Dr. Rodney Plunket

For many years the National Geographic Society has given selected teachers and students the opportunity to explore various places in the world.  Just a few months ago two Society staff members were on their way to give three teachers and three students from Washington, D.C., that kind of opportunity.  All the students were 11-year-old sixth graders.  This party of eight was on its way “to participate in a program at the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary near Santa Barbara, California.”[1]  But they never got there.  They were on American Airlines Flight 77; the date was September 11; their plane flew into the side of the Pentagon at about 9:45 AM; they and all the other passengers died.

The December 2001 issue of National Geographic has a brief one-page article entitled, “A Legacy of Hope.”  That article focuses upon the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and it refers to the loss of this party of eight.  I want to share just a few lines from that article:

. . . the terror of September continues to reverberate.  Along with thousands of Americans, hundreds of citizens from 80 nations perished or were reported missing in the flames and rubble.  This was an attack not just on the United States but on the world.  And for many people it transformed the world into a sinister place––a place to suspect, to fear, to shut out.

That article goes on to state that the Society will not give in to the tendency “to withdraw from the world and turn inward . . .”[2]  As a long time reader of National Geographic, I am pleased that the Society will carry on; but I can feel that tendency.  I suspect you can too.  I suspect we can all feel the tendency “to withdraw from the world and turn inward.”  I suspect we can all feel the fear that spread from east to west across our land in the aftermath of 9/11.  And it did not just spread across our land.  This fear is a planetary infection.  It spread across our world.

And fear-generating events did not end on September the 11th.  Reports of potential terrorist attacks are issued all too frequently.  Military personnel continue to perform dangerous work in Afghanistan.  And Afghanistan’s next-door neighbor, Pakistan, has experienced periods of extreme tension with India.  Those periods of tension have created the fear that everything in that region is going to explode making the already difficult task of hunting terrorists more difficult or even impossible.

And some fifteen hundred miles from Afghanistan a virtual war is taking place, a war between the Israelis and the Palestinians.  And that bloody conflict makes the fight against terrorism more difficult while making it easier for terrorist organizations to find willing recruits.  Palestinian teenagers blow themselves up in order to kill Israelis.  Israelis retaliate inciting more suicide bombers.  The cycle goes on, and the global fear continues to be fed

And just when you think that the highest possible number of fear-inducing events has been reached, teenager Robert Steinhäuser kills thirteen teachers, a school secretary, two students, and a policeman in Gutenberg High School before killing himself.  Six other persons were wounded.  It took Robert Steinhäuser only about ten minutes to remind us of the angry evil that courses through our world.  And fear once again seems to tighten its grip as it brings back those awful memories of Columbine that were finally fading.

What would God have the people of God say to a world in the grip of fear?  Certainly there is much in Scripture and there is much we have experienced in our Christian walks that we could proclaim to the nations.  One extremely relevant message from God is the message of Zechariah 9:9-10, the two verses that served as our Scripture reading this morning.  In those two verses the prophet sees a future king coming to Jerusalem.  That king actualizes the teachings of Psalm 33:16-17 which reveal,

A king is not saved by his great army;

      a warrior is not delivered by his great strength.

The war horse is a vain hope for victory,

      and by its great might it cannot save.

Kings were associated with horses, and horses were connected with war.  But the king the prophet sees rides a donkey.  Kings were characteristically fearsome, but this king is gentle.  And what does this king preach?  He “proclaim[s] peace to the nations.”

The Hebrew word brought into English as “peace” is sûaœlo®m.  The problem is that the English word “peace” means little more than the absence of war while the Hebrew word sûaœlo®m conveys “the notions of wholeness, health, and complete­ness . . .”[3]

Centuries after Zechariah, a king did ride into Jerusalem just as Zechariah foretold.  Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey and both the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of John (Matthew 21:5; John 12:15) relate Jesus’ entry to the words of Zechariah.  Jesus is connected, therefore, in both Matthew and John to the one who “proclaims peace to the nations.”

And the peace that Jesus proclaims and gives is distinctive.  In no passage is that made clearer than in John 14:27 when Jesus says,

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.

I suspect that William Klassen is correct when he indicates that Jesus’ statement in this verse is revealing the difference between His peace and the peace that Caesar claimed to bring to the world.  Klassen writes, “Caesar’s peace enforced by violence is not the same as the peace of Christ which derives from his victory over evil through the absorption of suffering.”[4]

The Book of Ephesians powerfully indicates the power of Christ to bring peace.  No division of the ancient world appeared any more intractable than did the division between Jews and Gentiles, i.e., non-Jews, and no New Testament (NT) book says more about the way the message of Jesus creates peace between those two deeply divided groups.  Please listen as I read several of the relevant verses from that letter.

Ephesians (Eph) 1:2––Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Eph 2:14-17––For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us.  He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordi­nances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, and might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it.  So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near;

Eph 4:3––making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Eph 6:15––As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace.

Eph. 6:23––Peace be to the whole community, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Yes, Paul knew the divisions that existed between Jews and Gentiles; but he also knew that the message of Christ could resolve those divisions and produce peace.

Yes, brothers and sisters, we live in divided times today.  Divisions exist between the haves and the have-nots, between the east and the west, between the Muslim and the Jew, between the Christian and the Muslim, between Pakistanis and Indians, between Palestinians and Israelis, between Iraq and Iran, between Iraq and America, between Iran and America, between the Arab world and the non-Arab world, between various ethnic groups in Africa, and between various ethnic groups in South America.  Some people are plagued by their fear of terrorists.  Others are afraid of war.  Some people live right in the midst of war.

We must be about the business of Jesus.  We must be about the business of proclaiming peace to the nations––a peace that breaks down walls, a peace that resolves division, a peace that comes through gentleness and humility, a peace that comes through the active love of Jesus.

We make think that it is the military folk and the diplomatic folk who can do the most about the tensions and fears in our world.  Such a view, in my judgment, is a denial of the message of Jesus.  Real peace is created through a full embrace of the Good News that the apostle Paul, in Eph 6:15, calls “the gospel of peace.”

But what, you might ask, do we say to Christians who receive the Good News of Jesus in the midst of conflict, tension, and fear?  Becoming a Christian does not instantly create change; opposed groups do not immediately begin to get along just because some folks believe in Jesus now.  The NT has much to say about a peace that is real and powerful even in the midst of tense times.  Let me share one statement from Jesus and one from the apostle Paul.  In John 16:33 Jesus says to His apostles, “I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace.  In the world you face persecution.  But take courage; I have conquered the world!”  Jesus refers here to a peace that is real and strong even in the midst of persecution.  It is a peace within that is based upon the fact that Jesus has already won the battle over evil.  There is no way we can lose as long as we keep our faith fixed on Him.  Now listen to the words of Paul.  In Philippians 4:5-7 he writes,

Let your gentleness be known to everyone.  The Lord is near.  Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Paul counsels his readers not to worry about anything.  Their hearts and minds are guarded in Christ Jesus by the peace of God.  That peace is so strong that even in contexts where worry and anxiety might be expected they are to be by everyone as a people of gentleness.

Sisters and brothers, in this fear-filled and tense world we have the Good News.  We have the gospel of peace.

Next week we have the opportunity for that gospel to flow out into the world through us by giving generously to mission special.  Our goal is $97,000.00.  Please spend this week on your knees before God.  Prayerfully decide how much God would have you give.

My wife had a dream the other night.  She dreamed that we made the goal of $97,000 in just one Sunday.  Let’s make that dream come true.

May God fill us all with God’s love for the lost!  May God fill us all with a passion to proclaim peace to the nations!!

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