Tell of the Peace: Isaiah 40: 1-11; Luke 1: 26-38
Earlier this year, I was at a small gathering of friends. I love this little group of folks I’ve known for years. However, in all honesty, not all of them get along. Some strike sparks off one another from time to time. At this gathering, I saw one of my friends wondering around looking upset. I took a deep breath and prepared myself for what might be an intervention to prevent some kind of confrontation. Indeed, Bob said, “I’m trying to find my peace.”
So, we started working together on finding peace. The first thing was breathing techniques, then we tried walking around, then we tried stretches, all the while he seemed more and more bothered, and he never found his peace. Finally, I suggested therapy. He responded with shock. “What? Therapy? We’ve done enough of all this stupid stuff you suggested. How is therapy going to help me find the piece of pecan pie I lost.” I was reminded in that moment the importance of both grammar and context. We found his piece…of pie…sitting on the side table.
Today we talk about the importance of peace in God’s kingdom, and we look at the story of how the angel announced the coming of Christ to Mary. Very often we tend to focus this day and age on the shock factor of this story—an unwed mother in Ancient Judea, Mary’s young age, the fact that this was more of a command than a request. In many ways this is a shocking part of the gospel when the context is added. But to look only at the shock misses the point. Mary responded to God’s incredibly difficult calling with peace and obedience.
In our present day and time, too many people seem to be searching for peace, and I don’t mean a piece of pecan pie. Recent studies show that the Global Peace Index declined again in 2023, and Gallup polls show that only a little over half of the population knows how to find peace in the struggles of daily life. Too often we see a world filled globally with turmoil—the wars in Ukraine and Gaza are just two examples. And if you want a closer example just look at how all the mature adults get along with each other so well in the halls of Congress. In the context of all this turmoil, many of us feel uneasy. And if we don’t feel uneasy about the conflicts, we feel uneasy about the effects when we go to the gas station and grocery store.
Isaiah spoke to a people well acquainted with conflict and struggle. Isaiah was written for a people living in captivity in Babylon, a people conquered, disheartened, demoralized, and in servitude. And what Isaiah brought was a prophecy of peace: “’Comfort, comfort my people,’ says your God. Tell her that her sad days are gone, and her sins are pardoned.” What Isaiah tells us is that peace is a gift from God, not something we can find on our own.
The peace for God’s people wasn’t found in some kind of search within, no, it was found in God. Isaiah writes, “Make a straight highway through the wasteland for our God!” He goes on to write about filling in the valleys, leveling the mountains and hills, straightening out the curves, and making the rough places smoother. When we smooth out the path in our own hearts and souls for God to come to us and abide with us, we welcome into our lives the Prince of Peace, the one who calms the storm, the one who has the power over death, hell and all of suffering.
I think sometimes; however, we misunderstand what it means to have peace. Many seem to think that having peace means the absolute absence of all things difficult or troublesome in life. That’s not what peace is, nor is it anything God has ever promised us. That’s kind of the bad news. Life may not be easy, but we can have God’s peace whether life is easy or not.
Look again at Mary. She was God’s favored, beloved, the one God chose to bear the Son of God into the world, the Light of the World, the Prince of Peace. But if we know the rest of the story, we know that this wasn’t an easy calling. The New Interpreter’s Bible puts it very bluntly: “Today, many assume that hose whom God favors will enjoy the things we equate with the good life: social standing, wealth, and good health. Yet Mary, God’s favored one, was blessed with having a child out of wedlock who would later be executed as a criminal. Acceptability, prosperity, and comfort have never been the essence of God’s blessing.”[1]
What, then, is God’s peace? I think Mary is the best example. Mary starts her encounter confused and disturbed, fearful of why God’s angel is there. But she is told that she is blessed and has found favor with God, that she would be a part of this amazing and miraculous thing, and she has the understanding that the journey would be incredibly difficult. Her response was to say, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” Regardless of her age, her engagement, her fear, and the coming struggles, she had the faith to be at peace with God’s calling. For someone of her age, education, and place in time, that’s a miraculous amount of faith and trust. Though she started with fear, she came to a place of peace with all that God had spoken to her.
God’s peace is knowing in any situation—easy or overwhelming—that God’s strength is with us, God’s promises never fail us, and God’s hope waits at the end of the journey. God’s peace comes from saying yes, when God calls. God’s peace comes from leaning back on faith to face every hill, valley, curve, and rough place in the journey here. God’s peace is knowing that in every situation, God’s word comes and says, “Comfort, comfort, you my people.”
A friend of mine wrote about his experience with God’s peace. He said that the holidays particularly test his sense of peace in life. He thought all was good, and he was, with a deep breath, at peace. But then traffic at the stores kick in, and he curses a bad driver out. The cost of buying all the gifts makes his blood pressure tick up at how much money is fleeing out the door. The general mood of “I’ll wait till after the holidays,” means work is not getting done at his office. And with each passing moment every text, every email, every phone call, every thing just rachets up that irritability inside one more notch till he wants to sing, “Fa la la la—GO AWAY!” to everyone.
But in the stillness of the night, under a warm blanket, with the warm glow of the Christmas tree in the background, he remembers a Savior, who suffered, was misunderstood, and spent difficult years on earth. And he remembers a young mother, facing an incredibly difficult road, whose faith empowered her to respond enthusiastically to God’s calling. And there, we find peace. May Christmas be a reminder to you that God’s peace is with you in any difficult time of life, for God loves you and will be with you in every one of those moments.
[1] Tucker, Gene M. “The Book of Isaiah 1-39,” The New Interpreter’s Bible. Ministry Matters. 1987.
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