Peace on earth is not what most people think

Sermon for Christmas 2

1 Peter 4:12-19  +  Matthew 2:13-23

Merry 12^th day of Christmas! Although today’s Scripture readings are anything but merry. On this 2^nd Sunday of Christmas, the Church’s readings force us to confront the truth of Christ head on, in the terrible story of King Herod’s murderous rage against the children of Bethlehem. And, strangely, it all has to do with the true meaning of “peace on earth.”

On the night Jesus was born, the angels sang, Glory to God in the highest places, and peace on earth, goodwill to men! Christmas song after Christmas song asks for, and sometimes promises, peace on earth. It’s what we all want. It’s what God Himself wants!

In a sense, God wants the same kind of peace that most people want. Most people want peace among men, so that there is no more fighting, no more war, no more violence, no more hatred, no more arguing, no more taking advantage of one another, no more broken marriages and broken families, no more stealing—peace, meaning the absence of those things and a state of calm, a state of safety and security for everyone. The truth is, God has always wanted those things on earth. But mankind, right from the beginning, chose a different path, leading inevitably to a different future. And that’s not God’s fault. The fact is, Jesus didn’t come to bring that kind of peace on earth. He once said, Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword.

Now, because of that, many throughout history have asked the question, “Wouldn’t it have been better if Jesus hadn’t come?” Honestly, if this life is all there is, if all that matters is how well your life goes for you here on earth, then, yes, it would have been better if He hadn’t come. Not that there would have been peace on earth if Jesus hadn’t come; just look at the world leading up to the flood, or leading up to Jesus’ birth. Look at the Aztecs, or the Communists, or other pagans to see how “peacefully” men live apart from the true God. But in some ways, life on earth would have been better if Jesus hadn’t been born, because life on earth is actually more difficult for many, and, in some cases, more violent because Jesus came. The children of Bethlehem whom we heard about in the Gospel probably wouldn’t have been slaughtered as infants if Jesus hadn’t been born. It’s not that He ever calls upon His Christians to be the aggressors. Quite the opposite! But His birth, His coming (and also the preaching of His Word) triggers many non-Christians, causing them to become even more violent than they already are. That’s exactly what we see in King Herod in today’s Gospel.

The Gospel begins with the departure of the wise men (whose visit we’ll consider in a few days) and with a warning from an angel of God to Joseph, to get up in the middle of the night, take Mary and baby Jesus, and flee out of the land of Israel to Egypt, because King Herod was going to try to kill their Son. So Joseph, the faithful guardian, got up and did exactly as he was told.

Meanwhile, recall that King Herod in Jerusalem had ordered the wise men to return and report back to him in Jerusalem after they found the newborn King of the Jews in Bethlehem. But they were warned by God not to go back to Herod. So when Herod realized that the wise men had bypassed Jerusalem on their way home, he was very angry, and he sent forth and executed all the children who were in Bethlehem and in all its vicinity, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined precisely from the wise men.

Unspeakable horror. Unspeakable evil. The slaughter of all those little children. Why did Herod want to kill Jesus in the first place? Because the wise men had called Him the “King of the Jews,” and the priests identified him as the Christ. And so Herod saw Him as a rival, someone who might deprive him of his power, someone around whom the people might rally in order to depose Herod from his throne. If only that horrible man had known how Jesus would actually live, what Jesus would one day confess openly before Pontius Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world.” He didn’t come to set up an earthly kingdom. He didn’t come (the first time) to depose a single ruler from his throne, or to change over a single government of the world. He didn’t come to rally anyone against any king, or to inspire His followers to take over the reins of government, either. He came to bring people into a different kind of kingdom. But Herod was greedy for power and paranoid, callous and spiteful. So he had no qualms about murdering all the baby boys, two years old and younger, in that whole vicinity of Bethlehem, just to insure that Jesus would be erased from existence.

Now, it’s true, God could have stopped him. As it was, God caused Herod to die a very painful death not long after this incident. He could have struck Herod down sooner, before he carried out this murder. But that isn’t how God usually works. He doesn’t snap His fingers and rid the world of evil men and the violence they choose to engage in. Instead, He uses their evil and turns it to good for those who love Him.

How could this slaughter be good for anyone, especially for the children of Bethlehem? Well, again, that depends on your perspective. If you view this life as all there is, and having a good, long, happy life here on earth as the ultimate goal of mankind, then no good resulted for those children or for their families or for anyone else from this terrible slaughter.

But what if this life isn’t all there is? And what if having a good, long, happy life here on earth isn’t the goal of our existence? What if this life is just a brief staging ground for eternal life? And, what if the slaughter of those children helped pave the way for Jesus to accomplish what He had to accomplish for the salvation of mankind?

We have every reason to believe that those little boys who were members of the Church of Israel died as little believers in the God of Israel, even as Jesus spoke of the children who were brought to Him as believing in Him, and “of such is the kingdom of God.” And so, although their part in the “stage” of this life was brief, it wasn’t the end for them. They will be raised from the dead with all believers on the Last Day to spend eternity with God in the life that is truly life. A long, happy life here on earth is by no means a prerequisite for enjoying that better and eternal life.

But what was essential, so that any of us could enjoy that life, was preserving the life of baby Jesus, who had not yet accomplished most of the things that had yet to be accomplished in order for Him to earn our salvation and to become our King. He had to live another 30 years or so under the Law, without sin. He had to be tempted as we are and defeat temptation. He had to teach and preach about God and sin and salvation. He had to heal the sick, and cast out demons, and raise the dead. He had to suffer and die on the cross for the sins of the world, and rise again on the third day, and sit down at the right hand of God, and send out His apostles and their successors to evangelize the world and build His kingdom over the next 2,000 years.

But before He could do any of that, He had to flee to Egypt and then be called back to the land of Israel, in fulfillment of prophecy, and in fulfillment of His role as the Son of God, who took over for Israel in living under the Law. That’s what it means when Matthew applies Hosea’s prophecy to Jesus, which was first fulfilled when God brought the people of Israel out of Egypt, but which was now being fulfilled again when God called His Son out of Egypt, back to the land of Israel. Even the deaths of the children were recorded ahead of time in prophecy, as Matthew quotes the prophet Jeremiah, who foresaw Rachel weeping over her children, because Rachel, the wife of Jacob, had died in childbirth right there in same vicinity of Bethlehem some 1800 years earlier.

So, peace on earth doesn’t mean what most people think it means or want it to mean. In fact, not only did Jesus and His family have to flee from those who were trying to kill Him, not only did the children of Bethlehem have to die, but listen to what Jesus says to all who would follow Him: He who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.

St. Peter wrote about some of those crosses in today’s Epistle: Beloved, do not be surprised by the fiery ordeal which is taking place among you to test you, as if something strange were happening to you. But rejoice to the extent that you share in Christ’s sufferings, so that you may also be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, blessed are you! For the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part he is blasphemed, but on your part he is glorified. On your part He is glorified. In other words, the Lord Christ is glorified when Christians willingly bear the insults and even the violence of the world for His sake. Because we reveal, by our willingness to suffer for Jesus, that He is a King who is worthy to be followed, even to death, because we have come to know what peace on earth truly means.

What the angels actually meant by “peace on earth” was that, by the birth of Christ, sinners have now been given a path—the only possible path—to have peace with God. Christ is that path. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. It means peace of conscience for all who turn their sins over to Jesus, who bore our sins and now pronounces all believers free from guilt. It means peace with fellow Christians of every race and nation, because we’ve all been brought into the one body of Christ. It means living at peace with the rest of mankind, to the extent that it depends on us. It means seeking to make peace with the rest of mankind by preaching the Gospel and letting our light shine in the world, so that even those who are now our enemies may become our friends for eternity. It means peace in knowing that our God reigns, that we are in His hands, and that all things must work together for our good. And it means peace in knowing that our final and eternal victory over this sin-ravaged world is certain.

So, knowing what “peace on earth” really means, knowing what Jesus actually came to accomplish, rejoice in His peace. Seek it, and you will find it. And, you will find that all the suffering and hardships of this world are worth enduring, for the sake of having the peace of Christ, that surpasses all understanding. Amen.