Returning to Peace

Returning to Peace

Luke 12:49-56[1]

Sometimes the Bible is easy to read. God’s love just seems to leap off the pages and fill our hearts. There are other times when the Bible is confusing. It just doesn’t seem to make sense with what we have been taught about God, about Jesus, or even about life. The way we tend to read the Bible doesn’t help. Because it’s the Bible, we tend to think every verse has to be just as important as every other verse. When we do that, we are “flattening out” the Bible by taking every verse at what seems to be the “face value” to us. Many people call this reading the Bible “literally,” and they’re proud of themselves for doing so. But that approach to the Bible leads to all kinds of confusion.

For example, 25 years ago, Bruce Wilkinson published The Prayer of Jabez, a book that became a New York Times bestseller. The “prayer” of Jabez comes from 1 Chronicles 4:10. We know next to nothing about Jabez. He’s just a guy who shows up in the extended genealogy that occupies the first ten chapters of 1 Chronicles. And basically, the prayer that Jabez prayed was for God to make him prosperous and protect him. Nothing wrong with that. But also not a model of devotion to God. We have another prayer in the Bible that does a much better job of modeling devotion to God. It’s the prayer Jesus taught us to pray. And there’s good reason why we’ve been praying “The Lord’s Prayer” for centuries, not the “prayer of Jabez.” There just really is no comparison between the two!

Thinking the “prayer of Jabez” might be some formula for success is one example of the confusion that can result from flattening out the Bible. And I would argue that it’s not really reading the Bible literally. What it does is turn the Bible into a convenient “container” for whatever opinion or viewpoint of ours we want to claim is “from God.” But the Bible isn’t meant to reinforce what we think we already know. As our lesson from the prophet Jeremiah for today puts it, “‘Does not my word burn like fire?’ says the LORD. ‘Is it not like a mighty hammer that smashes a rock to pieces?’” (Jer 23:29). That sounds ominous, but the idea is that when the Lord truly speaks, it tends to shake up our lives. The Bible is not meant to just keep us comfortable!

Part of the problem is that when we read the Bible we tend to forget how language works. We use language in all kinds of ways that don’t make a lick of sense to take the words at face value. For example, if we say someone is “barking up the wrong tree,” we all know what that means, because it’s a figure of speech in common usage. Can you imagine someone coming along from another planet centuries from now investigating these “earthlings” and how they lived their lives scratching their heads and trying to figure out why they were acting like canines and “barking” at trees? It’s a bit of an exaggeration, but I think you get the point. The way we use language doesn’t always work “at face value.” We’re so used to it that we think it’s “face value.”

I bring this up because there are people who somehow think it’s scandalous to think that Jesus may have used figures of speech. We all know that he told parables to make a point. There are still some people who want to insist that some of Jesus’ parables were factually true. That’s because for us, truth has to be “factual” in an objective sense for it to be “truth.” We forget that truth can sometimes be conveyed much more powerfully through a poem or a work of art than through a paragraph. That commonsense approach to the “truth” of the Bible leads us to what I would consider a truly “literal” way of reading it. We recognize metaphors, idioms, figures of speech, and even exaggeration for what they are, and seek to discern the original intention behind the words. It’s not as convenient for us as just throwing out a verse and claiming it supports our favorite opinion, but it’s more consistent with the truth of Scripture.

That’s a long introduction for our Gospel lesson for today. The reason is because when you simply read our Gospel lesson for today at “face value,” it’s confusing at best. And to some it could be downright disturbing! Here Jesus tells us that he has not come to bring peace to the world, but rather “fire” and “division” (Lk 12:49, 51)! And in another gospel, he says he came to bring a “sword” (Mt 10:34)! That sounds so contrary to what we believe about Jesus that it may be painful even to hear it! How are we supposed to reconcile the idea that Jesus came to bring division and not peace with the joyful announcement at Jesus birth in this same Gospel of Luke that he came to bring “peace on earth” (Luke 2:14)?

In the first place, we have to understand that Jesus was speaking to a world in which religion was used to keep a few in power and privilege in a way that beat down most people. The religious powers of the day used the language of “clean” and “unclean” to maintain their position and power and to keep most people “in their place.” After all, if being “unclean” means you can’t get too close to God, then you have to rely on those who are “clean” enough to represent you. That gives them all kinds of power over you! I’m afraid the language of “sin” and “forgiveness” still creates a similar situation for many people to this day.

Into that world, Jesus came offering God’s love freely to anyone and everyone. He preached the gospel of God’s goodness to all people, regardless of their place in society or lack of place in society. And all his talk of a kingdom of God where the first are last and the last are first overturned the way the whole world worked. It was like setting fire to the whole religious establishment, and with that, their whole way of life. It was like smashing the “rock” of religious oppression in pieces. Jesus’ message threatened everyone who had worked hard to climb their way to the top of the social ladder by virtue of their “holiness,” or their wealth, or their power. As you can imagine, a lot of them didn’t like that. It was a threat to their very way of life. And they responded to him with rage and hatred, and they killed him for it.[2]

When you look at our Gospel lesson in that light, I think it makes sense to recognize that Jesus was exaggerating when he said he came to bring division rather than peace. Of course Jesus came to bring the peace of God’s kingdom. He makes that clear with virtually everything he said and did! But the whole Bible is equally clear that God’s peace comes with a cost. It comes only by righting the wrongs in this world, especially those that benefit the privileged few. God’s peace comes only by exposing the untruth of structures that beat people down in this world.

That kind of message is always going to divide people. Those who benefit from the how things stand will fight tooth and nail to oppose anyone who tries to change things for the benefit of the “least of these,” as Jesus calls them. And at times, they’ll quote the Bible to keep things as they are. At times they’ll kill the people who are trying to benefit the “least of these.” The sad truth is that we still live in a world where “holiness,” wealth, and power determine one’s place (or lack of place). But seeking the peace of God’s kingdom will always be perceived as a threat by those who benefit from beating down others. I think Jesus was warning all who would seek the peace of God’s kingdom that their work would be met with hostility and even violence.[3] I think that’s why Jesus used exaggeration in our lesson for today. History has borne out the truth of his warning. We must be clear: Jesus never endorsed violence.[4] But he knew how far people would go to protect their status and power. And yet he called the people of his day to return to God’s peace, a peace that exists only where there is true justice and compassion. And he calls all who would follow him to extend that peace to the people of our day. It’s not going to be easy. It’s not always going to comfortable. But if we’re going to follow Jesus and align our lives with God’s kingdom, there’s really no other way but to seek peace by helping the “least of these” have a place in this world.

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[1] © Alan Brehm 2025. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm PhD on 8/17/2025 for Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.

[2] Cf. J. T. Carroll, Luke: A Commentary, 275–276: “The depiction of Jesus’ fire-dealing, division-engendering mission in 12:49–53 thus stands in tension with some aspects of the preceding narrative but also anticipates the heightened conflict that his activity will provoke en route to Jerusalem.”

[3] Cf. Jürgen Moltmann, Theology of Hope, 18-19: The promises that the hope inspired by the Gospel makes “must stand in contradiction to the reality which at present can be experienced,” which is a reality of suffering and death.  Cf. also ibid., 103, 118, 225-226, 330.  For this reason, he says (p. 324) that “Christians must venture an exodus and regard their social roles as a new Babylonian exile” in which they must proclaim the hope of the Gospel and work for the transformation of society.

[4] Cf. Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics 3.2:60-61: “That Jesus comes to bring about the ruin of any man is a thought which is wholly foreign to the New Testament.”

Waiting?

 Waiting?

Luke 12:32-46[1]

Most of us don’t care much for talk about the “second coming of Christ.” Part of the reason for this is because of the people out there who are talking so much about it. They do so in a way that is confusing at best and offensive and even dangerous at worst. Over fifty years ago Hal Lindsay published the book, “The Late Great Planet Earth,” where he famously (or infamously) predicted that Jesus would return in 1978, or at the latest 1988. And of course, Jesus’ “return” would usher in all kinds of catastrophes for “unbelievers.” None of that happened, but people still followed his teachings and bought his books. He wasn’t the first to try to predict a specific date, and I’m sure he won’t be the last. Many self-styled “prophets” throughout history have wreaked havoc and at times even cost the lives of their devotees. One recent example was David Koresh, the messianic pretender whose “predictions” and “proclamations” about the “end times” led a splinter group of Seventh-Day Adventists to a violent clash with federal authorities near Waco, TX. Most of us don’t want to be associated with that kind of corruption.

I think another factor that inhibits our enthusiasm about the so-called “second coming” is that those who tend to make a big deal about it seem to use it as a “scare tactic.” You know, Jesus could come this very day, so you better get right with God or you might be “left behind.” By now, the “Left Behind” series of books written by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins is “old news.” But back in the day, they were all the rage. Although they were novels, way too many people believed that what they portrayed was an accurate presentation of biblical teaching. The central feature of the series is the premise that those who trust in Jesus will be “rescued” from the catastrophes to come, while the others will be “left behind” to suffer. Again, this kind of fear-mongering is something most of us don’t want to be associated with.

Part of the problem is that most of us start out with several false premises when we’re dealing with this question. In the first place, talk of the “second coming” of Jesus is confusing. If Jesus has to “return,” then where did he go? Didn’t he promise, “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matt 28:20)? The standard answer is that Jesus is with God, but he will return one day. But that presupposes that somehow God and Jesus are somewhere else, “separated” from us right now. By contrast, the Bible clearly teaches that God is present with us always, actively working for good in our lives and in the whole creation. I would say it’s more consistent with our faith in Jesus as “God who is always with us” to speak about his future “coming in power and glory” to finish the work he’s still doing among us.[2]  

A further problem is that people who are preoccupied with “figuring out” the end time want to know all the details: when, how, and what will happen.[3] But typically, that obsession stems from a sometimes desperate effort to assure themselves that they will be “safe” and their destiny is “secure.” When you combine that with the fact that they’re convinced that those who are “outside” the church will be violently destroyed along with the whole creation, it creates an image of Christian Faith, not to mention an image of God, that not only blatantly contradicts the Bible, but is downright offensive. The Reformed theologian Shirley Guthrie, who literally wrote the book on Christian Theology for Presbyterians over fifty years ago, points out two problems with this approach. First, when we’re dealing with the Bible, it’s always best to rely on the clear teachings of the whole of Scripture rather than obscure books like Daniel or Revelation.[4] Second, when we ground our hopes regarding the future in God’s whole story, we have more than enough reason to look for Jesus’ future coming as a time not for violent destruction but for the “renewal of life” for us and for all creation. In short, the whole Bible assures us that God is for us, not against us!

And the Bible does have a lot to say about this future coming. All the hopes that the Hebrew prophets had raised about God renewing and restoring this world to the peace and justice and freedom of his merciful reign are focused in the New Testament on the future coming of Christ in power and glory. But the Bible consistently avoids paying any attention to all the juicy details that self-styled “prophets” have used throughout the ages to manipulate their followers. Rather, the message is that since we look forward to the day when Christ will come and set things right, then we ought to live our lives accordingly. It’s that simple and that hard. Time after time we are called to be “ready,” as Jesus does in our Gospel lesson for today. But none it has much of anything to do with all the talk of fear-mongers who threaten people with being “left behind.” 

Our Gospel lesson gives us a different perspective on what it means to be “ready.” Here Jesus tells a parable about servants waiting for their master to return from a journey, and the servants cannot possibly know the exact day or hour of their master’s return. Jesus says that those servants will be “ready” if they are found “waiting” when the master returns. But I don’t think that means that they were just sitting around passively waiting for the gate to open. Obviously, these servants had tasks that needed to be performed on a daily basis. And so their “waiting” and their “readiness” involved continuing to do their jobs, taking care of the master’s household, tending the garden, tending the livestock, performing any maintenance that the estate needed. In other words, being “ready,” being “alert” means doing what they have been instructed to do as if the master were right there with them. I would say that when live every day like that, we don’t have to worry about being “left behind,” or wonder about the details of our final destiny.[5] We know it’s secure in the hands of our loving God and our faithful Savior!

I would say this perspective on what it means to be “ready” for the future coming of Christ is much more consistent with biblical teachings. Despite those who revel in their charts, we really cannot know when that day will come. And contrary to the fear-mongers who try to scare people into doing their bidding, Jesus said, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Lk. 12:32). That doesn’t mean it will be easy. It doesn’t mean we can sit around doing nothing. It means that we are called to do what we’ve been instructed to do. We’re called to live in the manner we’ve been taught to live.[6] And we’re to do that every day, knowing that in a very real sense our “master” is here with us right now. And so we can go about our business, the business of the mercy, and peace, and freedom, and compassion of God’s kingdom, in the confidence that what we do is pleasing in God’s sight. It seems to me, as we do that every day, we remain ready, waiting actively for Jesus’ final victory!

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[1] © Alan Brehm 2025. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm PhD on 8/10/2025 for Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.

[2] Technically, the NT speaks of the future “coming” of Christ as his final victory It is therefore not correct to speak of a “second coming” or a “return,” since “Christ ... remains present in the Spirit.” See Hendrikus Berkhof, Christian Faith, 529.

[3] Cf. Shirley C. Guthrie, Christian Doctrine, 2d ed., 386, where he states bluntly that “Christians ought not place their hope in all kinds of fantastic speculations about a future they cannot really know anything about.” Earlier he quotes John Calvin to the same effect (ibid., 382): “it is foolish and rash to inquire concerning unknown matters more deeply than God wants us to know”! This quote is from John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 3.25.6 (found in vol 2, p. 997 of the 1960 Library of Christian Classic edition by John T. McNeill), where Calvin is discussing the “intermediate state,” or what happens to us between our death and the final resurrection. Even though that is a different matter than we’re discussing, I think Calvin’s words aptly summarize Jesus’ words in Acts 1:17 in response to the disciples’ question about the timing of the kingdom: “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority.” I don’t think it’s a coincidence that what Jesus tells them to focus their attention on is the instruction to “be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:18).

[4] Guthrie, Christian Doctrine, 385: “the clearest biblical sources for helping us to understand the Christian hope for the future are not Daniel and Revelation.” Instead (ibid., 386) we look to “the God whose plans and promises are made known to us in the whole story of Israel and in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.”

[5] Cf. Fred Craddock, Luke, 165: “readiness ... consists of continuing faithfulness to one’s duties.  When that is the case, uncertainties are no cause for alarm or anxiety.” 

[6] Donald K. McKim, another major contributor to the teaching of Christian Theology to Presbyterians, wrote in Introducing the Reformed Faith, 177: “If we believe the ultimate future is about God’s liberating rule, then the church and all followers of Jesus Christ will do whatever we can to point toward this future reign and to enact God’s coming kingdom in history today.” 

A Whole New Wardrobe

A Whole New Wardrobe

Colossians 3:1-17[1]

I usually learn a few things from teaching confirmation class. Not necessarily about faith, mind you, but about popular culture and where our young people are. A couple of years ago, one of our students told me that I dress in a manner he called “bougie.” I’d never heard of that word, so I didn’t know what it meant. One of the other students assured me that it’s a good thing. As I understand it, the idea is that he thought my wardrobe is stylish. That’s the way many young people use the word “bougie” these days. Well, as you may know, I’m interested in words, so I looked into it. As is often the case with “new” words in our language, others use it in a different way. To some “bougie” means “fancy,” or “flamboyant,” or even “overly pretentious.” I looked up “bougie” and discovered that it comes from the term “bourgeois.” That’s a philosophical word used to describe the “showy” behavior of middle-class people with recently acquired wealth. And, originally, when “bougie” became a slang word in American English in the 1970’s, it referred to people trying to “act rich.” But as words change, these days, “bougie” simply means “stylish.” What began as a rather sarcastic criticism has become a compliment.

In our lesson from Colossians for today, Paul talks about changing of clothes. In reality, what he’s really talking about is changing one’s life, which is a lot harder for us than changing clothes. Throughout his letters, Paul addresses the change of life that ought to accompany a person’s profession of faith in Jesus Christ as Lord. All the ways in which we can live that harm or diminish ourselves or others are like clothes that have been so stained as to become unwearable. Or they are like clothes that have become worn out or that simply don’t fit us anymore. When you have clothes that you can’t wear anymore, you get rid of them. Paul’s meaning is that in place of those harmful ways of living, we’re to “clothe” ourselves with the qualities that defined Jesus’ way of life.

In particular, Paul calls us to live with “compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline” (Col 3:12, MSG).[2] That in and of itself is a tall order, if you really think about what it means to make those qualities the defining marks of your life. Above all, he says that we’re to “wear love” like a “basic, all-purpose garment” (Col 3:14, MSG) That shouldn’t come as a surprise to us, since the whole Bible teaches us that God wants us to love our brothers and sisters—all our brothers and sisters. None of this is new to most of us. But I’m not sure whether we understand the motivation for it all. It’s not just that you’re supposed to be a good and kind and nice person. Since Christ died for us, we’re also called to die to all that characterizes a life that is selfish and harmful to others (Col 3:5-9). More than that, because Christ has been raised to new life, and we have been “raised with Christ” (Col 3:1), we have his new life within us.[3] What Paul is really asking us to do is to clothe ourselves with Jesus. His way of life, his love, his character, and all that goes with it, are to be the “new clothes” in our wardrobe.

That might sound easy enough for us. Changing clothes is something we do all the time. But what we have to remember is that most people in that day only had one set of clothes. Having more than one set of clothes was a sign of wealth. The wardrobe that many of us tend to keep in our closets would have been available only to the richest of the rich. Everyone else literally wore the same set of clothes day after day. So when Paul talked about a change of clothes, that would have been significant. Working-class people may have been able to replace their clothing more than once a year.[4] But most people simply wore their clothing until it was too stained or too threadbare to wear in public.

I think the point we should take away from this is that “changing clothes” wasn’t something that happened often for most people. It was a significant act. That’s why Paul could use it as an analogy for the difference our faith in Jesus Christ as Lord should make in our lives. It should be a big deal. In fact, it was such a big deal in that day that some people were shunned from their families, some were fired from their jobs, and some were even expelled from their communities as a result. Faith in Jesus Christ as Lord may have changed everything in their lives! In our day, I’m not sure that’s the case for us these days. Ironically, our faith in Jesus Christ may be just as insignificant as changing clothes is for us. We typically change clothes more than once a day, at least. We have work clothes, we have gym clothes, we have dress clothes, we have casual clothes, and we have comfortable clothes we only wear at home. Changing clothes for us is no big deal. I wonder whether professing our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord has become as insignificant to us as changing our clothes.

Lately I’ve been exploring some of the reasons why people outside the church don’t come to church. I think this may be another reason. Our faith just doesn’t seem to make much of a difference in the way we live. In fact, sociologists have documented that the lifestyles of those who are in the church aren’t much different from those who are outside the church. When we fail to demonstrate the difference our faith in Jesus Christ as Lord makes in our lives, we fail to give anyone a reason to be here. Participating in church is just another option for Sunday morning, like the varied options of clothing we have. To some people, it’s just a waste of time. If we don’t have anything better to do, we go to church. But who wants to waste their time with something that doesn’t really make a difference in their lives or in the lives of anybody else? I’m not sure I have the answer to that question, but that’s a question that I wonder about when I think about Paul comparing the difference our faith in Jesus Christ makes in our lives to changing clothes.

Going back to where we started, I personally don’t think the way I dress is all that special. I’ve had the suit I’m wearing today for twenty years! I try to keep my wardrobe fresh, but the way I do it is by shopping clearance sales. Sometimes that works out, and sometimes it doesn’t. My daughter assures me that I most definitely do not dress “bougie.” I’m okay with that. I want to look my best, but I also want my clothes to be practical. And by that I mean that I can get away with wearing them for a long time by just adding fresh touches here and there. I pay attention to my wardrobe, but I’m not much of a shopper, so I don’t make a big deal out of it.

As we reflect on our lesson for today, I think most of us would like to hope that our faith in Jesus Christ as Lord is far more important than the clothes we wear. Perhaps a better analogy for us would be a completely new wardrobe. Not many of us ever completely change our whole wardrobe at once. That’s what Paul is calling us to do. But I would say that for most of us it’s all too easy to get caught up in the push and pull of our lives. So much so that we really don’t pay that much attention to how we live. We don’t put much thought into what we say, and whether or not our words harm others or help them. We don’t put much thought into how we interact with people. Our own experiences, the stresses and the frustrations, the fears and the hardships, as well as the joys and celebrations of our lives just occupy us so much that we may forget to think about being intentional about “clothing” ourselves with Jesus Christ each day. Some of us may need to clear out a whole wardrobe that does not fit well with our faith. In place, we may need a whole new wardrobe. Paul calls us to put on the qualities that define Jesus’ life: his love, his compassion, his kindness, his humility. When we live this way, I believe that people will be drawn to join us. Not because of who we are, but because of the way we demonstrate the life of Jesus Christ in the way we live each and every day.

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[1] © 2025. Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm PhD on 8/3/2025 for Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.

[2] Cf. E. Lohse, Colossians and Philemon: A commentary on the Epistles to the Colossians and to Philemon, 147: “All of the five terms that describe the new man’s conduct are used in other passages to designate acts of God or of Christ.” (compassion: Rom 12:1; 2 Cor 1:3; kindness: Rom 2:4; 11:22; Eph 2:7; Tit 3:4; humility: Phil 2:8; 2 Cor 10:1; patience: Rom 2:4; 9:22).

[3] Cf. Michael Barram, “Colossians 3:1-17,” Interpretation, 59 (April 2005): 190, where he says that “the living Christ provides the basis for all Christian conduct”; and further, these behaviors become “the norm for believers because Christ is alive and reigning with God.”

[4] For a summary of research about this, see Dafna Shlezinger-Katsman, “Clothing,” in The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Daily Life in Roman Palestine, 362-81, and on the availability of clothing related to wealth and poverty see Gildas Hamel, “Poverty and Charity,” in ibid., 308-324, esp. 318-19.