When Peace Becomes Obnoxious

The Lord’s justice will dwell in the desert,
    his righteousness live in the fertile field.
The fruit of that righteousness will be peace;
    its effect will be quietness and confidence forever. - Isaiah 32:16-18

The word for ‘righteousness’ that’s used in this passage is often translated ‘justice.’ In fact, they are synonymous in the first verse, above. And do you see the connection between doing justice and experiencing peace? What an incredible reminder that with no justice there is no peace!

In his sermon before going to trial for the Selma boycott (just after Rosa Park stayed put in her seat), Martin Luther King, Jr. preached these words:

“Peace is not merely the absence of some negative force—war, tensions, confusion but it is the presence of some positive force—justice, goodwill, the power of the kingdom of God.” - Martin Luther King Jr, from his sermon “When Peace Becomes Obnoxious”(https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/when-peace-becomes-obnoxious)

His vision of peace is of the kind of shalom we’ve been learning about over the past two months - that wholistic, economic, relational, spiritual, communal, emotional well-being. This peace finds its fullness in the Kingdom of God (in Jesus’s words) and when it comes in its entirety it’s called “heaven.”

But in the short run, it can be ‘obnoxious,’ to quote Dr. King. Because it demands justice. It requires a new way of being in the world. It’s a lot of work.

Do you have a vision of peace that’s bigger than just a lazy Saturday afternoon or an evening watching Netflix? What if you allowed Isaiah’s vision, or MLK’s, or Jesus’s to disturb you into caring for justice deeply? What would it take to make a move towards that kind of vision of peace? What do you think it would feel like? How might it change your day to day life? Talk with Jesus about these things today.