Swords into Plowshares
Rev. Mark Schaefer
Kay Spiritual Life Center
November 28, 2010—Advent I
Isaiah 2:1-5; Romans13:11-14; Matthew 24:36-44
Isaiah 2:1-5 • The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
In days to come the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it. Many peoples shall come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the LORD!
Romans 13:11-14 • Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
Matthew 24:36-44 • “But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”
I. BEGINNING
The front page of the newspaper—sorry, forgot who I was talking to—I mean, the home page of the Washington Post’s website, shows you everything you need to know about the state of the world today: two wars in southwest Asia, a potential war in the Korean peninsula, an arrest in a terror bomb plot, controversy over airport screening designed to prevent terrorists from blowing up planes, political repression in the Middle East… So, how’s that whole peace on earth thing working out?
I only ask that because this is the time of year when we start talking about peace on earth. That theme is everywhere: it’s in the sentiments of the greeting cards we start to send around. It’s in the music we start to sing: “…sleep in heavenly peace”, “…peace on earth and mercy mild…”, “Pray for peace people everywhere…”, “and wild and sweet the words repeat of peace on earth, good will to men.”
II. THE TEXT: ISAIAH 2
And that sentiment is everywhere in the readings we have for this time of year. Perhaps nowhere more famously (and beautifully) than in that passage from Isaiah that was read earlier:
For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
“They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”
The passage is all the more striking because it follows an entire chapter of prophesying judgment against Judah and Jerusalem. Judah shall be judged because of its lack of commitment to justice and righteousness: “For you shall be like an oak whose leaf withers, and like a garden without water.” Jerusalem is told: “Your silver has become dross, your wine is mixed with water. Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves” From these oracles of judgment in which silver is turned to dross and princes to thieves, it is stunning and wondrous to hear of swords becoming plowshares and spears pruning hooks.
Scholars aren’t sure about the dating of this text. It occurs in both Isaiah and Micah (almost word for word), leading some to wonder who copied from whom. Others argue that this demonstrates that each of the prophets is quoting from a well known poem of the time. Others argue that it has the theology of a much later time, a time after the Babylonian Exile.
III. ROOTED IN CIRCUMSTANCE
But whatever the timing, we can be sure of this: it would not have seemed any more likely to those reading it then than it does to us today. The oracles of judgment in chapter one would have made a lot more sense than visions of universal peace. For they would have seen a world very much like our own. Nations at war with other nations. The mighty conquering the weak. The Assyrians had destroyed the northern Kingdom of Israel and it would not be long before the Babylonians would do the same thing to their southern cousins in Judah. The Babylonians themselves would later fall to the Persians. The Persians to the Greeks. The Greeks to the Romans. The Romans to the Barbarians in the West or to the Turks in the East. The Turks would fall to the British and the French. The British would eventually cede power to the Israelis, who would immediately come into conflict with the Arabs. One power after another vying for control of that tiny strip of land. One power after another displacing its predecessor by the sword.
It is a story not limited to Israel’s experience, but is known throughout human history everywhere. It is a familiar story to us all, who have never known a time free from war. In our own country, we saw the French and Indian War (or as they called it the Seven Years War), followed a decade later by the Revolutionary War. That was followed by the French and American Quasi-War and the Barbary Pirates War. Then came the War of 1812, the War of Texan Independence, and the Mexican-American War. The Civil War soon followed, which was itself followed (and concurrent) with the Indian Wars. The Spanish-American War led us into the Twentieth Century, wherein we found ourselves in the First World War, the Second World War, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the wars in Granada and Panama, the Gulf War, the intervention in Bosnia-Herzegovina, the War in Afghanistan, and the War in Iraq. Out of the 234 years of the history of our Republic, we have been at war for nearly half that time. There has not been a generation that has not known war, that has not experienced loss, that has not seen its sons and daughters’ lives cut short by the sword and the spear.
The world itself has never known a time free from war. Even during the Pax Romana, that period when there was peace because no one was powerful enough to attack the Roman Empire, there was still fighting in other parts of the world. And that peace was still maintained not by genuine good will, but by force of arms.
The vision of swords being beaten into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks is a nice idea, but it is ridiculed by our experience of the everyday reality of the world. The sentiment of Isaiah’s beautiful verse is mocked by the cold hard reality of our own lives.
During the middle of the Civil War, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote a Christmas carol that is pleasing in its melody, but all the more poignant because of the powerful lyrics. Lyrics that are, unfortunately, all too often left out in recordings and performances. These verses express the same sorrow at the disparity between the vision of peace and the reality of the world we encounter:
And in despair, I bow’d my head:
“There is no peace on earth,” I said,
“For hate is strong and mocks the song,
Of Peace on earth, good will to men.”Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound the carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good will to men.It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearthstones of a continent,
And made forlorn, the households born
Of peace on earth, good will to men. [1http://www.worldofchristmas.net/christmas-carols/heard-the-bells.html]
What are we supposed to do with verses like those we find in Isaiah, that speak of peace—of the implements of war being beaten into the instruments of harvesting and cultivation. The tools of death have not been replaced by the tools of plenty and prosperity. The nations still lift up sword against nation, and they study war a great deal.
IV. BEATING SWORDS INTO PLOWSHARES
This is a world dominated by the sword. A simple check of the newspapers makes that point clear.
But it occurs to me that the sword is abroad in our land in ways that we don’t even realize. Our lives are dominated by the sword. We respond to easily with hatred and violence, too easily with division and strife.
I know that I do this too much. I know that I too often react in ways that are hardly “peaceful”. I respond out of anger. I respond out of bitterness. I do not respond out of love. I encounter views that I cannot stand and I am quick to dismiss the other. Quick to look upon others as opponents. And then don’t get me started on the other drivers in traffic. My reactions to them are often less than… Christian.
And we see this strain loose amongst us in our broader society. We see it in our political discourse, where the language we use for one another has an awful lot of the sword in it, very little of the olive branch. We see it in our religious discourse, where people of faith make a mockery of our talk of ‘peace on earth’ with much that we do and say. We see it in our economics, an economics that is about defeating others in order to succeed. And of course, let’s not leave out how we see it in our holiday shopping—in the checkout lines and the parking lots. We see it everywhere.
Perhaps it bears noting that our nation states are made up of people. People like you and me. I suppose there would be no reason to expect nations not to lift up sword against one another when the people within those nations are incapable of refraining from doing so.
Perhaps, that’s where we need to start. Perhaps, we need to start by creating cultures of peace within us, and among us. What are the swords in our lives that we should be beating into plowshares? What are the spears that we brandish all too often that should be beaten into pruning hooks?
Perhaps we have a relationship with someone that is contentious and argumentative. We could respond with violence—oh, I don’t mean physical, emotional or spiritual violence often does the trick. Or we could respond with peacemaking. With planting the seeds of reconciliation. Seeds that will yield a harvest of peace.
So many swords we carry around unsheathed. So many spears we brandish. Is it any wonder that the nations of whom we are a part know only sword and spear?
V. END
One commentator notes that Isaiah’s prophecy was not a future rooted in circumstance. Rather, it was “rooted in the deeper resolve” of God. [2Walter Brueggemann, Isaiah 40-66, Westminster Bible Commentary, p. 25] That is, it is the work of a God who does not abandon the people to judgment and brokenness alone, but who redeems them and leads them into a world of promise. In fact, the language “the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest of the mountains” implies the activity of God. Mt. Zion in Jerusalem isn’t even the highest mountain around Jerusalem, but in the end of days it shall become the highest of the mountains.
And this leads us to the line: “…all the nations shall stream to it. Many peoples shall come and say, ‘Come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord… that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.’” There they will encounter the God of Israel who shall judge between the nations and arbitrate with perfect justice. In response, the nations ‘beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks.’
But what is it that leads the ‘all the nations’ to stream to Jerusalem? The nations will want to come to Jerusalem because it is there where God is fully present.[3Walter Brueggemann, Isaiah 40-66, Westminster Bible Commentary, p. 24] And God’s instruction will be found so that all the peoples may walk in the ways of God.
And there we see what our calling is: to make God fully present. To create those places where God can be seen. Those places where God’s grace and love can be known. Those places where God’s justice can be lifted up. Those places whence God’s instruction can go forth. We cannot do that if we are continuing to brandish the sword and bearing the spear. It is only when we as a people can model what the kingdom looks like, only when we can demonstrate what it means to live in that peace that others will see God.
God is at work in the world even now and will bring to pass that day when the mountain of the Lord’s house will be lifted up above all the mountains. We may not know when that hour is coming, as Jesus says, but we know how it is we are supposed to wait: living out the reality that we expect to be fulfilled among us. Living lives of peace, not of violence and division. Lives that transform division into unity, destruction into hope for prosperity and plenty.
And so doing, we testify to a great hope, a transformative hope. A hope captured in the final verse of Longfellow’s carol:
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep;
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With Peace on earth, good will to men.”
