Proper 24 Year B 10/20/2024
Isaiah 53:4-12; Psalm 91:9-16; Hebrews 5:1-10; Mark 10:35-45
Rev. Mark A. Lafler
When I grew up in the 1980’s it was popular for beauty contestants to answer one question in a certain way.
The question – What is the one most important thing our society needs?
The answer – World peace.
This response is the mocked canned answer made famous in the movie Miss Congeniality.
After every Miss America contestant answers the question: world peace, world peace, world peace.
Young Gracie played by Sandra Bullock answers the question:
What is the one most important thing our society needs?
She says: harsher punishment for parole violators …
(the audience is stunned in silence)
Until she added – and world peace
(and the audience explodes with applause) …
As if world peace was an original idea.
World Peace… although often canned answer, is something we still need and hope for in our society and world.
Peace is actually one of the ways to describe the world in Genesis when God created the heavens and the earth.
God created humans to be his image bearers throughout the earth.
Worshipping God…
Being obedient to God…
It was a beautiful state of being….
And the Old Testament word for this is Shalom.
Shalom, we might be familiar with this word, is often translated from the Hebrew as the word peace.
However, it means more than non-violence.
It is peace in its fullness…
A flourishing peace.
One scholar writes:
In the Bible, shalom means universal flourishing, wholeness, and delight – a rich state of affairs in which natural needs are satisfied and natural gifts fruitfully employed,
a state of affairs that inspires joyful wonder as its Creator and Savior opens doors and welcomes the creatures in whom he delights.
Shalom, in other words, is the way things ought to be. [1]
God created the heavens and earth, he created the plants and animals,
he created humanity in his image and called them to live and manage his good creation… to live in shalom.
That was how creation was meant.
Well, you probably know the story…
Adam and Eve sinned because they listened to a sneaky snake…
Sin brought the curse of death…
And humanity has desired shalom (or peace) ever since…
Only to have it slip between our fingers every time we grasp for it.
Throughout the Old Testament we are given story after story after story of violence…
Anti-shalom behavior and actions.
Sin…
The disobedience of the law…
A real vandalism of shalom.
But in the shadow of this violent perversion of shalom in the Old Testament is the hope and prophecy of a restoration of shalom.
You see it in Genesis 3 where God first speaks of one to come who will restore goodness and peace.
You see it in the covenants of Noah and Abraham.
You see it in the psalms and prophets.
And one of these prophets, Isaiah, has much to say about this future time of restored shalom.
In a passage made famous at Christmas time each year, Isaiah says:
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (or Prince of Shalom)
Of the greatness of his government and peace (or Shalom)
there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the Lord Almighty
will accomplish this.
(Isaiah 9.6-7)
This shalom (prophesied by Isaiah) was the hope of Israel.
And it was to come through a messianic child.
The birth of this child we celebrate every year with Christmas day.
Later in the book of Isaiah we are given another passage about a Messiah who brings shalom.
But this time it is a suffering Messiah.
It’s found in Isaiah 53, and it was our Old Testament reading for today.
In the 5th verse, Isaiah wrote:
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace (Shalom) was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
This suffering servant took on the transgressions and iniquities of his people.
He was pierced and crushed and punished for the sins of others.
But, as the prophet says, it is because of this gracious act of taking on other people’s transgressions, it is that which brought peace to his people.
Shalom is restored through his suffering.
Healing of the people takes place because of the wounds of this suffering Messiah.
As Christians, we understand this suffering servant…
This suffering Messiah to be Jesus Christ.
Our bishop, Justin Holcomb writes:
The New Testament writers clearly understand this suffering servant, this bringer of peace, to be Jesus of Nazareth.
Isaiah 53 is directly quoted seven times in the New Testament as referring to Jesus Christ,
and alluded to over thirty-four times.
In his perfectly sinless life and his substitutionary atoning death,
Jesus secured salvation for sinners
and brought them shalom with God. [2]
Jesus is the bringer of peace.
Jesus is the one who restores shalom.
In the Gospel of John (14.27), Jesus says:
Peace I leave with you;
my peace I give you.
I do not give to you as the world gives.
You see the peace that God the Father brings through His Son,
Jesus Christ, is different than the peace that is promised in our world.
Politicians claim that a vote for them will bring peace.
Many believe that financial gains will bring them peace and prosperity.
Perhaps if we changed our culture in a particular way, we would achieve peace.
Plenty of people in our society make decisions with a desire that they will just have peace if they do this or do that.
But true peace…
Everlasting peace… Shalom…
Is only found in Jesus Christ.
It is in the coming of Jesus in the Incarnation…
That the restoration of shalom has begun.
It is in the suffering and death of Christ Jesus…
That shalom has victoriously been won.
It is in the resurrection of Jesus Christ…
That death and the grave have been defeated.
And it is in the return of Jesus Christ…
That the peace of God will reign forever and ever.
As the prophet Isaiah declared in the 25th chapter:
…he will swallow up death for ever.
Then the Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from all faces,
and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth,
for the LORD has spoken…
(Isaiah 25.8)
All of this has been made possible by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Who took on our sin…
Our punishment…
He went to the cross so that we would be saved in and through him.
The innocent for the guilty.
Perfection sacrificed for the imperfect.
Jesus came to seek and save the lost.
In Jesus Christ peace is found.
God created the heavens and earth where shalom reigned.
Sin was brought into the world by the disobedience of humanity…
Bringing the curse of violence – the anti-shalom.
But Jesus has made possible shalom once again.
And this shalom is a gift of God.
When by faith, through the grace of God we believe in the work of Jesus Christ we are saved…
Reconciled to God.
At peace with God.
As is said in Romans 5.1:
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ …
People of God, there are a lot of things that want to distract you in this world…
To knock you off target…
To gain your attention…
But only in Christ can we have peace…
Real peace…
Real shalom.
I encourage you…
especially in this season of overwhelming media overload…
to fix your eyes on the cross of Jesus Christ.
If you are struggling this morning…
Find peace in Jesus.
Spend time in his presence.
Rest in his grace.
Be strengthened in his faithfulness.
The invitation of Jesus can still be found in Matthew 11.28-30:
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am gentle and humble in heart,
and you will find rest for your souls.
For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
And as it says in Philippians 4.7:
…the peace of God,
which transcends all understanding,
guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Lean in …
in the shalom of Jesus.
Amen.
[1] Quoted in Justin S. Holcomb, On the Grace of God (Wheaton: Crossway, 2013), 30.
[2] Ibid., 62.
