What Road Shall We Make?

What Road Shall We Make?
(Luke 19.41-42, 44b)
A reflection by Dave Shull
Spirit of Peace United Church of Christ
Sammamish, Washington,
The 24^th Sunday in Ordinary Time: September 11, 2011

Love is so easy to say and so hard to do.

Today we mark the 10^th anniversary of the day when passenger planes were turned into missiles. As people who live in this country and who want to follow Jesus, how do we honor this day? We know Jesus commands us not only to love the people who are nice to us, but to love our enemies. Catholic social activist Dorothy Day reflects on Jesus’ command that we love our enemies when she says, "Love is a harsh and dreadful thing to ask of us, but it is the only answer."

We follow the Jesus who commands us to do that harsh and dreadful thing called loving. We follow the Jesus who is called Prince of Peace. How are we to mark this day that is filled with so much emotion … including anger and a deep desire for revenge?

The day Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the donkey, the crowds shouted for joy: Blessed is the one who brings peace! But the peace the crowds wanted wasn’t the non-violent, enemy-loving peace of Christ. They were sure Jesus was raising an army to kill the hated Romans. Peace was them killing the bad guys so the good guys could take over.

But Jesus knew the crowd’s desire for revenge could never bring peace. That path led only to more people becoming widows and orphans. So Jesus does what anyone would do when people they love choose to do things that will only lead to their own self-destruction.

Listen for a word from God.

Coming within sight of Jerusalem, Jesus wept over it and said,
“If only you had known the path to peace today!
But now it has been hidden from your eyes….
[Y]ou failed to recognize the time of your visit from God”
(Luke 19.41-42, 44b, The Inclusive New Testament, Priests for Equality, 1994).

It is always tragic when we don’t know what the times demand. Jesus had come to call people to walk a different road. A road of non-violence and enemy-love. But they refused. They like their version of peace more than the version Jesus offered. So in 66 the Jewish Wars began. And by the year 70, their temple and all that they loved had been destroyed.

They could have chosen a different path. I don’t believe God has created a path for each of us to walk. And all we need to do is find that path and then stroll merrily down it. I agree with the Spanish poet Antonio Machado that we make our roads by how and where we choose to walk.

Pilgrim, your footsteps are
the road, and nothing more;
pilgrim, there is no road,
the road is made by walking.
By walking one makes the road,
and upon glancing behind
one sees the path
that never will be trod again.
--Antonio Machado

Over the past 10 years, our country has responded to the tragic events of 9/11 by making the road we find ourselves on today. So what road will me make by our walking from this point on? Ten years from now, when the 20^th anniversary of 9/11 is celebrated, what road will they find themselves on. Will they look back on the past 10 years, and give thanks that followers of Jesus have chosen to walk a road marked by a harsh and dreadful love that has blessed the world with a peace that is true and holy? What road can we begin to walk today that will bring this country and world to a more loving and peaceful place?

I’m going to share a story with you that inspires me to try to walk in the way of the peace Jesus offers. Afterwards, I invite you to share a thought or a story that might help us walk a road toward a true and holy peace.

This is a true story that happened to a guy in his 20s named Shane, and an 11-year-old named Kassim. Shane tells the story.

Kassim and I were walking down a narrow street to our neighborhood post office in the Kensington area of Philadelphia. A group of teenagers started to follow us and call us names. They threw a couple of rocks at us. I told Kassim, “Let’s go say hi.” Kassim wasn’t so sure about that. So we turned back and walked toward them. I put my hand out and said, “Hey, I’m Shane. And this is my friend Kassim. We live around the corner.” They didn’t know what to do with that. A couple of them shook his hand and introduced themselves. Others snickered. One or two refused the handshake. We said, “Nice to meet you guys,” and headed back on our walk.

After they got over things not going the way they’d planned, the group of teens started to run after us. They threw some rocks. I noticed two of them had grabbed a couple broomsticks from the trash. We began to pick up their pace a bit. But then I looked at Kassim and said, “Don’t run.” We turned back. Suddenly, one of the kids hit Kassim on the side of the head with a stick. Then they started hitting me with a broomstick until it broke over my back. At this point, I decided to bust out a can of holy anger. I looked them in the eyes and said, “You are created in the image of God . . . every single one of you. You were made for something better than this. Kassim and I are followers of Jesus and we do not fight, but we will love you no matter what you do to us.”

That wasn’t exactly what they expected or hoped for. They looked at each other, startled a bit. For the first time they were quiet. Then they ran off in different directions.
Afterward, I asked Kassim what he thought would have happened if we’d chosen to fight. “It would have been ugly,” he said. “They might have been bloody, and we probably would have been real bloody.” No one would have left any nicer, that was for sure.

I told Kassim I wasn’t sure what Jesus would have done if he were in our place. I said I was sure Jesus wouldn’t have fought, and wouldn’t have run. I said Jesus have done something weird to throw them off, as he often seemed to do – like writing on the road with sidewalk chalk, ‘You are better than this.’ We thought we’d really shown these young people what Jesus was like. We said to each other, “Not only did we refuse to hit, but we refused to hate.” Then we prayed for them together. Finally, as he was leaving, Kassim reminded me that each of those boys had to go to bed thinking about what they did that day. Kassim added, “And so do we.” That night, we slept well (Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw, Jesus for President: Politics for Ordinary Radicals, Zondervan, 2008, pp. 264-5, paraphrased).

That’s the kind of road I want to make by my walking.

What about you? What ideas and stories do you wish to share?

(congregation shares their stories)

I often get discouraged because I don’t think I can make a difference. I feel like everything’s too big and too out-of-control. But the stories we’ve shared tell us we can and do make a difference. We can and we do live that harsh, dreadful love Jesus commands and we make new roads by our walking. Let us speak the words of Antonio Machado and hear his wisdom and his call:

Pilgrim, your footsteps are
the road, and nothing more;
pilgrim, there is no road,
the road is made by walking.
By walking one makes the road,
and upon glancing behind
one sees the path
that never will be trod again.

As we make new roads of love and true peace, Christ walks by our side. We are not alone. Amen.