A Different Kind of Peace: A Sermon for 4 Pentecost, Proper 9

Today’s Gospel lesson is a direct continuation from last week’s story, where Jesus “set his face towards Jerusalem,” which is the turning point in Luke’s gospel. In last week’s story, Jesus sent some messengers ahead of him to a Samaritan village, to recruit more disciples for the journey that lay ahead. For some reason, those messengers didn’t fare too well. James and John’s reaction was to propose that they “command fire to come down from heaven” to destroy that Samaritan village. After all, that is the sort of thing that Elijah was known to do back in the day. But Jesus rebuked them for proposing such a violent response.

So in today’s continuation of the story, Jesus doubles down on his efforts to recruit more laborers for the upcoming harvest. But he also realized that perhaps he needed to do some more coaching before he sent the messengers “like lambs in the midst of wolves” to the nearby villages. In preparing them for their daunting – even dangerous - task, Jesus focused on two things: peace and hospitality. The first thing he commanded them to say to people upon entering their home was “Peace to this house.” In other words, we come bearing peace, not hostility.

 But we must remember, in that context, “peace” was a loaded term. The peace that Jesus spoke of was not the sort of peace that these villagers and townspeople were accustomed to. As a people who lived in an occupied territory under of Roman rule, they were used to hearing of the “Pax Romana” – or the Peace of Rome. As theologian Amy Allen points out, this sort of peace was imposed upon the people of occupied territories, and was “the promise of peace through the subjugation of lands. Roman armies traveled from place to place conquering smaller powers and ushering in protection and hopes for prosperity in exchange for tribute [to Caesar] and obedience. The spoils of their campaigns brought material and cultural wealth to the Roman center, while leaving the townspeople in the subject lands to pay the price.” So it is no wonder that townspeople were a little salty when outsiders came in. They were used to being pillaged, robbed, and looted by occupying forces in return for protection and “peace.”

 Jesus, on the other hand, was ushering in the Kingdom of God, which embodied a new sort of peace – a peace that passes all understanding, logic, or reason. In Amy Allen’s words, “It was not a peace won on the backs of commoners and soldiers, it is not a peace reserved for the wealthy, nor a peace through destruction or death. The peace that Jesus’ apostles bring to each town is a peace of life.”

 And one way that Jesus instructed his messengers to embody this sort of peace was related to how they graciously received hospitality. When we think of hospitality, particularly as it relates to Christianity, we think of it being something that those who have something offer to those who do not. It could be something critical like food or shelter or something like a warm welcome at church or an invitation to share a meal in your home. In all of these cases, on one level or another, there is a sort of power differential – even if momentary - between those who offer hospitality and those who receive it.

What Jesus was instructing his messengers to do was first of all, to be aware of the power dynamics at play. They needed to remember that the townspeople they would encounter were accustomed to people with power coming in and asserting it over them. Therefore, they needed to be sensitive to this dynamic, and one way of doing this would be to clearly put themselves in the position of receiving the hospitality of those whose houses they visited. Arrive bearing peace, and in need of food and shelter. Allow the villagers to choose whether or not they will receive you. Don’t pack a bag for the journey - allow the villagers to decide how long you can stay. Don’t bring food – allow the villagers to decide what you eat, and how much, and when. As a matter of fact, the only thing that Jesus told them to bring was his peace, which was embodied by a willingness to enter into new relationships by being gracious recipients of others’ hospitality.  

Interestingly, we don’t hear whether or not these 70 or so messengers were successful in recruiting any new laborers to help with the harvest. But we do hear that they were successful in casting out demons, and when they reported it to Jesus, they were filled with joy. In the verse immediately following today’s passage, it says that “at that same hour, Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit…and said to his disciples, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.”

Jesus seemed to rarely get excited about the work that he and his followers were doing. He was usually so focused on what was next, or offering correctives to his disciples, or responding to Pharisees who were trying to entrap him, that he didn’t have much time to rejoice and celebrate.

But the end of this story depicts Jesus at perhaps his most joyful moment recorded in Luke’s gospel. It seems to me that Jesus felt like this might have been a critical “ah-hah” moment for his disciples as they had now turned their faces towards Jerusalem. They were able to experience the fruits of relational, peace-bearing ministry, even in hostile territory. By bringing with them life, relationship, and a gracious willingness to receive hospitality, they were making the space for God’s healing power to take place. This sort of the peace, the peace of God’s kingdom, brought life and healing, not death and plunder like the Pax Romana. And the fact that his disciples and 70+ messengers experienced this glimpse of the kingdom of God brought Jesus great joy.

So much of our own work here at Christ the King involves our efforts to offer hospitality to those who enter into our midst. And that is a good thing. There is much in the Bible that invites us to practice this sort of hospitality. But what might it look like for us to also go out into the community and beyond, looking for ways to be recipients of others’ hospitality as a means for developing relationships and bearing God’s peace? A group of us did that a while ago when we attended a potluck at the Bay County Islamic Center, and it was an amazing experience. Others from our parish have visited the Senior Center just up the road, not bearing gifts, but rather, just to be present with the seniors there on their own  turf so to speak. Our parishioners who have gone to Zihuatanejo, Mexico and Haiti have reported that the hospitality they received from the locals was far more than they ever could have offered. God’s grace, peace, and healing power gets unleashed in the most surprising contexts, and most often when and where those who are typically the ones with the power and resources are the recipients of hospitality from those who aren’t accustomed to being in a position of blessing others with the gift of hospitality. And as Jesus pointed out to his disciples, it is the shifting of power - grounded in peace - that causes “Satan to fall from heaven like a flash of lightning, and for our names to be written in heaven.” Let us continue to seek ways to share God’s peace and healing grace with others by developing relationships beyond our walls in our community and beyond.