What makes for OUR peace? Not just MY peace?

Luke 19:29-44

29When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, 30saying, “Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it.’” 32So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them. 33As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?” 34They said, “The Lord needs it.” 35Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. 36As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. 37As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, 38saying, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!” 39Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.” 40He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.”

41As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, 42saying, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43Indeed, the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up ramparts around you and surround you, and hem you in on every side. 44They will crush you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave within you one stone upon another; because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.”

“Triumphal Entry” by He Qi

I wonder what it is like for you when you are expecting one thing, but it unfolds or arrives differently than what you had envisioned.

I wonder how you respond to those experiences.

I wonder how you feel in those moments.

I wonder why you tend to respond that way.

I wonder what it takes to receive and recognize something or someone that challenges not only our expectations, but our understanding of ourselves, the world, society, and even God.

Perhaps by now it seems trite or repetitive to say that with God, we should expect the unexpected. It can easily become a sort of whimsical idea that conveniently favors the same things we favor. But it is also deeply disruptive, unsettling, and even dangerous.

This story, the story of Jesus, of God with us, of this culminating Holy Week…is a story of contrasts. Kings like Herod and Emperors like Caesar are also welcomed to town on a noble steed with shouting crowds of praise and blessing and triumph, banners waving toward the sky. Even the ancient Jewish kings like Solomon were anointed by riding in on a donkey with branches and hosannas rising into the air. In an unstable world, the people long for something to celebrate.

This moment isn’t entirely new. Cries calling for and celebrating peace were a familiar refrain as the Roman Empire promised and provided “peace” too – the Pax Romana. Granted, it was a relative peace that used military brutality against any challenger in order to give security to those lucky enough or frightened enough to fall in line.  It is a peace that is fundamentally misunderstood as only quiet and calm and silence, the lack of disruption, as opposed to actual resolution in relationship.

This reality, this understanding of power, this perception of what brings joy and the ways and means of peace would be the prevailing expectation for anyone witnessing this Jesus coming into town on a donkey with a parade. Jesus comes as a king, but not the kind that people would recognize as kingly. This sacred and triumphant procession isn’t novel, but it is revolutionary. It challenges the illusory systems of power that protect the way things are and demonstrates the real capacity for what could and will be.

And suddenly, it’s the powerful who are revealed to be truly fearful.

It’s not just that Jesus points to something new, it’s that people are following him, joining in the movement.  Jesus’ teaching and even their miracles would be a quaint sideshow in the circus of empire…if not for the growing community of people putting their trust and energy behind something that contrasts the current “balance.”  Jesus would be just another feel-good story to give the people just enough hope to keep them satisfied with the crumbs, if it weren’t for all the people who have gotten a taste of the feast unfolding before them.

The Gospel has something to say to all the moments where the ways things are seemingly ok-enough that we resign to call them good. Christ has something to say about all the true triumphs against giants that seem impossible. Perhaps, for a single human being, they might be impossible. But as Christ enters the heart of the city, the people are reminded that they are part of something bigger that causes even the authorities to tremble. Jesus, the Prince of Peace, ushers in a kind of peace that is wider and more enduring than the individual peace that can quickly fade.  This is a lasting and transformative peace which can only be made in community.

And yet, we still don’t understand.  We still don’t see it. There are plenty times where I do not recognize the time of my visitation from God. It’s not what I thought it’d be, so I miss it. It’s not as flashy as I want it to be, so I blow it off as unimportant. Maybe it’s centered for a time on a voice that doesn’t sound like mine – voices of color, voices of the poor that I’m not listening to, or giving enough weight to, and I stop paying attention. Maybe even when I do see it, I diminish it because making peace sounds like too much work, too disruptive, so I settle for the knock-off version.

Jesus laments. Jesus speaks of the destruction that results from our inability to see what REALLY makes for peace.  Some would say that increased guns and glam are the only measures and tools for peace. Some would say that MORE violence and MORE silence would bring peace. But that’s not the parade Jesus is leading.

And so I wonder…what makes for peace? Not just my peace, but our peace?

This week, this holy week leads us deeper into that question and how God responds to it. The new way inevitably passes us all through the ringer. The old ways will not go quietly or without danger. But even now…they are trembling and on the run, trying to hush the shouts of liberation. And even when we miss it, even when it is threatened or thwarted, the very stones cry out to proclaim the triumph of peace unfolding before us. Amen.