Dec 8, 2019              What will Peace Look Like?                         

The picture I have for you this morning is from a mural in the great hall of the Department of Justice in Washington DC. The title of the mural is Contemporary Justice and Child, and the artist’s name is Symeon Shimin.

The mural seems to have three parts to it, the mother and daughter in the center, the mother looks slightly downward, perhaps filled with concern for her child, knowing what the world is like and worried about her future. The child looks straight ahead towards her future, but with a look of uncertainty.

To the left half of the mural we see some of the injustices of the past, smokestacks filling the air with pollution, slaves building railroads, immigrants being exploited, homelessness, disease and death. And in the right half of the mural we see a vision of the path to a more just society, hands grasp a compass and protractor, people gather around a set of building plans for the future, students work on science in schools, children playing joyfully in a field, and there is even a scene of a baptism, perhaps as a comment on the practice of the freedom of religion, as a part of what will lead to a better, more just world.   

Surely the artist has tried to convey, the injustices of the past, with the opportunities that are offered to us in the future. And the key figures in the mural, seem to indicate the idea that it is our responsibility to provide that future for our children, and not just our children, but for all the children of our nation, and world.

I came across this painting, as I was reading a number of commentaries on Isaiah 11 this week. Now the part of the passage we read this morning, when we lit our advent candle focused upon the idea of how the world might change, if the Spirit of the LORD would come upon us. How we would see the injustices of the world, and work to correct them, work to build a future, very much like the one described in our mural this morning. A world in which all might share in the blessings of creation, where we might build a new future, founded upon the counsel and wisdom and even fear of the LORD, which will lead to a just and peaceful future for all.  

Now I would like to take a moment to speak about that phrase “fear of the LORD. Fear of the LORD, from the Jewish understanding, is not so much that God will punish us all, as much as that God will leave us to our own devices, will let our injustices grow until they consume us, and I think that Symeon Shimin, realizes the need for us to turn to God and  for God to be a part of what creates a just and peaceful future for us all, which is why he included that baptism scene in his mural.

Anyway, the rest of the passage from Isaiah speaks of lion’s laying down with lambs, and bears and cows living together, and children safely playing with poisonous snakes, mostly this is hyperbole, meant to say to us, that when we give our lives to God, wondrous things can happen, that the future is wide open, not only for us, but escpecially for our children. And that is the Good News of Jesus Christ. Amen.