Sabbath Day Thoughts — “I Am with You” Matthew 28:16-20
The world longs for peace.
It’s been 100 days since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas War. On October seventh, Hamas militants swept out of Gaza and into southern Israel, leaving behind a trail of death and destruction. 1,200 people were killed and 250 hostages abducted. In response, Prime Minister Netanyahu declared war. With heavy bombardment and a ground invasion of Gaza, the Israeli Defense Force seeks to root out the Hamas threat and keep Israel safe.
Caught in the crossfire are civilians. Experts say the Israeli bombing of Gaza is among the most intense in modern history. More than 23,000 Palestinians have been killed. Two-thirds of those casualties have been women and children. Thousands more remain missing or badly wounded. Half of Gaza’s buildings have been damaged or destroyed. 80% of the population is displaced. Schools are closed. The healthcare system is near collapse, with only 15 of 36 hospitals still functioning. One quarter of the people are starving. Halima Abu Daqa, a displaced Palestinian woman, sheltering with her family in a tent camp near the border with Egypt laments, “We have been deprived of everything. Everything has changed and nothing remains.”
On the Israeli side, civilians have contended with 14,000 Hamas missiles lunched against southern cities. Confidence in the Israeli government, which failed to act on a warning about the coming attack, has plummeted. Men and women have been called up to active military duty. 314 soldiers have been killed. Skepticism is growing in Israel about the kind of military victory that can really be achieved. Vigils and public outcry call for action to free the 130 Israelis who remain prisoners of Hamas. Families of hostages are among the voices calling to put combat on hold and strike an immediate deal with Hamas to free the hostages. Udi Goren, whose cousin was killed on October seventh, says, “We’re talking about a war that’s now going on in an urban area that has about 2 million refugees and hostages. The [Israeli military] is fighting with [its] hand tied behind its back. It’s very clear that we need to find a ladder to climb down.”
The world longs for peace this morning. In the face of the world’s warring madness, we have the audacity to celebrate a Sunday that is dedicated to the making of peace. Since 1983, the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program has been working with partners around the world to provide humanitarian support and disaster assistance to war plagued people and places. Beyond the war zone, Presbyterian Peacemakers seek an end to human trafficking, racism, and the tragedy of displacement and economic crisis driven by climate change.
This church’s commitment to peacemaking began more than thirty years ago. In 1990, the late Rev. Dick Stone led a Bible Study on peacemaking with this congregation. Dick and the participants in that study convinced the session to make the commitment to peacemaking, inviting us to work for peace in our families, communities, and even in the international arena. The elders voted and made it official. We are peacemakers.
Our calling to be peacemakers is grounded in the teachings of Jesus. Reading Matthew’s gospel is like a master class in peacemaking. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Turn the other cheek. Before you do anything else, go to your alienated neighbor and be reconciled. Forgive seventy times seven, which basically means forgive others without limits. These are the words of Jesus. They are a clear call to peacemaking and an anticipation of the peaceable kingdom that the Lord would have us forge on earth as it is in heaven.
Living into those words isn’t easy. Our whole-hearted commitment to God can get pushed to the margins by the demands of family, work, and civic engagement. In this politically fraught climate, it feels tough to trust our neighbors and love them as ourselves. Do we really have to love our enemies? Jesus, you must not have met them. Be reconciled? We would rather steer clear of our alienated neighbors, friends, or family members and pretend they don’t exist. Limitless forgiveness? It’s a whole lot easier to forgive when we get a public apology, so that the world can know that we are right. Jesus may have taught us the things that make for peace, but putting them into practice, embracing that radical ethic of peacemaking, can feel easier said than done. Help us, Jesus.
In our reading from Matthew’s gospel, the risen Lord gave his friends an assignment that must have felt just as daunting as our calling to be peacemakers. Jesus sent his friends out into the world, not just to their Jewish neighbors but to all the nations—that means gentiles. The gospel of God’s great love for all people needed to be shared and the disciples were the people to do it. They would need to talk about their experience and belief with complete strangers who seemed likely to reject them as religious fanatics. Then, through baptism the disciples were to welcome a growing crowd of people who never mixed into the family of God. I imagine the disciples, especially those who struggled with doubt, found themselves thinking as we might: that great commission sounds easier said than done, Jesus.
Jesus assured his friends that they were more than enough to meet the challenge. It wasn’t that they were gifted public speakers or had access to the halls of power. It wasn’t that they had charismatic personalities or had spent their lives studying the Torah. Rather, Jesus’ friends would be fine because Jesus would be with them always. By the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus would meet them where they were and as they were. His great love for them would follow them, even to the end of the age. Bible scholars like to call these words of Jesus the “promise of eschatological presence.” Jesus is with us always.
The “promise of eschatological presence”? Those are some fancy theological words, but when we think about it, we know the nearness of Jesus. We feel his presence in times of prayer and contemplation. We sense his wonder in our forays into the beauty of God’s creation. We know he is with us on Sunday mornings as scripture is proclaimed and the Lord’s Supper is shared. We feel Jesus’s love when others love us at our most unlovable. Jesus is there when someone turns the other cheek to our bad behavior. Jesus is there when we find common ground with our alienated friend. Jesus taps us on the shoulder when we find the courage to seek forgiveness and accept the grace of others. The presence of Jesus equipped his disciples to go forth with God’s love; the presence of Jesus equips us to go forth as peacemakers.
Just as we trust that Jesus is with us, the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program allows us to be with others around the world who are desperately in need of peace, safety, and love. In November, Presbyterian Peacemaking and Presbyterian Disaster Assistance reported that they were partnering with the Middle East Council of Churches to provide humanitarian assistance amid the Israel-Hamas War. Emergency food and hygiene kits have been distributed to displaced people. Damaged housing is being repaired. Churches and community centers, that have been hosting homeless families, are receiving much-needed support. Medical and hospital supplies have been shared. Counseling help has supported those traumatized by the conflict.
For 2024, the PCUSA is teaming with the ACT Alliance to continue this work on a broader scale. ACT stands for Actions by Churches Together. It is a partnership of 145 church groups in 127 countries who are committed to peace and human security. With ACT, we have pledged $5 million in humanitarian assistance to the conflict in the Middle East with a goal of improving the lives of 50,000 individuals. Our contributions to Peacemaking are a visionary statement that, like Jesus, we are committed to being with others, even when life feels overwhelming and the way forward is hard to see.
The world longs for peace this morning. Jesus has hope for us. He has taught us the things that make for peace and promised to be with us. I trust that the Lord can even be at work in the chaos and pain of the Israel-Hamas War. Jesus is with displaced people, like Halima Abu Daqa, who have lost everything. Jesus is with concerned Israelis, like Udi Goren, who seek a way forward to end the violence. May we be a part of the peace.
Resources
Ephrain Agosto. “Exegetical Perspective on Matthew 28:16-20” in Feasting on the Gospels: Matthew, vol. 2, (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press), 2013.
Daniel Estrin. “Israelis are increasingly questioning what war in Gaza can achieve” in NPR Special Series: Middle East Crisis Explained, January 11, 2024. Accessed online at https://www.npr.org/2024/01/11/1223636086/israel-hamas-war-gaza-victory
Josel Federman. “In 100 days, the Israel-Hamas war has transformed the region. The fighting shows no signs of ending” in the Associated Press World News, January 13, 2024. Accessed online at https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-100-days-palestinians-takeaways-05422978a87ab52d51df152bc9248a7f
Julia Frankel. “As Israel-Hamas war reaches 100-day mark, here’s the conflict by numbers” in the Associated Press World News, January 13, 2024. Accessed online at https://apnews.com/article/war-gaza-israel-hamas-100-numbers-death-c4d6d42269c3cd6bf74d4e6fc612114e
Martha Moore-Keish. “Theological Perspective on Matthew 28:16-20” in Feasting on the Gospels: Matthew, vol. 2, (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press), 2013.
Scott O’Neal. “Presbyterian Mission Agency ministries authorize funds to support relief efforts in Israel-Palestine” in Presbyterian News Service, Nov. 8, 2023. Accessed online at https://www.presbyterianmission.org/
William H. Willimon. “Pastoral Perspective on Matthew 28:16-20” in Feasting on the Gospels: Matthew, vol. 2, (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press), 2013.
Matthew 28:16-20
16Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
attribution: AP Photo, Hatern Ali, accessed online at https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-100-days-palestinians-takeaways-05422978a87ab52d51df152bc9248a7f
Joann White 