Peace on Earth

In Luke 2:14, a sky full of angels proclaim Jesus’s birth to shepherds tending their flocks with a hymn,

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

Looking forward to this moment, the prophet Isaiah (9:6) wrote,

“For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given;
and the government shall be uponhis shoulder,
    and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

Through his incarnation, his life, death, and resurrection, Jesus came to bring peace.

     Peace between one another.

     Peace between people and God.

At this point in the story we may collectively appreciate the sentiment, but what we think of when we imagine such earthly peace might be worlds away from the imaginings of others.

To be at peace may be to set aside conflict, but Martin Luther King, Jr. saw two competing visions of peace in the world around him, comparing “a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice.”  In the second, King recognized the peace of Jesus.

Jesus didn’t identify himself with the comfortable, the wealthy, or the powerful, but with “the least of these.”

Peace on Earth is,

Peace to the suffering.

Peace to the refugee.

Peace to the poor.

Peace to the exploited.

Peace to the sick.

Peace to the starving.

Peace to the homeless.

Peace to those cowering from bullets and bombs.

And that means,

Justice to the suffering.

Justice to the refugee.

Justice to the poor.

Justice to the exploited.

Justice to the sick.

Justice to the starving.

Justice to the homeless.

Justice to those cowering from bullets and bombs.

Justice is the world made right.  And the peace of God is the peace of a healed world.

This is no mere sentiment.  The peace the angels proclaimed wasn’t meant only for a night in Bethlehem but to go out to all people.  In the Gospel of Matthew (5:9), Jesus tells his disciples,

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” 

This Christmastime let us hear the angelic hymn and go forth as instruments of justice and divine peace.