Sermon: "Peace. Justice. Righteousness." (Isaiah 2:1-5)

Isaiah was a prophet. A prophet is a person who looks at the world as it is, and compares it to the world as it could be. Prophets call upon the people of the world to get rid of the things that are preventing the realization of an ideal world. Prophets describe what a new, alternative world would look like, and call the people to make that alternative world a reality.

In Isaiah’s vision, this better world becomes a reality when all people seek the Lord’s ways. Instead of insisting on their own way, they empty themselves of every selfish thought. They open themselves up completely to receiving instruction from God. And this instruction from God, this teaching, will be in the way of peace and justice and righteousness. Shalom and mishpat and tsedeq.

Having been instructed in the way of peace and justice and righteousness, all people will show love for their neighbor. There will be no animosity among people.

Peace will be so complete that even the animals will get along, even predators and prey! We’ll hear more about this next week, about the wolf living with the lamb, the leopard lying down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together… Babies and children will play alongside venomous snakes, and no harm will come to them. They will not hurt or destroy. Why? Because the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord.

Isaiah’s vision involves people “from all the nations.” No matter what your views on immigration are, it’s important to realize that Isaiah’s vision involves everyone. We don’t enter into that vision on our own. There isn’t even a separate gate.

When I came home to the United States from Brazil, at the airport, going through customs, there were two lines: one line for US citizens, and a second line for non-citizens.

Isaiah’s vision involves only one entrance, only one gateway, and it is wide enough to receive everyone. All people, from all nations. Foreigners and eunuchs and anyone else who has been denied entry elsewhere, denied equal rights, denied freedom – they will all be welcome.

“All peoples and all nations” includes people of different races. “All peoples and all nations includes people of different religions. “All peoples and all nations” includes the LGBT community.

All peoples, all nations.

And they shall all be instructed in the way of the Lord.

Now, what does that mean: “They shall be instructed in the way of the Lord”?

For much of church history, many thought that “instructing people in the way of the Lord” was something that was forced upon people. It meant using the sword to instruct people in the way of the Lord. Convert or die.

When the Americas were conquered by Europeans, the Europeans tried to beat indigenous people into becoming followers of Christ.

But look again at Isaiah’s vision: no weapons. No swords. No spears. Nothing that causes harm. Such things are not a part of the vision. The way of the Lord does not come to people by force. It comes by way of love.

Let me say it again: Isaiah’s vision is a vision of peace, justice and righteousness. Shalom, mishpat, tsedeq.

These three words are practically synonyms. They describe a state of things in which all is as it should be. Everything is put right. The vision Isaiah has for the world is a vision of shalom, mishpat, and tsedeq.

Shalom: we translate it as peace, but it’s more than just the absence of war or conflict. It’s complete harmony between all living things.

Mishpat – that’s the word for justice: it doesn’t mean giving bad people the punishment they deserve. Some people think of the word “justice” that way, but the biblical idea of justice is restorative justice. In other words, when things go wrong, justice searches for a way to mend what is broken and put things back together again. It means those who have been broken and hurt find healing and wholeness.

And Tsedeq. Righteousness. We think of righteousness as a word to describe someone who is holier-than-thou. Self-righteous. But righteousness in the Bible simply means what is right. What is good.

Justice and righteousness do not imply “an eye for an eye.” That phrase comes from the Old Testament, and it was an instruction given as a limit. In other words, people were often exacting terrible revenge when they had been wronged, so the instruction came to them: “no more than an eye for an eye.” Control your anger, your rage, your desire for retribution.

And anyway, retribution is never as satisfying as one might expect. A long time ago I was reading to my boys Artemis Fowl – The Eternity Code, and one line from those books I still remember. Juliet had just taken out the bad guy, which, you might expect, would be a cause for celebration – both for Juliet, and the reader. After all, the bad guy was no more. He had been eliminated. And yet, the next line in the book reads:

“Juliet had expected to feel some satisfaction, but all she felt was sadness. There was no joy in violence.”

There’s a powerful truth there.

A few weeks ago, California had the opportunity to abolish the death penalty. We didn’t, which is unfortunate. Common, simple logic should tell us that killing people in order to demonstrate that killing people is wrong makes no sense.

And families of victims often expect to find satisfaction when the person who killed their loved one is executed, but they usually are surprised to find that there is no satisfaction to be found there. The murderer who killed their loved one is executed, and they expect that to bring them some satisfaction, but it never does.

Isaiah knows this to be true. So that is part of Isaiah’s vision. No violence, for any reason.

This was also a part of Jesus’s vision; when the guards came and his disciples drew their swords to fight, Jesus said “Stop! That is not my way.”

It makes sense that Jesus’s vision and Isaiah’s vision would be the same, because really, they are both God’s vision.

I recently read a book by Shane Claiborne titled, Executing Grace. One chapter talks about the genocide in Rwanda. It’s probably safe to say that a country in which genocide is taking place is as far from the vision of God as it is possible to be.

But in the years that followed, the people of Rwanda asked: “What does justice look like?”

They decided that justice did not involve more killing. They were tired of killing. They were tired of blood. No more, they said. That is not the world we want to live in.

So in the years that followed, those responsible for the genocide were not executed. In fact, Rwanda abolished the death penalty. And those who were responsible for the genocide were put to work, literally. “Their punishment was to help rebuild the nation they had helped destroy.”

This is restorative justice. This is justice that searches for a way to mend what is broken and put things back together again.

You see the difference between restorative justice, and criminal justice? Criminal justice asks what laws were broken, and how can we punish the one who broke them. But restorative justice asks ‘Who has been hurt by this, how can the hurt be healed, and who is obligated to work on behalf of that healing?’

Shane Claiborne also writes about a kid who was caught dealing drugs at a Quaker school. “The entire community came together, because the offense had affected the entire community. The conversation that ensued reflected a deep, genuine concern for this young man and a deep, genuine concern for the community. The questions that were being asked were not just ‘Should he go to jail?’ Students were asking things like, ‘Are you in need of money? Are you, or any of us, struggling with addiction?’ (because obviously, this student had buyers – others were involved). And: ‘What harm has been done?’” And with those questions, these 15 year-olds began to figure out how to restore wholeness to their fragmented community.

This kind of work is how we make Isaiah’s vision a reality. And that is our calling. Isaiah’s vision is a vision for the future; but it is also a vision for the present. There’s a lot of future tense here. “They will come, they will learn, there will be peace…”

But then Isaiah says, “Come, let’s walk in the light of the Lord.” That is an invitation to enter the vision now.

And right now, right here, it’s happening.

CCEJ – the California Conference on Equality and Justice – works with the Long Beach Unified School District to bring restorative justice into our schools. When a student misbehaves, restorative justice asks the person who caused harm to take responsibility for their actions. Restorative justice helps the person who was harmed to find healing. And Restorative justice involves the community as a whole to offer support and encouragement.

Restorative justice is an alternative to more traditional methods such as suspension. Suspension does little to bring healing or wholeness. Students who are suspended are three times more likely to drop out of school, and more likely to be incarcerated.

CCEJ works with the school district to train teachers and administrators in Restorative Justice. CCEJ is also working with the Long Beach Police Department to find ways that Restorative Justice can work in our community.

So even though Isaiah’s vision is a dream of the future, and sounds rather utopian, it can be – and in fact is – a reality in our present world.

And as I said, this vision that Isaiah had became Jesus’s vision too. Throughout the hymns we sing in Advent and Christmas, the vision of a better world is presented. As you sing the songs and carols this Christmas season, let the vision they present sink into you. Let the vision fill you. Let the hope of a new world live in you. Know that it is possible to live in that better world today, tomorrow, and forever.