Ingredients for Peace (Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13)

“Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other.”

I love this verse.  It’s one of my favorites. Maybe it sounds too “hippie” to you, with all that love and peace and kissing.  I don’t care.  I have an uncle who lived at Haight Ashbury back in the day, so I guess it runs in my blood.

But.. there is more to this verse than some happy lovey-dovey good vibes. A lot more.  So together, let’s engage in some exegesis, and unpack the deep and powerful meaning of this verse, and the psalm in which it is contained.

Since this is the second Sunday of Advent, the Sunday of peace, let’s start with that word, “peace.” In the Hebrew Bible, the word that is often translated as “peace” is shalom. But shalom actually means so much more than “peace.”

Shalom means rest. If two countries stop fighting, we might say there is peace, but if they are building up their defenses “just in case,” there is no shalom. There is no rest. No one rests comfortably, no one is at ease, when a missile is pointed at them, whether or not that missile is in the process of being launched.  That’s not shalom.

If a lion and lamb lie down together, but the lamb has to sleep with one eye open, that’s not shalom. But if that lamb can sleep peacefully, without fear, in the presence of the lion, that’s shalom. Shalom means being at ease, being able to close one’s eyes and rest without fear.

Shalom means wholeness. If a person does not have all they need to be free of fear and anxiety; if instead a person is forced to worry about where tomorrow’s food or even today’s food might come from, then there is no shalom. There is no wholeness. Even if no gun or missile is pointed at them, no one is whole when their plate and their stomach are empty.

Shalom means salvation. Or, as Willard Swartley puts it, salvation comes out of shalom. It’s one of the greatest misunderstandings of Christian faith today, that salvation refers only to what happens after one dies.  Salvation refers to healing and wholeness and wellbeing in this  life. Salvation means living a full life, a fully alive life.

So if rights are denied to a person because of their race, their skin color, their sexual orientation, their gender identity, their age or their income level, then there is no shalom. There is no salvation. There is only oppression and captivity. No one feels saved when they don’t feel safe.

So that’s a glimpse into what shalom means.  Rest. Wholeness. Salvation. It’s so much more than just not fighting.

By the way, for the psalmist, peace seemed elusive. In fact, if you remember when I preached about Sisera and Deborah and Jael a few weeks ago, when we browsed through the whole book of Judges, then you know that peace was always elusive.  Even when there was no fighting, there still wasn’t peace. There still wasn’t shalom. When the nations slept, they did so with one eye open.

Which is why the psalmists and the prophets talked about shalom so often. Lions and lambs lying down together. Swords and spears being turned into plows and pruning hooks. And a new kingdom ruled by one called the Prince of Peace.

It’s the vision they all shared, for the new kingdom, the kingdom of God, the beloved community, to manifest itself on earth, bringing shalom to all.

So that’s shalom. Now let’s explore the other words in this verse: steadfast love. Faithfulness.  Righteousness. These words, and a few others, are often used in the Hebrew Bible together.  They appear together so often that it seems strange to hear one without the other. When one does appear without the other, it’s like having the oreo cookie without the milk, Tonto without the Lone Ranger, the Yin without the Yang, Mario without Luigi, or Dagwood without Blondie.

These words are used together so often because you can’t have one without the other. You can’t have peace without righteousness without love without faithfulness.

Without justice.

Justice isn’t in this verse. I’m not sure why. Perhaps it didn’t fit the poetic structure. It’s strange, though, since justice and righteousness almost always go together. In Hebrew, it’s mishpat and tzedakah. These words almost always appear together, and even without mishpat, justice is implied.

Righteousness and justice. Faithfulness and steadfast love.

The Hebrew word for love is hesed. Like tzedakah, hesed is often paired up with mishpat. Like righteousness, love is often paired up with justice.

What does the Lord require of you? Seek Justice and love kindness. Mishpat and Hesed. What is right and what is compassionate.

These are the ingredients for peace. The ingredients for shalom. Justice, righteousness, steadfast love and faithfulness.

Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet. Another translation: Steadfast love and faithfulness will collide. They’ll butt heads! That’s interesting!

But haven’t you ever butted heads with someone, and in the end realized that you both were stronger because of it? That you needed their ideas, as contrary as they may have been to yours?

Directing summer camp last summer, I had a counselor who had some critiques of some of the activities I planned.  I didn’t agree with him, but on the other hand, his critiques got me thinking about things that hadn’t crossed my mind. I didn’t agree with everything he said, but he did have some good points. 

It made me realize that even though my ideas were good, if I combined what was good in his ideas with what I felt was good about my own ideas, the result would be something even better.  It was a better camp because of it, and I invited him back to counsel again this year, except he instead was asked to direct a different week of camp, and I know that the week he directs will be awesome.

Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet. Righteousness and peace will kiss each other.  Again, righteousness is tzedakah, and it refers to what is right. What is just. Righteousness and justice.

Here’s something the prophet Isaiah wrote:

“Then justice will dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness abide in the fruitful field. The effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever.” (Isa 32:16-17)

Doesn’t that just kind of sum it all up? If you have justice and you have righteousness, then you will have shalom.  You will have a calm tranquility. You will be able to sleep peacefully, with both eyes closed.

So if we want peace, we have to work for justice. We have to work to end oppression. We have to love our neighbor

Having the most powerful military on earth does not bring peace.  Peace will only come when we achieve justice. Peace will only come when we show love to our neighbors.

The nations of the world place too much emphasis on the strength of their military.  This was true in biblical times, and it’s true today. When powerful, wealthier nations show little concern for the plight of people in other nations, there will be resentment, there will be jealousy, there will be outrage, and there will not be peace.

You can’t say to a neighboring country, “let’s be at peace,” as long as you continue to gobble up a disproportionate share of the earth’s resources, and your neighbor is being exploited. Eventually the exploited neighbor is going to demand justice… one way or another.

In the same way, you can’t say to people protesting in the streets, “let’s be at peace,” when they have for so long been denied justice.  As long as justice is denied, there will be no peace.

Love. Faithfulness. Justice. Righteousness. These are the keys to peace, the ingredients of shalom.

Last week, I mentioned that the United States has been at war for 13 years straight, and that of the 238 years since our country was founded, we have been at war in 217 of those 238 years. That means that in our nation’s entire history, there have been a total of 21 years in which we have not been involved in a war. And if we expand the definition of peace to include all that the word shalom encompasses, I’d guess that even fewer years, if any, would qualify.

In the past 13 years, in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq, the war on terror has cost the lives of 7,000 US Military personnel and another 7,000 US contractors. Over 30,000 allied troops have been killed, some 80,000 opposition forces, and 200,000 civilians.

This blows me away. It makes me incredibly sad. Our world is not a peaceful world. Our nation is not a peaceful nation. It feels just like the nonstop, neverending battles of the Old Testament.

And so, like Isaiah, and like the psalmist, we wait for God to come and sort things out, and we wait for peace.

Meanwhile, we study the way of Jesus. We learn to live in love. We learn to recognize the Spirit’s presence, upon us, calling us to love our neighbor and free all who are oppressed.

In this season of Advent, as we focus on the birth of Jesus, we remember all that his birth meant to people of old, and all that it means today: that peace is possible, that the dream of shalom is alive, and that all who follow Christ are called to help make it a reality in our world today.

And it begins in our own lives, in our own homes, workplaces, schoolyards and communities. It begins when we do what is right for others, do what is just, and practice loving one another faithfully.

Then the seeds of peace are planted, and the kingdom of God becomes a little more real.