Peace On Earth?

I made the mistake of watching some news while I ate breakfast the other day. Floods and mudslides in the West, stranded travelers in Europe, increased terror threat everywhere; thanks for the live report and Merry Christmas. I pictured the family getting ready to move into their just completed home watching it float down the wash turned raging river. I pictured the thousands trapped for days in airports, sleeping on benches, eating snack food instead of enjoying home-cooked meals with distant family. I pictured the churning anxiety of millions who live in daily dread of violent religious zealots.

Then I imagined what it was like for a woman far into her third trimester travelling to an unfamiliar town with her new husband so the government could get a better handle on their purse strings. Travel was difficult: risks from robbers, spring floods and general discomfort and inconvenience in her advanced pregnancy. Unease multiplies as the contractions begin and no suitable lodgings can be found when they reach their destination. I wonder how she felt learning that they would have to share a rude shelter with the local livestock.

I suspect the delivery was normal, though in much less than normal surroundings. But then I picture the young family’s amazement at the visit by the shepherds. Here come the least of Judean society with a report of angelic announcements and grand proclamations. Did they feel special, I wonder. It might have been better had the shepherds kept quiet, since their news reached the king’s ear and prompted a vicious attack which forced the young couple to flee with their baby to a foreign country.

The trouble did not stop there. Although his early years may have been ordinary, his last few were anything but. The story is well known. The political and religious powers conspired to end his short life in a most cruel and demeaning way. But he saw it coming; he told his followers to expect it and nothing less for their own destinies. And here lies one of the most strange paradoxes of the Christian faith. The shepherds heard proclamations of peace on Earth; the baby grew to become the long awaited Prince of Peace. Yet trial, tribulation and yearning for ultimate rest are the promised product of his life.

If you think life is supposed to be a bed of roses, watch out for the inevitable thorns. The Rose of Sharon promised peace only to men of good will (a better translation than good will to men.) Who are these men? They are those who do the will of the only god who offers true peace. And what is his will? That we who see neighbors in trouble come alongside to offer what we can. People with perfect lives seldom see the need for help, but when discomfort comes, the Comforter who is Peace looks pretty inviting. If you know Him, show Him to someone who really needs a merry Christmas.