What’s So Funny bout Peace, Love, and Understanding?

Palm Sunday

Luke 19:28-40

Christ was sent to us so that all the world would have true peace. We all want peace. We want peace from violence and war. We want peace in our hearts from worry and fear. We want peace from the threat of disease. Most of all, we want peace that prevails against that wicked foe, Death.

Jesus’ entire life is bracketed by the proclamation of hope in peace throughout all of Creation. Heaven and earth are shouting songs of hope and peace. Back at Christmas, when Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the angels burst into song shouting, “Glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth, peace among those whom God favors.” Now, about thirty years after Jesus’ birth, Jesus’ followers on earth echo that same hope for peace and shout it back in joy to heaven, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heaven!” At Christ’s birth, the heavenly angels shouted peace upon the earth and in his last week of his earthly ministry, the people of earth shouted peace upon heaven. Heaven and earth sing of their faithful hope in the promised peace of Christ.

The crowd gathered on that first Palm Sunday desperately desired peace. They desired peace from Roman oppression; peace from poverty; peace from conflict; and peace from disease and death.

We desperately desire peace today. Peace in Ukraine. Peace in Afghanistan. Peace from violence in Philly. Peace for kids in unsafe homes. Peace for people experiencing homelessness to have a secure home. Peace for grieving parents, siblings, children, and friends when they lose a loved one to the grip of death.

But our desire for peace does not always line up with God’s way of peace. As the Passion story of Jesus shows us, we are all too willing to sacrifice the peace of others to secure our own peace. At that Palm Sunday procession, we hear religious leaders pleading with Jesus to try to shut down the shouts of praise from the people. These leaders want peace. The parade attendees are singing royal songs and shouting out their welcome to Jesus as a triumphant king. “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” they sing. The problem is, there is already a king who rules this region and he has no plans on sharing the throne. The religious leaders are scared because if the Roman leaders get wind of Jesus’ kingly arrival, Caesar may very well order a swift and bloody attack in response to Jesus’ claim as king. In John’s Gospel it is spelled out even more plainly when the high priest Caiphas resolves to have Jesus killed. He says, “…it is better… to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed.” (John 11:50). Or there is Pilate. He believed that Jesus was an innocent man and did not deserve to be executed, yet he washed his hands of responsibility and sacrificed Jesus for the sake of preserving peace and order among the people.

Jesus laments that our desire for peace always seems to end in disappointment. The peace that we establish is founded on sacrificing the peace of the others or the peace that is established is short lived. Christ desires that we have peace from war in which soldiers and civilians are not sacrificed to achieve that peace. Christ desires that in places of long-lasting conflict, peace could be enjoyed for long periods of time in places like Afghanistan. Christ desires that we stop devouring one another and share the abundance of God’s blessings so that all people are clothed, fed, housed, healthy, and have peace.

In one of my favorite Elvis Costello songs, “What’s So Funny ‘bout Peace, Love, and Understanding?” the artist sings with disgust that his desire for peace, love, and understanding is too easily dismissed as a naive hope that will never come to pass. The world seems too broken and too in love with compromised, false peace to ever truly attain real peace, love, and understanding. Costello sings,

And as I walked on

Through troubled times

My spirit gets so downhearted sometimes

So where are the strong

And who are the trusted?

And where is the harmony?

Sweet harmony

‘Cause each time I feel it slippin’ away, just makes me wanna cry

What’s so funny ’bout peace, love and understanding? Oh

What’s so funny ’bout peace, love and understanding?

In Christ, peace, love, and understanding, are not naive dreams that will never come true. In Christ, it is worth hoping in true peace, love, and understanding. True peace has been promised to us and true peace will be given to us. Jesus offers us peace and not the kind that sacrifices the poor, the weak, and the vulnerable. Jesus offers us peace and not the kind that is fleeting and temporary. Jesus offers peace even to those who would betray the gifts he offers. Jesus offers peace that is powerful and eternal. The peace of Christ does not disappoint. As we see throughout Holy Week, the peace of freedom from the power of sin and liberation from death is ours through Christ. Jesus is willing to die for the true peace he brings. He marches to Jerusalem knowing that his true peace will be rejected in favor of the compromised and temporary peace that we are so accustomed to. But Christ still marches on. He has come to set us free and to give us true peace and he will suffer death in order to grant us that eternal peace.