land with the rod of his mouth and slay the wicked with the breath of his lips.” And in Isaiah 10:33-34, the end of the previous chapter, it talks about the invading enemies of Israel being like tall trees that need to be chopped down. Not very peaceful. Another reading that comes up regularly on this 2nd Sunday of Advent is Matthew 3:1-12 when we are introduced to John the Baptist for the first time in Matthew’s Gospel. He calls people a “brood of vipers” and warns that a tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown in to the fire. This is also where he speaks about separating people like wheat and chaff, where the wheat will be gathered in and the chaff will burn with “unquenchable fire.” You know, Christmas stuff.
Furthermore, Isaiah speaks about the fear of the Lord being central to this coming King’s identity. “His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.” Does this also seem a little contradictory? This leader that the people will look to, who will bring about a peaceful kingdom, who will calm their tumultuous lives will fear God. But, wait? Didn’t I just say that fear is that thing that keeps us from being truly at peace. It can be a little confusing, because too often the phrase “fear of God” conjures up images of a wrathful God, a God that judges us harshly, not a peaceful God at all. Many people have experienced a tension in their life -a disruption of peace- caused by the fear that God is this judgmental and wrathful entity, and a fear they are not living the way God expects. So, out of a fear of God people toe the line so as not to anger this version of God. It is hard to live peacefully when we are afraid of our God. Luckily, there is another way to approach this. The Hebrew word that appears as ‘fear’ can also be translated to the word ‘reverence,’ and I believe understanding this as reverence for God, as opposed to being afraid of God, brings us closer to the example that Jesus set for us, and so, closer to God. To be reverent to God is to respect God’s creative power, rather than fear God’s destructive power. To be reverent to God is to find comfort that God is with us, always, on our journey, instead of fearing that God judges every step we take. A God that looks down on humanity with anger and disappointment is a God to be feared. However, a God that so loves the world, that they send their only son to live among us and as one of us, that is a God to be revered.
So, in the birth of Jesus we release the violent tension that comes from fear of a wrathful, punishing, judgmental God by accepting Christ as a sign that what God really wants is to be with us in all times and places and circumstances. In all our human experiences. When Isaiah speaks about this future leader that will bring about a time of peace for Israel, he is talking about someone that is reverent in their relationship with God, because their relationship with God is not one of fear and judgment that requires obedience, but a relationship of peace and love that desires well-being. The example of Christ shows us that to be at peace is to have reverence and relationship with God at the center of our lives. This will help the shoot of peace grow from the stump of our lives.
So, I encourage us today to learn to cultivate these traits of peace in our lives. I use the word cultivate, because you’ll notice that those violent metaphors from our scripture earlier also had to do with nature, gardening, agriculture. Cutting down trees, getting good fruit, harvesting wheat, all so the shoot from the stump of Jesse can grow. After all, you can’t have something new grow from the stump until the old tree is cut down. Peace, does not emerge through comfort but through disruption, pruning, and new growth. That work can be uncomfortable and unpleasant. A garden may require pruning, weeding, and chopping things down so that new growth can break through. Isaiah and John the Baptist knew that this growth was obstructed by oppression and injustice, and that the messiah and all those who seek peace would have to deal with those issues. I’m not saying that the only way to peace is through violence. Not at all. This is not what the author of Isaiah is saying either. However, the way to peace does come through disruption. In a violent world peace can disrupt violence.
Unfortunately, the peace of God is often rejected in favor of power and privilege. The needs of others -especially the poor- are overlooked in pursuit of that power and privilege. So, we still deal with oppression and injustice. However, we also live in a world that desires to grow toward peace and well-being. So, the tension of that conflict can grow until it needs a release, which sometimes happens by violence. We see this tension rising in our society, perhaps in our own lives. How do we release the tension in a peaceful manner? We can remember the words of Isaiah and deal with problems with wisdom and knowledge, righteousness and equity for all God’s children. We can cultivate qualities of peaceful, Biblical leadership within ourselves and others, because the ideal ruler that Isaiah is describing here is not a warrior, but a wise and peaceful counselor, who sees truth and deals with people fairly. So, for us to be grounded in the spirit and to grow in these qualities of peace we may have to resolve some tensions. Either by overcoming obstacles or by pruning away, perhaps letting go, of those things that prevent new growth and peace – perhaps even an image of God that causes fear and anger and tension.
So, is Die Hard a Christmas movie? Well, I cannot deny that it does lack the peace that Christmas calls us to. There is violence and I would understand anyone who wanted to leave behind that kind of movie as a way of promoting peace in their own life. Having said that, I might be close to convincing myself that it is a Christmas movie. After all, the film ends with John McLean bloodied and bruised, but reunited with his family as the sun comes up on Christmas morning. The tension created by this man’s separation from his family and his attempts to get back to them, despite all the life-threatening obstacles put up before him, is paid off in this moment. The tension is released as he finds his way to a moment of peace with his loved ones. Through the experience he has learned the importance of being there and caring for his family. Very Christmasy. The problem is, he has to learn this same lesson again in the next movie, and the next one, and the next, and so on. His status quo doesn’t change very much form film to film.
Christmas, however, is about the birth of Jesus changing the world. The shoot from the stump of Jesse’s line sprouts and grows to show us a new way of living that is marked by peace for God’s creation. It’s not the same world of oppression, injustice, and violence people have come to know. As the prophet says, it is a world where the wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the calf, and the lion will eat straw like an ox. The very nature of things will change. Peace will be possible, even where there was none. Let us continue this advent to make a way for the Prince of Peace. Amen.