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Peace on earth
Let us not forget the true meaning of Christmas, writes the Right Rev James Jones, Bishop of Liverpool
Monday December 23, 2002
In U2's song Peace on Earth, Bono sings: "Jesus could you take the time / To throw a drowning man a line. / Peace on earth".
The lyrics capture the essence of Christmas. The birth of Jesus is part of a rescue mission, God throwing a line to humanity to save the earth from destruction.
Bono's song echoes the one sung by angels to startled shepherds: "Glory to God in the highest heaven and peace on earth."
Two thousand years on, that peace is elusive, and the future stability of the earth is even more at risk. The Johannesburg Earth Summit of last autumn did little to help a world cursed by greed and diseased by national self-interest. The planet aches for peace.
The audience of the angelic concert was made up of the poor, marginalised and socially excluded. In other words, shepherds.
Forget the romantic rural heroes that front some Christmas cards. Shepherds were despised and distrusted. They were forced to live out in the hills guarding the owner's sheep from ravenous wolves. If you'd asked them what "peace on earth" would have looked like they'd probably have said: "A world where the lamb no longer lived in fear of being killed by the wolf."
Heaven on earth for a Palestinian shepherd would be a time when the wolf and the lamb shall lie down together.
And that's exactly the vision God gave the prophet Isaiah hundreds of years before the arrival of Jesus: "I am creating new heavens and a new earth ... where the wolf and the lamb shall feed together."
Harmony within the animal kingdom would be a sign of the coming of a new earth.
Another sign of this new world would be "a babe lying in an animal-feeding trough" or, as the carols sing, a manger. Nobody in their right mind would put a newborn baby in an animal-feeding bowl where the dog, goat and donkey munch their food. The baby wouldn't be safe.
Except, this baby was special, anointed and different. His lying there amid the animals in a typical Palestinian home was a sign of the new kingdom where there would be harmony not just within the animal kingdom but between animals and the human family.
The mission of Jesus was to bring about a new world where there would be peace on earth. His lying as a baby cheek by jowl with the animals was mirrored later in his life when he found himself befriended by animals in the wilderness. The Prince of Peace at ease with wild beasts. There's a picture of peace on earth.
It was not animals, but fellow human beings that gave him grief. As Jesus walked the talk of God's love he faced rejection, humiliation and death. Humans killed his body, but not his grace. He rose from the dead with the words of angels still on his lips: "Peace."
Through extravagant love and belief-beggaring forgiveness he retains the power to put us right with God and with each other. Jesus holds the true secret to peace on earth.
His spirit hovers over the face of the earth, silently seeking an entrance into the souls of all who ache with the whole of creation for that God-given peace.
As we plead to Jesus to take the time to throw a drowning man a line: "Hark! The herald angels sing / Glory to the newborn king. / Peace on earth and mercy mild, / God and sinners reconciled."
Peace on earth
Let us not forget the true meaning of Christmas, writes the Right Rev James Jones, Bishop of Liverpool
Monday December 23, 2002
In U2's song Peace on Earth, Bono sings: "Jesus could you take the time / To throw a drowning man a line. / Peace on earth".
The lyrics capture the essence of Christmas. The birth of Jesus is part of a rescue mission, God throwing a line to humanity to save the earth from destruction.
Bono's song echoes the one sung by angels to startled shepherds: "Glory to God in the highest heaven and peace on earth."
Two thousand years on, that peace is elusive, and the future stability of the earth is even more at risk. The Johannesburg Earth Summit of last autumn did little to help a world cursed by greed and diseased by national self-interest. The planet aches for peace.
The audience of the angelic concert was made up of the poor, marginalised and socially excluded. In other words, shepherds.
Forget the romantic rural heroes that front some Christmas cards. Shepherds were despised and distrusted. They were forced to live out in the hills guarding the owner's sheep from ravenous wolves. If you'd asked them what "peace on earth" would have looked like they'd probably have said: "A world where the lamb no longer lived in fear of being killed by the wolf."
Heaven on earth for a Palestinian shepherd would be a time when the wolf and the lamb shall lie down together.
And that's exactly the vision God gave the prophet Isaiah hundreds of years before the arrival of Jesus: "I am creating new heavens and a new earth ... where the wolf and the lamb shall feed together."
Harmony within the animal kingdom would be a sign of the coming of a new earth.
Another sign of this new world would be "a babe lying in an animal-feeding trough" or, as the carols sing, a manger. Nobody in their right mind would put a newborn baby in an animal-feeding bowl where the dog, goat and donkey munch their food. The baby wouldn't be safe.
Except, this baby was special, anointed and different. His lying there amid the animals in a typical Palestinian home was a sign of the new kingdom where there would be harmony not just within the animal kingdom but between animals and the human family.
The mission of Jesus was to bring about a new world where there would be peace on earth. His lying as a baby cheek by jowl with the animals was mirrored later in his life when he found himself befriended by animals in the wilderness. The Prince of Peace at ease with wild beasts. There's a picture of peace on earth.
It was not animals, but fellow human beings that gave him grief. As Jesus walked the talk of God's love he faced rejection, humiliation and death. Humans killed his body, but not his grace. He rose from the dead with the words of angels still on his lips: "Peace."
Through extravagant love and belief-beggaring forgiveness he retains the power to put us right with God and with each other. Jesus holds the true secret to peace on earth.
His spirit hovers over the face of the earth, silently seeking an entrance into the souls of all who ache with the whole of creation for that God-given peace.
As we plead to Jesus to take the time to throw a drowning man a line: "Hark! The herald angels sing / Glory to the newborn king. / Peace on earth and mercy mild, / God and sinners reconciled."
