The Word Of Peace
Homiletic Reflections On Peacemaking

Deacon Robert M. Pallotti

Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time - A

A City on a Hill: Contrast Community

In 1620, the Massachusetts Bay Colony was founded in the New World. Soon its expanse led to what became known as Boston, MA. The first governor of the new colony was John Winthrop. As we know, these early colonists were Puritans, English pilgrims in search of a new society. The Puritan ethos, or way of living, was based on being a model Christian Society. Hence, John Winthrop referred to this new experiment as a community that would be like "a city on a hill" --to give light to the nations. This city set on a hill was based on Christian faith that understood that our individual lives, and the society we build, is directed toward the final goal of all things, the fullness of God's kingdom. This settlement then, would be a contrast community with its surroundings. It would aspire to live the vision of the Kingdom in a community that placed emphasis on building new society of justice and peace based on the eternal model of God's present and approaching Kingdom. Their belief in heaven was not an excuse not to confront the problems and challenges of this world. Quite the contrary, it is because God has promised to work with us to transform all creation that they understood that they had a responsibility to reflect the divine love for all in their individual and social lives.

Upon immediate reflection , and knowledge of history, we know that sometimes they failed to live up to this ideal. So often a people that wishes to live a vision of a just and peaceful society can forget that compassion is the linchpin to such a society. We can have the greatest ideals, but such be devoid of compassion, they will fail. The Puritans of New England were no different. Sometimes all people can forget that idealism without mercy and compassion can quickly cause a people or person to degenerate into becoming tyrannical. Yet they did hear the words of our Lord. They heard the call to be a "city on a hill," to be salt to the nations.

Jesus uses some extraordinary images and metaphors in letting us know what it means to accept the Father's Kingdom. It means being salt. Salt is a substance that flavors and preserves what is good. Salt is also a cleansing agent. Jesus' followers are called to flavor the world with the gospel of the crucified and risen Lord. This "flavoring" speaks of a God that transforms hearts, minds, bodies and the creation with the power of crucified love. That is, God's power--which is so different, it contrasts, with the power plays of control and domination of individuals and nations, that appear to them, to be effective. God's power does not consist of a willingness to

dominate or crush opposition--it is not arbitrary and tyrannical ! The power of God in the crucified Christ comes to liberate and transform those in opposition. It is a power that wants to preserve and cleanse, not vanquish! And this can only take place in the power of the compassionate God revealed in the crucified Jesus.

This is the power that people like St. Paul, St. Francis, Rigoberto Menchu, Ghandi, Dr. Martin Luther king, jr. and the churches in East Germany discovered transforms all it touches. This is the power that allowed John Lewis, a veteran of the march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965 to state:

"I don't feel bitter towards George Wallace and Sheriff Jim Clark and the KKK. I see them as victims of the system, and we were out to change the system. We weren't out to destroy America; w were out to change America to be at peace with itself...We are one people, one family, one house--the American house."

An Ethic For Enemies, p.191

The power of God the Father, experienced in its fullness in Jesus, is one that transforms with a love that allures and compels a response because of its beauty in compassion. It is the love that flavors life and is the basis by which the Church can be a contrast community that offers a new possibility for human, social, political and ecological relationships. This is being the city on a hill. It is a people that journeys with God and others in compassion dedicated to building a world that honors the image of God in each person, and the beauty and channel of grace that is all creation.

This is the Christian mission in the world, grounded in the crucified Christ. The Crucified Christ, the power of God, the power of compassion. The ONLY power that has and can transform this world into the fullness of the Kingdom.

Deacon Robert M. Pallotti, D. Min.
Uploaded January 30, 1999