Pastor Tom Johnson, November 27, 2022
It’s a sad commentary. History measures our progress by the advancement of technology for warfare: the Stone Age with sharp stone arrows and spear heads, the Bronze Age with it’s even stronger and sharper instruments of death along with the advent of the sword. The Iron Age brought an even superior metal. But it doesn’t stop there. So much technology was developed to increase the efficiency in taking human life: steel made guns and cannons possible, Newtonian physics led to explosive missiles, Einstein’s E=MC2 led to the atomic bomb.
I know from talking to many of you, how much heartbreak and despair we have at the news of another mass shooting. A mass shooting can be defined by the shooting of four or more people excluding the shooter. There has been 607 mass shootings in the United States this year alone. Lord, have mercy. There has been about 1,000 shooting incidents in New York City this year alone. The same alarming rate of gun violence can be seen in other major cities across the United States and all over the world. It’s even increasing at an alarming rate in countries that have never seen such violence such as Sweden and Japan. In the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, it is estimated that 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers and 100,000 Russian soldiers have been killed. It is estimated that 40,000 civilians have been killed. Lord, have mercy.
How do we as God’s people respond to such violence? What can you and I do about this? Is there any action we can take? Does the Bible have anything to say? It just so happens that today we have powerful Scripture to bring us light and hope. In our Gospel reading, Jesus tells us to stay awake—to live mindfully—to be ready and alert to when he comes again. As we live in expectation of the Prince of peace, we are called to “put on the Lord Jesus and make no provision for the flesh.” We are to be imitators of God. Like Jesus, we are to pray for our enemies. Our Psalm calls us to pray for the peace and quietness of God’s people and to “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.” “The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective,” Scripture says (James 5:16b). It’s not just an ornament in our worship or an optional part of our lives. We need prayer. This world needs our prayers. One of the great stories of our time is how prayer finds its way to places of devastation because of the Comfort Dogs.
Last week, I was looking at pictures from the Colorado nightclub shooting on CNN’s website. One was of a woman holding another distraught woman. Her patch had the Lutheran Church Charities comfort dog logo. In another picture, you can see hearts with victims’ names on them made by the same Lutheran ministry. Religious organizations are not normally allowed to come and pray with victims. But the dogs and their handlers open the door so that people in need can receive the emotional and spiritual support in their time of need. When we pray, “Come, Lord Jesus,” we pray that his Kingdom would hurry up and come. We pray that his Kingdom promises would come in our time. And so it does through prayer, the Word of God, the gifts of God, and the love of Christ’s disciples. We put on the Lord Jesus, who is the Prince of Peace.
In the United Nations Plaza in New York City, there is a large sculpture of a man with a hammer. The sword he is holding is being transformed into a plowshare. This was a gift from the Soviet Union in 1959. It’s entitled, “Let us beat swords into plowshares”—inspired by Isaiah chapter 2. Several months ago, Elizabeth and I had lunch with a retired pastor and his wife. The wife talked about how much she enjoys hammering guns into garden tools even in her 70’s. She does this with a ministry called Swords to Plowshares.
Our reading from Isaiah gives a vision of peace Jesus brings to the world. “Nation will not lift up sword against nation; neither shall they learn war any more.” “They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks.” There will be a global transformation of weapons into farm tools. A hot fire will soften the metal so it softens. They will pound sword into plowshares that break up the soil to plant life-giving seed. They will hammer spear-tips into a sickle-like shape to prune the vines and trees so that they yield more fruit. Instead of being instruments of death, they are now tools for sustaining and increasing life. This is not just a promise for the future. God reconciles us and the world to himself. As God’s people we have received a ministry of reconciliation. Our work is to point to Jesus who brings peace which the world cannot give.
But this re-purposing of metal is the result of an even more radical transformation. The fire of the Holy Spirit softens our minds and hearts. The hammer of God’s Word reshapes our minds of metal and hearts of stone. God “creates in us a new heart and renews a right spirit within us” (Ps 51). Before we beat swords into plowshares, God the potter must first pound us lumps of clay. He molds and shapes us into his vessels of peace, love, and good news. This is the Gospel: God transforming instruments of death into instruments for life.
One of the most cruel instruments of death is the Roman cross. It was designed to prolong the agony and pain of the one condemned. To make sure he was dead, the soldier pierced Jesus with a spear. Out of him flowed blood and water. It appeared to be the beating down and defeat of Jesus of Nazareth. It appeared to hammer the one who claimed to be King down into the dust. But Christ’s death was instead the crushing of evil which pulverized our sin and even death itself. Jesus beat the cross, the nails, and the spear into instruments of peace and life by his precious and innocent body and blood. He rose triumphantly to life on the third day to show that he has won the war for humanity though battles still go on.
And so we pray, Come, Lord Jesus. Come, beat swords into plowshares, spears into pruning hooks, guns into garden tools, missiles of destruction into rockets for space exploration, atom bombs into clean nuclear energy, disputed gang turf into community gardens. Come, remake our hearts of stone into hearts of flesh, our wayward souls into children of God, our guilt into forgiveness, our shame into joy, and our self-centered lives into vessels for your glory. And so we pray, “Even so. Amen, come Lord Jesus.”
No comments:
Post a Comment