The Word Of Peace
Homiletic Reflections On Peacemaking

Deacon Robert M. Pallotti, D. Min.

Trinity Sunday, Cycle C

June 2001

In the years dating roughly 160-180 A.D. Emperor of Rome, Marcus Aurelius waged a protracted war against the Germanic tribes in the area of what is now modern Germany. He was considered one of the good emperors of Rome and was known to be a prolific Stoic philosopher. As a Stoic he believed that the divine spark resided in each human being. He also believed that there was a guiding principle or Logos of wisdom in the universe that when discovered could lead to the good life. The virtues of such a life included prudence, temperance, justice and fortitude. During his war with the Germanic tribes he penned his book, "Meditations" in which he shares some of his wisdom:

What kind of things they are that the crowd thinks good; we may learn from this. Of people should decide on certain things being really good, he or she would not, after having decided on the good, consent to listen to anything not in harmony with the really good.

Wisdom was the greatest prize of the ancient world. The wise sage was venerated and sought out for counsel about the good life and human becoming not about the hottest stock. Today the good life can have very little to do with wisdom and seems to be more concerned with the level of comfort and luxury in life. To the sage life is about how to live in accord with the guiding principle or Logos of the universe so as to become what human beings and the creation is meant to become.

We hear the praises of the wisdom of God in the book of Proverbs. God’s wisdom is very close to humans and is the guiding Spirit of the Universe, of all creation, and human life. But there is something more This Wisdom of God takes delight in the human race and the creation incarnated in Jesus Christ. Such was the understanding of wisdom coming out of Israel and at odds with much of the ANE, which saw their gods as cruel, violent and concerned with dominating human beings. This led to a justification of violence among these people. Domination and subjugation of others would become of the way of life for the pagan people. This is still manifest in our own time when we look at the cartoons our children are exposed to, political policies of states and nations, and the pervasive violence in organized sports from little league to the big league. Such recourse to violence is based on the assumption that love and reconciliation are vapid and unrealistic dreams for this world. It means that the world is not redeemed! That the love of the Trinitarian God revealed on the cross of Christ is impotent in this world and a useless passion!

Such an assumption about God and the world leads to such things as nuclear deterrence, racism, violence and the death penalty. The ordeal of Timothy McVeah is an ordeal of the United States. A man is confronted with the loss of his life for the horrible act that day in Oklahoma City. Many interviewed by the media state that he deserves to die for what he did—an eye for an eye making everybody blind. But is that the wisdom of God? Is this the wisdom of Jesus Christ? Or is this the wisdom of that deep visceral concern for pay back, revenge?

The Trinity reveals its inner life in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord. In this is the wisdom of God that redeems not by vanquishing and eliminating enemies but by a sacrificial love that offers them forgiveness and a new beginning. Therefore, there is no desire on the part of God for vengeance. A God of vengeance is the pagan god not the Father of the Son that guides us in the Spirit. The Trinity reveals a wisdom that tells us that hatred; violence and the like diminish all who subscribe to them. Even those that the advocate the moral killing in war to secure justice cannot escape the truth that violence and killing have the effect of robbing humanity of the good life and diminish all of us. The execution of Timothy McVeah will not solve the fundamental problems of our culture that contributed to creating his anger that led to those horrible events in Ok. City. Indeed, it will plunge the culture ever more deeply into the belief that there is no redemption, that Jesus was wrong and the resurrection never happened. That is the meaning of the present dilemma. But to those who say no more killing, there has got to be another way, there is the belief that indeed Jesus is right and Easter happened. It is the confession that life, forgiveness and redemption are the embodiments of the wisdom of God on the cross and in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The wisdom of God then is no less than this—that love is the heart and power of the universe guiding all to wisdom in the Spirit. If we say yes to this God then we will discover or continue to discover a wisdom that is so different from the wisdom of our culture. We will find out what the really good life is born of God’s own unconditional love for all.

Deacon Robert M. Pallotti, D. Min.
Created October 6, 2001