Scripture Reflection, December 2: A Vision of Peace

Scripture Readings:

Isaiah 2: 1-5
Psalm 122
Romans 13: 11-14
Matthew 24: 37-44

The meeting with Mideast leaders that took place in Annapolis this week has been at the forefront of the news in recent days. There seems to be a flicker of hope in the midst of the ongoing tension and violence in Palestine and Israel. We can only hope that the pledge made by Ehud Olmert and Mahmoud Abbas to conclude a treaty by the end of 2008 will be fulfilled. The land traversed by Jesus thirsts for peace.

Every time I listen to the reading from Isaiah for this First Sunday of Advent, I am brought back to a personal experience of visiting the land of Israel. I was blessed to spend a semester in Israel in the fall of 1982, during the time that I was a seminarian.  It was a very tense time there because Israel had invaded southern Lebanon in an attempt to stem the tide of guerilla attacks from the other side of the border. Tragically, there had already been quite a bit of bloodshed, especially in two Lebanese refugee camps where many Palestinians had been brutally killed.

One day our group traveled by bus to the north of Israel to a small town named Metullah. Near Metullah, right at the border separating Israel and Lebanon, there is a monument to peace called “The Good Fence.” There is an engraved stone there with the words of this poetic passage from Isaiah on it: “They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; one nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again. O house of Jacob come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!”

As our bus traveled up the two-lane highway toward Metullah that day, in front of us were armored personnel carriers and flatbed truck transporting a tank. Off to the east, we could hear shelling in the Golan Heights. In the midst of that, we got off the bus and walked over to this little memorial to peace. It was a tourist spot that included the usual souvenir stand with various trinkets for sale to visitors. As I stood there and read the words of Isaiah engraved on this lovely monument, I remember feeling a surge of cynicism well up within me. Here we were, visiting this monument and reflecting on Isaiah’s hymn to peace, while the sights and sounds of armed conflict were visible all around us. I remember thinking to myself: these are nice words, but they seem very far from the reality in which we are living.

I reflected on that experience during the hours and days after our tour bus pulled away from Metullah. It was certainly true that this great vision of peace was very remote from the reality of that situation of deadly conflict. One could be tempted to think of Isaiah’s words as nice poetry, but nothing more. But as I continued to reflect on this scene, it struck me that even in times of violence and darkness we need to keep that vision before our eyes. Perhaps it is especially during times of conflict and darkness that we need to allow the vision of peace and justice that is depicted in the Scriptures to offer us hope and to guide the ways in which we act.

This Sunday, as we listen to these same words of Isaiah in early December of 2007, our initial reaction to those words might also be tinged with a bit of cynicism. Our nation seems to be mired in the ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. The email messages I receive from my nephew, who is serving in Afghanistan, are weekly reminders to me of the insidious power of hatred and violence in our world. Some of the scenes that he describes there are quite chilling. Perhaps Isaiah’s vision of peace might sound like only a fantasy to us.

It is, however, precisely at such times that we are most in need of this vision. It is at these moments that we need to pay special heed to Jesus’ command in the Gospel to “stay awake” – to be on the watch for the fullness of Christ’s coming. We need to keep this vision before our eyes in times of international conflict and war, in moments of inner conflict and darkness in our personal lives, in situations of tension and strain with our loved ones, in times when our families are struggling to get along and stay together.  It has been said that people who suffer from depression experience an impoverishment of the imagination. They have a difficult time envisioning a reality that would be different from the one in which they feel imprisoned. In order to recover from depression, they must be enabled to see other possibilities, to envision alternative scenarios that are hopeful. That is really true for all of us. In order to keep hope alive, we must be able to envision new, life-giving possibilities. The Scriptures offer us that vision when they speak to us about the fullness of the reign of God.

In the (alternative) Opening Prayer for this Sunday’s liturgy we pray: “Father … increase our longing for Christ our Savior and give us the strength to grow in love, that the dawn of his coming may find us rejoicing in his presence and welcoming the light of his truth.” As we enter into the season of Advent, we are invited by the Lord to keep the vision before our eyes. We need to envision the fullness of the rule of God that was proclaimed and made present by Jesus. This is a reign in which people will not raise the sword against one another. The qualities that mark God’s rule are peace, justice and respect for human dignity. This is the vision of a God who in Jesus draws near to us and who cares for each one of us in a way that exceeds our comprehension.

We are summoned to keep this vision before our eyes not simply so that we might feel better, but so that we might act differently. We need to allow the vision of the reign of God announced by Jesus to guide the way in which we live. Keeping this vision before us impels us to strive to peace and reconciliation in our families, workplace, Church and world. It challenges to face our own resentments and to deal with them in a constructive way, rather than allowing ourselves to become hardened by bitterness. Living by the vision of God’s loving rule also inspires us to “stay awake” – as Jesus teaches in the Gospel reading. We are summoned to remain attentive to the many mysterious ways in which God visits us, in which he makes his presence known to us even in the very ordinary course of our lives.

At the celebration of the Eucharist, we proclaim that the vision of the reign of God, the vision of Isaiah, is not an empty fantasy. We remember that Jesus Christ, in his life, death and resurrection, has triumphed over the powers of sin and death.  When Jesus was violently put to death, God raised him from the dead and thus inaugurated his rule of life and love. Jesus invites us to continue our journey embraced by his presence, keeping the vision before our eyes and acting on that vision. Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!

Robin Ryan, CP