Isaiah 5:1-7
Psalm 80:1-2, 8-18
Hebrews 11:29-12:2
Luke 12:49-56
Homily by Fr R Christopher Heying
Almighty God, you have
given your only Son to be for us a sacrifice for sin, and also an example of
godly life: Give us grace to receive thankfully the fruits of his redeeming
work, and to follow daily in the blessed steps of his most holy life; through
Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy
Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Let there be no
doubt that the Gospel of peace is a costly gospel. Scripture is clear that even
just to be a Christian is to engage in battles, not just with flesh-and-blood opponents
but with rulers, authorities, cosmic powers of darkness and spiritual forces of
evil that dwell even in heavenly places.
First Peter tells
us that we must be vigilant for the devil prowls around like a roaring lion
seeking someone to devour (1 Peter 5.8) and Ephesians urges us that even as we
stand firm against the wiles of the devil to put on our feet shoes that make us
ready “to proclaim the gospel of peace” (Ephesians 6.14).
For as we engage in
hand-to-hand conflict with the very personal forces of evil, we must proclaim
in word and deed that God was and that God is in Christ reconciling the world
to himself and giving us the message of reconciliation, the gospel of peace (2
Corinthians 5.19ff).
But where there be
no justice there can be no peace.
True peace is not ultimately
about the absence of anything: tension,
vexation, anxiety, stress. True peace is
about the presence of justice—palpable,
real, accessible, actionable, and not just for us but for every person, for
each person is made in the image of the living God.
So it is with that
critical need for justice in mind that we meet today a not-so-meek and not-so-mild
Jesus this morning.