PEACE ON EARTH

The message of the angels on that first Christmas morning was a message of peace, peace on earth, the whole earth and not simply that part of the earth where the Christ Child was born. The message was – and is – that Jesus was born among us to bring peace to a very divisive and divided world. Yet when we observe our own world, the world of 2012, not much has changed. And there is certainly not peace on earth, far from it.

What happened? Was Jesus a failure? Of course not! Those who failed and who continue to fail are those who profess the name “Christian”. We are the ones, we and our ancestors in the faith, we are the ones who have failed to bring peace on earth. Jesus did not come to bring peace in his own person but, in his own person, came to show us how to bring peace to this world.

Jesus’ “How to” manual was not all that difficult back then and it is not all that difficult today. It has not been updated nor is it out of date, nor was it ever. To bring peace to this world, to have peace on earth, all one need do is follow Jesus’ example, namely, to love everyone all the time. That does not mean that we ignore behavior that is not peaceful, that we do not name sin as sin. Jesus did not and neither should we.

What it does mean is that peace on earth only comes when each one of us lives our lives as Jesus lived his. The reason why there is not peace today is that we have not so lived our lives in such a manner, not since Jesus’ time and not today. The fact that we have not does not mean that living such a life is an impossibility. It simply means that we have not lived such a life.

If nothing else, that should give us pause, especially at this time of the year when the celebration of that angelic annunciation is upon us. While it is easy to look around us, around our world, and note the lack of real peace among nations and among people and bemoan the truth that we have failed to live up to Jesus’ teaching and example both individually and collectively, that is only for starters.

Part of the meaning and message of Christmas as well as that angelic salutation is for each of us to pause for a while and take some serious reflective time to examine our own peace-making responsibilities. Individually we cannot bring peace to this world but we can bring peace to our very small corner of the world. We can live in such a way that we are bearers of peace and not bearers of division.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, “Jesus once said. After observing the world in which we live, someone once added to Jesus’ words: “Blessed are the peacemakers for they will never run out of work to do.” Unfortunately, sadly, the peace on earth the angels proclaimed and that Jesus modeled, that peace will never be a reality in this world given our sinfulness.

That fact, however, does not excuse us who call ourselves Christians from doing what we can to be peacemakers in any and every way we can. We have lots of work to do.