“Stand Firm!”
March 13, 2022
Dear brothers and sisters, grace and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.
It was about this time last month, four years ago, that I was privileged to visit Israel. It was an experience that either changed or confirmed my life, my worldview, my spiritual direction, my understanding of my purpose, and understanding of what it means to be a Christian. One of the things about Israel is that there is a church on every nearly site traditionally connected with the life or ministry of Jesus mentioned in the Gospels. One particular one is located on one of the hills of Jerusalem, and is actually connected with today’s Gospel reading. It is known as the Church of Dominus Flevit, which in Latin means, “the Lord is crying.”
This is the view from the church courtyard overlooking the city. Traditionally, this is the place where Jesus overlooked the city and wept over it, because it was the city which, even during the time of the prophet Jeremiah, whom we hear about in today’s First Reading, had continually rejected the messages, and messengers, of God, sent to it to encourage its people to repent, to turn away from sin, and turn back to God. It was a city that was almost continually in trouble and lacking peace, because its people, especially its kings, kept trying to go their own direction, especially by worshipping false gods, instead of listening to and following the one true God. Even today, for various reasons, Jerusalem remains a city lacking peace.
One of the most poignant images I found while looking for things to photograph at the Dominus Flevit Church was this barbed wire and wall, which actually serves as an image for how parts of Jerusalem are: different areas are actually divided by barbed wire, mostly to separate human beings from inflicting violence on each other. It is also an image which illustrates today’s world: a world divided, a world separated, a world at war. A city over which Jesus continues to weep, a world over which Jesus continues to weep.
The world today lacks complete peace, because there are still many who have rejected Jesus and His message of peace. Today, Jesus still continues to weep over the world, because there are many who have rejected Him and the peace He has to offer. He loves this world and all the people in it, and so, just as He did in the past, He hurts and He suffers when His love is rejected. Just as we are heartbroken when the love we offer someone is either rejected or abused, Jesus is also heartbroken whenever the love He offers is rejected. Just as we are also hurt when someone refuses or rejects something good we have to offer them, especially something that will help them, Jesus also hurts. And so, because people continue to reject Him, He continues to weep. He genuinely hurts because we choose to hurt each other and be at war.
And we are at war. But we are largely at war because of an unseen enemy: the devil. As we talked about last week, the devil remains a reality, and continues to sow temptation in the world. We are also at war because we live in a world that is at war with itself. And the reason this world is at war with itself is because, much like back in the past, many people have chosen to reject Jesus. Many people have chosen to reject the offer of peace that comes through following Jesus which Jesus offers all people. This is why war is currently taking place between Ukraine and Russia, why innocent people are being chased out of their homes and forced to flee for their lives, why conflict continues in other parts of the world, why division takes place in society, why robberies and murders continue to happen, why relationships between people break down, and why mistrust and suspicion continues to run rampant. All because people have rejected Jesus’ offer of peace, peace that comes from trusting and following Him. Trusting and following Him means accepting His encouragement to live in peace and cooperation with each other, to seek what is best for each other’s well-being, and to build up and defend the lives and reputations of each other. To turn away from Jesus, to reject His offer of peace, to reject trusting and following Him to live in peace with others, means being at war.
However, in saying we are at war, we are to be careful. It is easy for us to try to lay the blame for being at war on a specific person, or a group of people. It is easy for us to try to divide ourselves into “us” and “them,” and insist that we are always in the right, and the other people are the enemy. We are not to look at each other as being the enemy. It is a temptation to want to call out other people for doing what we think is wrong or sinful. But it is unfair and unjust to do so, because when we do so, we are putting ourselves in the position of judge, trying to justify ourselves by pointing out what we think is wrong with other people. When we point fingers in accusation against other people, especially to try to make ourselves look better than other people, we are putting up a false image, both of ourselves and other people, and failing to realize that we are actually all the same. When we do so, we also fail to realize that many of the things we accuse other people of doing are actually things which we ourselves do. We are to realize that we are all equally responsible for falling into temptation. We too, along with many others, have rejected Jesus. We have rejected the peace Jesus offers us that comes from trusting Him and following Him, and as a result, we all lack the peace we need. We are all included in the “they” which St. Paul talks about in today’s Second Reading, whose god is the belly, and whose glory is in the shame with our minds set on earthly things. We too continually struggle with having our minds be set on earthly things, because we are tempted to focus on those things which are turning us away from God and keeping us from trusting Him. These are especially things that are causing us to doubt God, or things that are causing us to give into our fleshly nature, such as anger at ourselves or other people, hatred, a desire to dominate or control other people, or a desire to destroy other people. We are to realize that we are as much responsible for causing our suffering ourselves as other people are. We are also to realize further that we are all equally struggling together against temptation all the time, and that we are all just as equally easily able to fall into temptation at any time. So our approach is never to point fingers at other people and accuse them of being sinners because of falling into temptation, because we can just as easily have fingers pointed in accusation at us, because we too have fallen into many of the same temptations. We are among the many who, at some point or other, have rejected Jesus.
Yet, even though there are many who have rejected Jesus, He continues to offer Himself freely. He continues to offer Himself to us freely. As He says in today’s Gospel reading, even though there are many people who still want to drive Him away, even the rulers of nations, He continues to offer Himself to all people. He continues to offer His healing, His peace, His comfort, His love, to all people. He continues to offer an alternative to suffering that comes from trying to go in the opposite of God’s leading and direction. He continues to preach His Word, the truth of His love, care, and concern for all people, even if it is rejected. Even though Jesus’ heart is broken whenever His love is rejected, He continues to offer His love freely and abundantly to all people – even to people who reject Him and break His heart. Jesus still remains available to change the hearts of minds of anyone who causes war and bloodshed. Jesus still remains available to change the hearts and minds of anyone who chooses to cause hatred and division. Jesus still remains available to change the hearts and minds of anyone chooses to destroy other people’s lives. Jesus still remains available to change the hearts and minds of those who want to accuse and judge other people. Jesus remains persistent in calling us to repent, to turn away from those things which are keeping us from living the life God wants us to live, especially in relationship with other people. He is just as persistent in showing love to all people, especially to us, and freeing us from all those things which are keeping us from living a live of peace. So much so that He sacrificed His life on the cross to free us from the power of temptation, sin, and the devil over us, so the sins which we have committed as a result of falling into temptation could be forgiven, and then rising again to show us that a better life, a better alternative, awaits us. He took all the hurts, heartbreaks, and sadnesses we caused Him to suffer, took them all to the cross, and cleansed them away by His blood. He caused everything we inflicted on Him to disappear by cleansing them away with His blood. This is the good news: that even though we have all fallen into temptation, and have equally chosen to be at war with the life God wants for us, and with each other, we are forgiven. Jesus’ blood has cleansed away all the hurts, pains, and sufferings we have caused ourselves to suffer, and have caused each other to suffer. We are free from having to live such a life, because Jesus has freed us to live a life of peace – peace that comes from living the life of trusting in God and His direction for us, which means living in peace with each other. In a world which continues to remain at war, we have a higher purpose: to be people of peace. We are, as St. Paul encourages us, to remember that we are citizens of a better world, the Kingdom of Heaven. And as citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, we are to remember that the Kingdom of Heaven is not somewhere far away, but it is right here among us, right now. We are the Kingdom of Heaven. In the Kingdom of Heaven, all people live together in peace and cooperation with each other, because all people are under the rule of God who desires peace and cooperation among all people. And as the Kingdom of Heaven, we are not only to model this for the rest of the world, but we are to be active in being the means God is using to change the world to be one of peace. Just as we are being changed by Jesus, we are to become agents of change for the world. Just as Jesus remains available to change the hearts and minds of those who want to continue to cause war, hurt, and division, we are to be available to be agents of change, to work to change the attitude of war, hurt, and division that persists today.
And it starts here with us: first, we are to ask Jesus to change us. We are to admit that whenever we choose to hurt ourselves, or hurt each other, we are hurting Jesus. We are to admit that whenever we choose to reject Jesus’ love, or cause other people to reject Jesus’ love, we are hurting Jesus. But then we are to remember that Jesus took all the hurts we inflicted on Him, all the heartbreaks and sadness we have caused Him to suffer, and has cleansed them all away, caused them all to disappear by His blood. We are forgiven for all the hurts and sufferings we have caused. We are then to believe that because we are forgiven, we are free from the hurts, the sufferings we have done to ourselves, or others have done to us. We are to remember that Jesus loves us, and wants the best for us, and others. We are then to ask Jesus to help us no longer hurt ourselves and others, but instead to live in peace and cooperation with each other, and to seek each other’s healing and well-being. We are then to stand firm in this purpose: that we are to work to bring peace into our lives and the lives of other people; to bring healing and comfort to all those who are suffering, including ourselves; and to bring peace and unity to a divided world. We are to stand firm in our purpose to live a higher way: to be the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Peace.
Now may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
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