Gift to the World Receiving Peace/Becoming Peace Chris Hutton The First Mennonite Church Dec. 4, 2016 I d like to start off our time today by showing you a quick clip from a Youtube channel called Bored Shorts TV; now if you don t know of Bored Shorts, this is a group of people who record the audio of their children enacting a particular scenario. These people then attempt to act out and lip sync to what their children say. In the clip that I m about to show you, this is their children attempting to re-tell the angel appearing to the shepherds to announce the birth of Christ in the Gospel of Luke, and then the parents acting out what the children seemed to think was the story. Let s check this out. We watched the Bored Shorts TV video Shepherds in the Fields. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oe4eu-q1360 It is always fun to see how our children recall and re-tell stories that are classic to a lot of us. And it s especially funny to see grown men act it out. And this is a classic part of the Christmas story, isn t it? An angel claims to bring good tidings and the heavenly hosts declare peace on earth, good will to men. We will see that plastered on Hallmark cards and church signs all around us this Christmas, won t we? But how are we feeling about peace in our world these days? Pretty good about it? Uneasy? Nervous? Perhaps a little bit afraid? I think it s safe to say that many of us even here in Canada are feeling a little uncertain about peace after this past American presidential election. Whoever you found yourself rooting for, this American presidential election involved an unprecedented amount of anger, aggression, and attack. Several studies have suggested that anxiety levels in the United States and possibly here in Canada as well, actually rose during this past election. People were stressed to hear the statements, hear the rhetoric, and see the actions of what took place. Fistfights breaking out at rallies. Calls for people to be jailed for what they ve done. People being blamed for being the reason why so much is wrong in the world. And even now, even though the election is over, protests against the results of this election continue. There have actually been rising instances of videos appearing on the internet where people begin to rant and rave against minorities, and they proudly declare that the right person has won this election. Their savior, their Messiah, so to speak, is going to set this country straight.
So as we come to the season of Christmas once again, and we return to the story of Christmas once again, when the hosts of heaven declare peace on earth, good will to me, what are they talking about? What is this peace? Well, first let s unpack the phrase good will to men because this can be a little bit of a contentious area for some of us. In fact, some of you may have been shocked to even hear the phrase good will to men. That sounds exclusive doesn t it? Do only men receive good will? What about women? Most ancient manuscripts record the Gospel of Luke as saying this phrase anthropos eudokia to men, good will. Anthropos is generally translated as a human being, either male of female humanity in general or human beings as different from animals, plants, etc. Eudokia comes from two words: eu meaning to be well off and dokeo meaning to think to suppose to seem. Therefore, eudokia then means to suppose good will or to think well of someone The problem though is that a few rarer manuscripts don t say anthropos eudokia they say anthropos eudokias. While eudokia is a regular noun, eudokias is a genitive pronoun, which is just a fancy way to say that it s a possessive pronoun. Therefore anthropos eudokia means to men, good will. anthropos eudokias then means to men of good will or to those who have the good will of God. That changes the nuance a bit doesn t it? Now, if you remember back to our Lies, Legends, or Witnesses series, this could be an instance where someone made an error when they were copying manuscripts and added an extra s or there could have been a disagreement between scholars as to which word it s supposed to be. We re not going to waste too much time on debating that, but this is why in multiple translations of Luke 2:14, you will see the phrase translated as this: on earth peace, good will to men (KJV) and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased." (NLT) and on earth peace to men of good will. (Douay-Rheims Bible) Who receives the good will? And who receives peace? Those with whom God is pleased? That s certainly what our Calvinist brothers and sisters who believe in predestination would say. In fact, it s been suggested that many Calvinist translators and scholars have leaned towards this translation because it falls in line with their way of thinking. Now, I think from a larger perspective, any of these translations actually work. Is peace on earth only to those with whom God is pleased? Well, that s actually everyone. The Gospel of John doesn t say that God so loved ¼ of the world that he gave his one and only Son but God so loved the world
In 2 Cor. 5: 14-15, Paul says that Christ died for all..he died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. God s good will is actually for the entire world. He loves everyone. He wants to save everyone. However, if there was a Chris Hutton translation or CHT translation of the Bible as we might call it, I would lean towards this peace on earth, good will to all people. Anthropos eudokia is what most ancient manuscripts say. So if I had to make a choice between the two possible phrases, I d pick this one Most people might not know this but anthropos is a actually a very inclusive choice of noun. Anthropos comes from two words anar (a very definitive word for men, specifically men and optanomai or to look at ). Luke could have gone with the plural of anar to say good will specifically to men, but he chooses anthropos in order to convey the only way that you can in Koine Greek that God s good will is for all humanity. This was only translated as man or mankind in English because anthropos is technically a masculine noun in the Greek, and historically, that s how English speakers often referred to the plural of all humanity. But today that s changed, hasn t it? Now, we try to look for gender neutral words in order to emphasize that we respect women as equally as men. So since that s really what anthropos is trying to say, feel free to say peace on earth, good will to all people. That is just as good a translation. That s your Greek gift for this Christmas. I know it s sortof like getting socks for Christmas. It s handy and serves a purpose, but it s not exactly the most exciting thing about Christmas. Here s something a litte more exciting; how Luke sets up the birth of Jesus. Who decrees that a census be taken throughout the Roman Empire? Augustus, right? Caesar Augustus, the first Roman Emperor, the founder of the Roman Empire. Here s just a few of the things that were said about Caesar Augustus: he was called the savior of the whole world; one inscription found in the city of Priene said : The birthday of the god [Augustus] marked the beginning of the good news for the world. Luke deliberately sets up the birth of Jesus to stand in contrast to a man who the Empire of the time said was a god. And by doing so, Luke insinuates that it s the birth of Jesus and not the birth of Augustus that divides and defines human history. Jesus is declared as Messiah and Lord, (Luke 2:11) not Caesar. Jesus birth is the news of great joy for the whole nation (Luke 2: 10), not Caesar s. The Messiah is born in the city of David, not in the mighty city of Rome. Luke is insinuating that it is the peace of Christ that will save the whole world and not the Pax Romana, or the Peace of Rome.
But what s so different about the gift of peace that Jesus brings? Caesar s peace says that peace will come through a man who is wealthy and powerful. Peace will come through a man who lives like 1% of the world. Christ s peace comes through a child born in a stable. Christ s peace comes through a child born into conditions like 99% of the world. Caesar s peace says that peace and good will is for citizens of the Empire. Christ s peace says that peace on earth and good will are for all people. Caesar s peace says that peace will come through soldiers at his command, soldiers who live and die at his command, who will crush and destroy all of our enemies until we have peace. Christ s peace says that God himself sacrifices his own life to make peace. He does not command us to kill, but he gives his own life upon the cross that we may have peace. How many of you have seen the recent film Hacksaw Ridge? I know that Tom Neufeld mentioned seeing this film the other day. Perhaps we should organize a movie night to go and see this? Hacksaw Ridge tells the story of Desmond Doss, a man who during WWII refused to stand by and do nothing while we warred with one another. He wanted to make a difference. But he also refused to lift up a weapon to kill a man. He was what we call a conscientious objector. But he became one of the more unique conscientious objectors in the history of warfare when he enlisted in the army, and went out to the battlefields of WWII without carrying a weapon. He may not have shot and killed anyone, but it is said that he did rescue over 70 wounded men from the battlefields of WWII. And he became the first ever conscientious objector to receive the Medal of Honour. Desmond Doss was inspired by the model of Christ. In Christ, God sends his only Son into the world out into the world where we war with one another, but he does not come to kill us for being his enemy, instead he comes to rescue the wounded; to rescue all of us. I can understand why this past American election has left people nervous and frightened. But please understand that the American election of 2016 is not the end of peace. If you read our blog on our website, you might have read some of my thoughts after the election results earlier this month. Rather than seeing this election as a victory for pessimism, cynicism, and prejudice, I think this is an opportunity. This is an
opportunity to tell the world the Christmas story. This is an opportunity to remind the world of the Christmas story. That when the world was ruled by an empire that had separated people from their homes, and tortured and subjugated people, when people were yearning for a Messiah, God entered the world as a tiny child. And he changed our world not by raising an army, or conquering nations, or destroying his enemies, but he changed the world with love. And so for many Christ-followers today, the 2016 American election is not a completely extraordinary event. For many of us, this is business as usual. Making peace, bringing hope, showing a different way, going out into the battlefield and rescuing the wounded has been the business of the church since day one. And this is yet another opportunity to resist the forces of division, bigotry, and hate with the proclamation of peace on earth, good will to all people. This is yet another opportunity to bring the message of Be not afraid to a world beset by fear. And so I ll ask, where can you bring the message of peace this Christmas? Where can you bring the message of Be not afraid? Is there a neighbor that you ve historically had a rough time with? What would it look like to surprise them with an act of a service or an act of good will? Is there a relative who you ve had a falling out with for a long time? What would it look like to suddenly give them something out of love? Is there someone you just really despise at your workplace? What would it look like to give them something or serve them this Christmas?. How might you do something this Christmas to disrupt the patterns of conflict that we fall into in our world and bring a gift of peace? At Christmas pageants and in Nativity scenes all over the world this Christmas, the baby Jesus will be laid in what? A manger, right? Although I know Murray, you ve suggested that it was possibly not a manger but something else. But let s just for one moment, look at the word manger if that was what the new born baby Jesus was laid into, and consider something. In the Greek, the word for manger is phatne. This comes to us from the word pateomai or to eat. The manger was the feeding trough. This is where you placed the food for the animals into so they could eat their meal. Years later, Jesus would tell his followers that during the Passover meal, if they ate bread and drank wine, this would symbolize the penultimate act of God s peace for his world. This would symbolize the breaking of his body and shedding of his blood for the forgiveness of wrongdoings. In fact, Jesus says this later in Luke s Gospel:
He took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. After supper he took another cup of wine and said, This cup is the new covenant between God and his people an agreement confirmed with my blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you. (Luke 22: 19-20, NLT) Jesus replaces the old covenant with a new covenant. He takes the old system of shedding the blood of animal sacrifices in order to get right with God, the sacrificial system of the Temple, and he replaces it with himself. He takes the old system that says you have to do and be enough in order to earn peace and he says, It is all done for you. He goes out into the battlefield and puts his own life on the line that we might be rescued from our wounds, rescued from our mistakes, and rescued from our fears. Now, we do not have to shed the blood of others to make things right. Jesus shed his own blood to make things right. To make a way for peace. To this day, when we celebrate communion, there is something intimate about eating the bread and drinking the wine. It s a powerful symbol that we are taking Christ into us in order to be changed by Christ. We partake in Christ s symbol of peace to become his body that now brings the gift of peace to the world. This is why Paul advises in 1 Cor. that if you still hold some grudge or ill will against your brother or your sister, if you have not forgiven them and extended peace, why would you participate in the remembrance of God s forgiveness and extension of peace to you? Why should you receive peace when you refuse to extend peace to others? But we are called to be transformed by Christ into a community of people that extends radical grace and peace to the world just as God did for us. We actually want to give you the opportunity this morning to celebrate communion. We have two tables set up at the front this morning. When our music starts, we invite you to come up to the front in groups of about 10 people at a time. Those of us at the front will serve you first the bread. Once everyone has a piece of bread, we ll eat the bread at the same time. Then we will serve you some juice. Again, once everyone has some juice, we will drink of the juice at the same time. After which, you re invited to return to your seat. The bread this morning is all gluten-free. We also have grapes available this morning for children to take at the front or as an alternative to the bread and juice this morning, if you so wish.
We do this to remember and to honour what Christ has accomplished for all of us, and we do this to declare his message of peace to the world. If you would like to join us in this remembrance today, you are welcome to do so. Let us remember to be not afraid. Receive God s gift of peace, good will to all, and become the gift of peace, good will to all. Let s pray together. We then celebrated communion together while listening to the recent Josh Garrels version of the hymn O Day of Peace.