Sermon Notes — December 7, 2025
Luke 10:1-6
“Peace Grows From the Manger”
Rev. Dr. Mary Beth Bernheisel
December 7, 2025
The peace of Christ be with you!
(Wait for it).
A few weekends ago Jay and I spent a few hours with the youth at Camp Widjiwagan for their Harvest retreat. For part of our time there we were in worship where we celebrated the Sacrament of Holy Communion together. When we got to the part of the liturgy where we share signs of reconciliation with one another – the normal way to say is to say that we “Pass the Peace” – I suggested to the youth that there are a number of ways that we can pass the peace – handshakes, high fives, hugs, fist bumps–that thing that we tend to do up here on the chancel during worship where we just wave peace fingers at each other – but that if they wanted to be super-traditional about Passing the Peace they would walk up to someone and shake their hand and say
The peace of Christ be with you!
And the traditional response from that person would be
And also with you
But why do we do this? Why do we share the peace of Christ with each other? And what do we mean when we say
The peace of Christ be with you!
On the most fundamental level, we share the peace of Christ before we receive Holy Communion as a way of making sure that all of our relationships with each other are right before we join Christ and each other at the table. If Jay and I have gotten into a big argument on Sunday morning before church and we need to make things right with each other before we come to Christ’s table, the liturgy sets aside a moment for us to do that. The Passing of the Peace is the set-aside time for us to make sure that our relationships are right. You and I both know that’s rarely how we use that time, but it’s there if and when we need it.
But what is the peace of Christ?
Will you pray with me and for me?
Mary has wrapped up her baby – the Bread of Heaven – and placed him in a feeding trough in a town called House of Bread. As soon as she does that the scene shifts. We are no longer in a warm stable with a brand new baby. We are now in a dark field outside of Bethlehem illuminated only by starlight and occupied only by shepherds and their flocks of sheep.
The shepherds and sheep are minding their own business when suddenly, the Lord’s angel appears and they are surrounded by the Lord’s glory. They are scared to death. How many of you have seen Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark? If you have, you know what happens when mere mortals gaze upon the Lord’s glory. Your face melts off. The shepherds are right to be scared to death. They haven’t seen the movie, but everyone knows that no human can see God’s glory and live.
But the angel tells them,
Don’t be afraid! I’m here to bring you news that is wonderful! Wonderful for everyone! Your Savior is born today in the city called House of Bread. He is the King sent by God, and you will know you’ve found him because he will be wrapped up snug and laying in a feeding trough.
How absolutely mind-boggling that must have been for the shepherds. And before they can even begin to process what is happening, the whole sky is suddenly full of angels – the whole sky is full. And they’re singing this together
Glory is for God, and peace on earth is for those whom God favors.
At the college that both of my kids attend, every undergraduate has to take the same set of core classes, one of which is called Literature Humanities. This is not required for School of Engineering students, much to Joshua’s relief, but Clare is taking Literature Humanities. It’s a year-long class and covers literature beginning with the first named poet in Mesopotamia from 2000 BC and ends with I’m not sure what because I haven’t seen the syllabus for next semester. But this semester ends with the Gospel of Luke and the Gospel of John. Clare was reading Luke over Thanksgiving break and, of course I couldn’t help but chime in with everything I thought she needed to know. What I suggested she look for is all the ways that Luke very subtly takes things that were important to the leaders of the Roman empire and twists them so that he’s almost mocking them.
Here’s an example. The angel appears to the shepherds and says
“I bring good news to you.”
The Greek word for
Good news is
Evangelion
Which is where get our English word evangelize – evangelism – evangelist. Good news.
In imperial Rome that word, evangelion, was very familiar, but it was only ever used to talk about Caesar Augustus, the emperor whose name begins chapter 2 of Luke. Caesar Augustus was the emperor who made everyone in the empire go to their family homes and be enrolled in the tax lists. Whenever Caesar Augustus sent out messengers to the far reaches of the Roman empire to share news, the messengers would begin with these words:
The good news–the evangelion–according to Caesar, the Son of God.
Luke takes the very words the people used to talk about the emperor and uses them to talk about Jesus.
And did you catch the part where Caesar calls himself the Son of God?
Let’s go back to the angel and the shepherds. The angel says to the shepherds
I bring good news to you, shepherds — wonderful, joyous news for all people. Your savior is born. He is the Christ. He is the king.
Caesar may be the king of the empire. He may be the emperor whose rules you have to follow, but your king is lying in a feeding trough in the House of Bread. And he is here for peace.
Jesus was born during a period of history commonly called the Pax Romana, or the Roman Peace. Sometimes also called the Augustan peace to honor Caesar Augustus. Historians date the Pax Romana from about 27BC to about 180AD, so roughly 200 years. But here’s the thing – the Roman peace – the Pax Romana – was kind of a joke. There weren’t any wars during those 200 years, but that’s because Augustus had already defeated all of his enemies. There weren’t any wars because there was no one to fight against. The Roman peace was a direct result of crushing violence.
Of course there were good things that happened during the Pax Romana. The Roman empire grew, the empire built a helpful system of roads and public works, but all of that growth and improvement came at a price for people like Mary and Joseph in the form of taxes. That’s why Augustus ordered everyone to go to their family home. He was conducting a census so he could figure out how to best leverage his assets – and that began with knowing the empire’s tax base.
OK, so for a few people, the Pax Romana might have been truly peaceful, but for the majority it was not.
But Jesus, the angel says, is here for real peace.
Thirty some odd years later we see Jesus in the scripture that Reagan read for us. By this time Jesus has gathered his core group of twelve disciples, but there are lots of other people who are traveling with him and learning from him, too. In today’s text he sets apart seventy-two of his followers and he sends them out in pairs. Their mission is to visit every town and village where Jesus would stop on his way to Jerusalem. He tells them not to take any money or even a change of clothes. They are to depend on the hospitality of the strangers that they meet on the way.
He tells them that if someone invites them into their home, the first thing they should say is
May peace be on this house.
And if anyone there shares God’s peace then there will be peace, but if the residents of the house do not share God’s peace with them then the disciples' peace will be returned to them.
That last little bit might sound strange to our ears. We don’t think of peace as something that we can give to someone or take back from someone. But if we look at the bigger picture we can get a sense of the difference between Christ’s peace and Caesar’s peace – the peace of the empire, or the world, or however we want to think about it.
The peace of the empire – the peace of Caesar Augustus – the peace of the world – is a top down peace. Peace exists only when the people in power say that there is peace. In the time of Caesar Augustus, peace came when Augustus got tired of being at war, or at least when he felt secure enough not to actively engage in conflict.
The peace of Christ grows from the manger. It starts at the bottom – with Christ, and then Christ’s followers, and then it fills the world.
The Hebrew word for peace is one you’ve probably heard before. It’s
Shalom
We often think of peace as the absence of conflict. When we’re not fighting, we’re at peace. But the Hebrew notion of shalom is much more than that. It’s much more than just the absence of conflict. Shalom means everything as it should be – everything is as God desires it to be.
In some sense, that is a top-down kind of peace. If the empire is at war then things are not as they should be. But when Jesus sends out his followers two by two to announce peace, he is also teaching them – and us – that his peace – Christ’s peace – is ours to share with others. We who bear the name of Jesus are sent out to share Christ’s peace with others. Christ does not tell us to wait until we have permission to share his peace or to wait until the world gets itself worked out. Christ’s followers are called to bring the peace of Christ everywhere we go.
But what is that peace?
Christ’s peace is shalom – the wholeness and wellness and completeness of all of God’s creation. People and animals and the earth itself. Christ’s peace is the flourishing of humanity. Christ’s peace is deeply relational – all of Christ’s followers working for the common good of the whole creation. Christ’s peace is breaking down barriers between people that the world tells us are necessary but that simply don’t exist in God’s Kingdom.
The God of the universe who decided to become human could have easily chosen to be born in a palace. God could have chosen warmth and wealth, and a throne from which he could rule the world. But God chose peasants and shepherds and livestock. God chose to be a baby, the most vulnerable and humble form of all.
That is the true power of God to bring peace – to bring shalom. God breaks down barriers, God declares that there is nothing more important than everyone knowing how deeply they are loved – so important that God would risk God’s own self to share that good news.
This is the peace of Christ. Christ comes to be with us, to know us, to see us. Christ comes to reconcile us to each other and to God. Christ comes to show us his peace and then to send us into the world to offer that peace to others.
That peace begins here. In the manger. God with us.