A Second Look at "Peace On Earth"

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We make a mistake at Christmas when we consider the message of the angels to the shepherds.

PEACE ON EARTH, GOOD WILL TOWARD MEN

We are correct to think Jesus is about bringing an end to war and injustice. What we miss is that peace will come as the result of the good will of God toward men; and that good will was first extended in the offer of mercy to any who would willingly receive it.  

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The shepherds may have understood this. Like all disenfranchised Israelis they felt the black hole of the consequences of the nation’s idolatry. Even that night in Bethlehem they recognized their hopeless entrapment in its newest manifestation: the worship of power.

They also may have understood the priority of mercy because they may have been the breeders and tenders of the sacrificial sheep for the temple just six miles away. No doubt there were cynics among them who sneered as they herded their flocks into the pens and received meager pay knowing the priests would gouge the customers who needed an offering to “make God happy.” But others must have remembered that the blood of sheep could not provide the national or personal mercy they needed. These might have understood the title, Lamb of God.

Of course, they would not have known that extending good will would span two millennia and embrace Gentiles; but some should have realized, as should we, before the King comes he must gather together those who will be his citizens – a people who will want his mercy in order, eventually, to be able to reign with him in an atmosphere of mercy driven grace.

When we understand the angelic message this way we must ask, “Have we found the good will of God’s mercy? And, if so, what is our responsibility in a world which spurns it?” 

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